Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan (left) shows US first lady Michelle Obama how to hold a writing brush as Obama's mother, Marian Robinson (second from left), watches at a traditional calligraphy class at the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University on March 21. [Photo/AFP]

In a speech at No 7 High School in Chengdu, she told of her upbringing, encouraging rural Chinese students to aim high and get a good education.

"The truth is that I grew up like many of you," she said. "My mom, my dad, my brother and I, we lived in a tiny apartment in Chicago.

"I remember something my mother always told me. She said 'A good education is something that no one can take away from you'."

In an online journal entry she said: "I'm not just passionate about education in my role as first lady－this issue is also very personal for me. … Like so many parents here in China who care so deeply about educating their kids, my parents were determined to send me and my brother to college."

Obama was gushing in her admiration for the historic sites she saw. She visited the Great Wall, the Summer Palace in Beijing and the Terracotta Warriors and ancient city wall in Xi'an.

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