At the end of the tour to the Beijing Normal School, students give US First Lady Michelle Obama (R) and Peng Liyuan (L), wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping folding fans imprinted with school motto as gifts,March 21, 2014.[Photo/Xinhua]

US first lady shows character during maiden visit to China

Barack left to walk dogs while Michelle's away

March 21, 2014

Madame Peng and I first visited a class where students were actually building their own robots, and they were kind enough to do a demonstration for us. The first robot we saw could actually walk over obstacles. Another one, which was shaped like a triangle, was referred to as "bad boy" by its student creators (one of them explained to us that this robot is "really naughty"). After the robotics class, we stopped by a ping-pong practice session where I got some tips from the instructor and then had the chance to play with one of the students. She was excellent (though I think she may have gone easy on me, just to be nice). We ended our visit by saying a quick hello to the 33 American students who are studying at this school through an exchange program.

This visit was a wonderful way to start our trip and a good opportunity for us to see how students here in China are already collaborating with students around the world and preparing to expand and deepen these connections in the years ahead.

Special: US first lady visits China