"I have always been an advocate for language communication and an awareness of the importance of global learning. It is a good opportunity for our students to extend themselves by immersion in the language and knowing the people," she said.
She also praised the efforts of Laytee George, a Rotorua-based teacher of Chinese. Mrs Pelham described her as a prominent advocate of cultural education in the city.
"She's been a key mover. She makes you want to get involved."
Mrs George was a member of the team travelling with the students to Jiangxi Province.
The New Zealand-China Sister Schools Fund was announced during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to New Zealand in November 2014. The fund is administered by Education New Zealand and schools applied for grants to develop new and existing relationships.
Mr Joyce was himself in China this week, visiting Shanghai as part of a mission to foster ties between the two countries' marine, education and technology sectors.
"It is important that New Zealand builds strong people-to-people links with China, which is now one of our largest trading partners," he said.
Mr Joyce said programmes such as the sister-schools partnership were vital to ensuring a future prosperous relationship with China.
"Having more New Zealand school students building a personal understanding of China and its people is an investment in the future of New Zealand in this Asia-Pacific century," he said.
"Sister school partnerships are designed to benefit participating schools from both New Zealand and China, and will help ensure that we have the cross-cultural understanding and language skills to see our good relationship thrive."
The Rotorua Daily Post reported this week that a recently formed group, Rotorua Chinese Community of Commerce, was working to connect city businesses with the potentially lucrative Chinese market.
