Twenty-one Tongans received admission letters from the Chinese Government confirming their scholarships to study at Chinese universities, at the award ceremony on 15 August at Kahana Resort.

Nine students will carry out postgraduate studies including two government officials from the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and 12 will carry out undergraduate studies. The students are expected to be in China by 8 September 2017 and will start learning the Chinese language for a year prior to beginning their studies.

Alumni from the Tonga-China Student Association briefed the new students what to expect on arrival and while studying in China and to be ready for a culture shock at the size of the cities, the infrastructure and technology.

Tonga's Ambassador to China Hon Siamelie Latu, provided some practical advice to students such as learning to budget their monthly allowance properly, and to focus on their studies and not on sports. He said that students who concentrated on playing rugby were not successful with their studies.

He believed that students need two years instead of one year to learn the Chinese language to make studying easier for them, because at the end of one year, students are only armed with the basics of the language when they go on to complete their studies.

The Chinese Government has awarded more than 220 Tongan students scholarships to study in China since diplomatic ties between Tonga and China were established in November 1998.