Twelve middle school students from Ganghwa-gun have traveled to the sister city of Zhoushan (Zhejiang Province, China) to live with local host families and experience the culture firsthand through a homestay exchange. It is the first middle school homestay to resume since COVID-19, and it is expected to mark a turning point as ties the two cities have maintained for more than two decades broaden to the next generation and the field of education.
 [코리안투데이] The Ganghwa middle school homestay delegation departing for Zhoushan, China © 장형임 기자 |
Ganghwa-gun (governed by Mayor Park Yong-cheol) announced that it is continuing youth international exchanges on the strength of a friendly relationship with Zhoushan in Zhejiang Province, China, that spans more than 20 years.
Twelve students from Ganghwa Middle School and Ganghwa Girls’ Middle School took part in the 2026 Chinese Sister-City Middle School Homestay program. The students left for Zhoushan on the 22nd and are carrying out exchange activities there over five days and four nights. The program carries great significance as the first middle school homestay exchange to resume in a long while since COVID-19.
The students take part in exchange activities with pupils from Zhoushan Nanhai Experimental School and live in the homes of local students, experiencing Chinese family culture and daily life for themselves. Rather than a group tour following a fixed itinerary, the arrangement has the students eating and living together in the homes of their peers, giving participants a chance to understand one another’s cultures beyond the textbook and to broaden their international outlook.
The exchange does not end with a one-time visit but continues as a mutual program. The Ganghwa students now visiting Zhoushan will meet their counterparts again next winter break, when the Zhoushan students visit Ganghwa-gun and stay in the homes of Ganghwa students, continuing the homestay so that each side can experience the other’s culture.
During the visit, the Ganghwa Office of Education and the Zhoushan Education Bureau will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on international exchange cooperation. The aim is to develop the youth exchanges the two regions have sustained into a framework of official cooperation between the two areas’ educational institutions, laying the groundwork to pursue student exchange programs in a more systematic and sustained manner. By bringing an exchange that had rested on personal ties or individual projects into an institutional framework, the program’s stability and continuity are expected to be strengthened considerably.
Ganghwa-gun and Zhoushan have exchanged steadily across a range of fields — administration, culture, youth and public officials — for more than 20 years since establishing friendly relations in 2001. The two cities, which later developed the relationship into a sister-city tie, continue their exchanges on a foundation of long-standing trust and friendship, and this middle school homestay and cooperation between educational institutions are expected to serve as an occasion to broaden that exchange toward the next generation and the field of education.
Ganghwa Mayor Park Yong-cheol said, ‘Ganghwa-gun and Zhoushan are precious sister cities that have built deep trust and friendship over more than 20 years of exchange across many fields,’ adding, ‘Through this homestay, I hope the students will not only come to understand each other’s cultures and form friendships, but that youth and education exchanges between the two cities will grow even more active in the years ahead.’
Mayor Park continued, ‘Ganghwa-gun will keep providing support through a variety of international exchange initiatives — such as the Ganghwa Junior Diplomats program and youth overseas cultural experiences and language studies — so that our young people can communicate directly with the world, gain broad experience and prepare for the future.’
For more information about the program, contact the Education Support Team of the Autonomy and Education Division of Ganghwa-gun (032-930-3395).
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