Program pairs foreign students with local families

More than 40 foreign students and 16 faculty families at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics have joined a program created to help newcomers more easily adapt to Nanchang's environment and culture.

The Peer Share Program encourages joint activities every one or two weeks, ranging from cooking Chinese food and celebrating traditional Chinese festivals to games, sightseeing and sports.

Foreign students usually attend classes taught in English and have few chances to interact with Chinese students, so many of them face initial difficulties adjusting to local life, said Liu Feng of the university's International Cooperation and Exchange Center.