China's First Lady Peng Liyuan mistook a group of students from the northeast as Chinese only to be told by them that they were Indians.

As Peng entered the Tagore International School, she was greeted by students wearing Indian traditional costumes.

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She noticed a group of students, including few from the northeast who greeted her "Ni Hao" (How are you?). Mistaking the northeast students as Chinese, she stopped and asked one of them, "Ni shì zhongguó rén" (Are you Chinese?).

"Bu. Woh shi Indu ren. (No, I am an Indian)," Albert Ginsangmuam K, 12, a class VII student, responded confidently.

Hailing from Manipur, Albert, wearing a kurta, said he was nervous about the first interaction with Peng and he had not expected her to speak to him. "I know a bit of Chinese, but I was a bit nervous. What if I made a mistake? What would have the school said?"

Albert, along with many of his classmates, has taken up Chinese language course.

Image: Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images