A total of 36 international students from 19 countries, who are studying in Guangdong, visited Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Shenzhen from June 12 to 15 to explore the history of overseas Chinese and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In Zhongshan and Jiangmen — two renowned hometowns of overseas Chinese — the students visited museums and historical sites. Through qiaopi (letters and remittances sent home by overseas Chinese) and other historical artifacts, they learned how generations of migrants maintained close ties with their families and hometowns while living abroad.

For Thang Jia Yen, a Malaysian student of Chinese descent at South China University of Technology, the journey held personal significance.

"It helped me reconnect with my cultural roots," she said, adding that she hopes to pursue a career that promotes people-to-people exchanges between Malaysia and China.

Zabolotnaia Polina, a Russian student at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said the experience resonated with her own journey of studying abroad.

"We are all people who have left home to live in another country," she said. "That's why I cherish the warmth I have felt in China even more."

The group also visited Xiaolan in Zhongshan, a town known for its industrial clusters. At a planning exhibition hall and a technology park, the students learned about local development in areas such as artificial intelligence and the low-altitude economy.

In Shenzhen, the students visited an APEC-themed exhibition at the Shenzhen Library, where they learned about the history of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation as the city prepares to host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November.

They also toured the Shenzhen Reform and Opening-up Exhibition Hall, which traces the city's transformation from a border town into a megacity through photographs, documents and artifacts.