President Xi Jinping announced at a White House welcoming ceremony on Thursday hosted by US President Donald Trump that China would invite 100,000 young Americans for exchange and study programs over the next five years.

"The hope of the China-US relationship lies in our people, and its future lies with the young," Xi said.

During his 2023 trip to San Francisco for the APEC leaders' meeting, Xi announced an initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs over the next five years. By May this year, that goal had been reached two and a half years ahead of schedule.

Jade Melendres, a student at the University of California, Davis, said she was excited to see the "50,000 in 5 Years" Initiative expanded to include more young Americans.

Melendres has visited China twice and plans to travel to Hong Kong in November.

"Once you've been to China, you'll find yourself wanting to go back."

Denis Simon, senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, said that having American students visit China creates direct experience rather than secondhand impressions, rebuilds a badly depleted educational bridge and strengthens the relationship.

"Imagine 100,000 Americans who have spent substantial time in China becoming teachers, scientists, journalists, diplomats, investors, lawyers, technology executives and political leaders. They would constitute a much larger pool of Americans with firsthand experience of China rather than simply an abstract conception of China," he told China Daily.

Jiang Lan, acting director of the Center for Chinese Language Teacher Education, the Caulfield School of Education of Saint Peter's University in New Jersey, welcomed the initiative to invite American students to China. Jiang has led three groups of American students on study programs in China.

"The exchange programs are carefully designed so they can see and experience what China is really like within a short period," she said.

"Our goal is not merely to help students bridge the gap with China or gain a superficial understanding of the country," Jiang added. "We hope these programs will inspire them to develop a deeper understanding of China, its people, and its history and culture."

Recently, Xi replied to a letter from students at 10 US universities who had participated in a China-US youth exchange program in China.

Judy Barbour, a student at Saint Peter's University, was among them.

"It's an honor to have the president reach out to students, and I'm just super grateful for the opportunity," she said. Barbour has just traveled to Shandong province and Beijing.

Barbour expressed hope that more students would have the opportunity to explore China.

"I'm so glad that it's branching out to more students," she said. "I would definitely tell them to keep an open mind and take this opportunity to not only explore, but experience people and new culture from a place that's on an entirely different coast from us."