While visiting the attractions, members of the US group said they really enjoyed the activities. Encouraged by their Chinese peers, they tried their hand at writing with calligraphy brushes and played ping-pong. They were also given folding fans with different Chinese characters such as fenghe, or "wind lotus" and longfei, or "dragon flies".

"The characters for longfei are written in traditional Chinese characters," said Peterson, 18. "I think traditional characters are beautiful, but not as easy to write as simplified characters."