Chinese President Hu Jintao met with a 100-member delegation of Yale University students and faculty led by President Richard Levin Wednesday afternoon.

Hu said strengthening China-US youth exchanges will help the young people from the two countries learn from each other, and promote mutual understanding and friendship, as well as a sound and stable development of the bilateral relations.

Hu said he hopes the delegates will be able to visit many places in China to improve their understanding of the country.

He also encouraged them to have more exchanges with Chinese young people and contribute to China-US friendship.

The delegation is visiting China from May 15 to 25 at the invitation of Hu, who visited Yale University and delivered a speech there last April during his state visit to the United States.

The delegation will visit Beijing University and Qinghua University in Beijing, Fudan University in Shanghai and Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

They will meet Chinese students, scholars, and government officials, and tour major cultural and historical sites in Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai.