BEIJING, April 28,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- "I'm extremely thankful that
President Xi spent time to write to us. It was very touching
he was able to hear about the amazing times on our trip," Seinna
Stonking, a freshman at Muscatine High School in the central US
state of Iowa, told the Global
Times.
This spring, Stoneking felt inspired and fruitful. She,
together with more than 20 other students from her school, received
a special gift - a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping after
they concluded their visit to China, which they considered as a
"life-changing" and "eye-opening" journey.
On February 24, which marked the
Chinese Lantern Festival of the Year of the Dragon, Xi replied
to a letter from the students of Muscatine High School who visited
China in late January and sent
them New Year cards in return.
In the letter, the Chinese president encouraged the Muscatine
High School students to revisit China and encouraged more American youths to
come to China for exchanges and
study, where they can get first-hand experience of a real
China in a multi-dimensional and
comprehensive manner, foster genuine friendship with the Chinese
youth, and learn from each other so that they can jointly
contribute to a stronger friendship between the people of the two
countries.
Over the years, Xi has
consistently championed people-to-people exchanges with the US. He
has written letters to Americans, stressing that the hope of the
China-US relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in
grass-roots connections, its future depends on the youth, and its
vitality comes from subnational exchanges.
In tandem with the fervent hopes of the Chinese people, an
increasing number of young Americans are immersing themselves in
the vibrant tapestry of China.
They're not merely visiting the nation, but also securing this
chance to embrace the country's rich culture, and feel a profound
connection between the two countries.
'Dear Grandpa Xi'
In an interview with the Global Times, students
from Muscatine High School weren't bashful about their
gratitude to President Xi.
"In my and my classmates' letter to President Xi, we wanted
to highlight how eye-opening this trip truly was. To add on to
this, how grateful we were to be able to have this
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Stonking said.
With Xi's support, several Muscatine High School students
paid an exchange visit to Beijing,
Shanghai, and Hebei Province, among other places in
China from January 24 to 30, becoming the first group of
American students to visit China
under a program Xi announced at Welcome Dinner by Friendly
Organizations in the US, in San
Francisco during his visit to the country in November 2023. The program aimed at inviting
50,000 American youths over the next five years to China for exchanges and study.
One of their gifts to Xi upon their arrival in Beijing was a school flag of Muscatine High
School with the words "Grandpa Xi, Here We Are" written in
Chinese.
Behind the phrase "Here We Are" was the excitement most students
feel when coming to China for the
first time, where they climb the Great Wall, visit the Forbidden
City, and experience traditional Chinese culture such as writing
Chinese calligraphy and weaving Chinese knots.
"It was a new experience for me; it was life-changing and I
loved the Great Wall and Shanghai.
I had a great time meeting all the teachers and students,"
Leo Regennitter, a sophomore at the school, told the Global
Times.
"The most memorable experience for me will always be the
opportunity I got to make a connection with many students I met.
All the students and teachers were so unbelievably kind and
hardworking. The many places I went to like the Great Wall or the
Shanghai Tower took my breath away and were so
beautiful," Stonking recalled.
On January 28, before the end of
our visit to China, the children
discussed what gifts they could give President Xi, to express
their gratitude for inviting them to visit China and share with him the joy of their
visit, Heidi Kuo, a Chinese language
teacher at Muscatine High School, told the Global Times.
Then, a letter featuring beautifully written Chinese characters
to "Dear Grandpa Xi" was born.
"Many students poured their heart into their letters, sketching
the awe-inspiring highlights of their China journey. From the majestic Great Wall to
the cuddly panda, each illustration breathed life into their
experiences. There was also a vivid strokes of a hand-painted
Chinese dragon in the letter that truly captured their belief in
its symbolic representation of China," shared Kuo.
"China is really huge, just
like the US. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come to
China," said the letter signed by
over 20 students, with hearts drawn next to their
signatures.
An 'eye-opening' trip
According to Muscatine Journal, on February 28, during their monthly work session,
the Muscatine School Board had the opportunity to hear directly
from some of the students and chaperones who visited China for a week, where both Regennitter and
Stoneking had the chance to speak about some of their
experiences.
Regennitter shared the wonderful experiences the group had at
the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, which is Muscatine's sister school, where they played
table tennis and learned to make Chinese knots. The group also had
the opportunity to celebrate Chinese New Year at the Zhang Yuan
Garden, where they were joined by college students from the
US.
"I told so many people in my life it was an amazing experience
that I'll never forget. If any student was thinking of going and
was unsure, I would them to go for it and they won't regret
it," Stoneking told the Global Times. "It's a completely
different experience to see China
in person," she emphasized.
While also citing the Chinese saying "seeing is believing" in
his reply letter, Xi said the warm and friendly American
people he met during his first visit to the US in 1985 have given
him an indelible impression.
The same touching experience has happened after three decades,
among a group of high school students.
American students who come to
China see that Chinese and
American students have forged deep friendships and are eager to
communicate with and learn about each other.
"From what I experienced, the people of the US and China are more similar than different and we
can learn a lot from each other," Stonking stressed.
Stonking said she felt the trip to China was "so motivating," and encouraged her
to learn more about the Chinese language and the culture, "If I get
the opportunity I would love to go to college in China and I hope to be a fluent speaker (of
Chinese) someday."
Friendship continues to flourish
Muscatine is honored to have
sent the first batch of students in the youth exchange program. The
encouragement of interactions between the young people of the two
countries is a continuation of the nearly 40-year friendship
between Xi and the people of Muscatine, American entrepreneur Gary Dvorchak told the Global Times.
In the spring of 1985, Xi, at that time a county leader in
Zhengding, in China's northern
province of Hebei, took his
initial steps on US soil.
From then on, Xi never forgot his American friends and
believes that people hold the key to state-to-state
relations.
During his trip to the US in November 2023, Xi recalled the
story of this friendship with his old friends, mentioning that the
house number during his stay was No. 2911 Bonnie Drive.
Today, 2911 Bonnie Drive, just two kilometers
from Muscatine High School, has a more familiar name among
locals - Sino-US Friendship House.
Dvorchak, owner of the house, and son of Eleanor and Thomas Dvorchak, the family that
hosted Xi during his 1985 visit to Muscatine, believed that President Xi's warm
response to the school students shows the value he sees in having
young people from both countries getting to know each other
personally and better understanding the values we share as human
beings.
Dvorchak believes that the 50,000 young people exchange program
and the Sino-US Friendship House getting more attention shows that
people-to-people exchanges are all signs of building positive
momentum.
"My hopes are high that the level of interaction will grow,
producing tighter bonds among the people of our two great
countries. This effort is critical to improving the relations
between our countries," he said.
Kuo, in her seventh year of teaching Chinese at Muscatine High
School, has witnessed a remarkable shift in student interest toward
China and its rich culture. From
once being unfamiliar, more and more students now eagerly embrace
the allure of China.
Excitingly, the school is gearing up to send more students on a
trip to China this coming
April.
"After returning from our trip and watching the videos we
captured, many students expressed a strong desire to visit
China," Kuo shared.
Some Chinese schools also expressed their interest in fostering
a sister school relationship with Muscatine High School. "We are
eager to see students from both countries build even stronger bonds
of friendship," she said.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202403/1308868.shtml
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SOURCE Global Times