by Xinhua writer Shi Xiaomeng
BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States, sharing extensive common interests and broad space for cooperation, can become partners and friends.
This goodwill message, along with Chinese New Year greetings, was sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping to his friends in the U.S. state of Iowa ahead of this year's Spring Festival.
He was replying to 58 Iowans who sent him a greeting card and recalled in it the Chinese leader's first visit to Iowa in 1985. Among them are Xi's longtime friends Luca Berrone, Gary Dvorchak and Sarah Lande.
Nearly four decades ago, Xi traveled to the United States for the first time. During that visit, he met these ordinary Americans. Since then, a special bond has been formed that lasts to this day.
CURIOUS YOUNG MAN
In the spring of 1985, Xi, then an official of Zhengding County, Hebei Province, led a five-member delegation to Iowa, known as "the world's food capital," to learn about crop production and livestock farming.
During the visit, he spent three days in Muscatine, a city in rural eastern Iowa along the Mississippi River, where he stayed with local hosts Thomas and Eleanor Dvorchak. The homestay left a lasting impression.
Recalling the trip decades later, Xi said he still remembered where he stayed: 2911 Bonnie Drive. "That was my first face-to-face contact with the Americans," Xi said. "The days I spent with them are unforgettable."
Xi and his delegation were warmly received in Muscatine. "On our first night, our hostess asked what time we would wake up the next morning and what we would like to eat," recalled Xia Wenyi, the delegation's translator.
Xi responded that he was happy to eat whatever the family typically had. According to Xia's recollection, Xi said, "We want to experience and understand the daily life of an everyday American family."
Hostess Eleanor prepared a big breakfast with coffee and tea every day during Xi's stay. Xi slept in the Star Trek-themed bedroom belonging to the Dvorchaks' son, Gary, who was then away at university.
"Everything, no matter what, was very acceptable to him -- he was humble," Eleanor recounted.
Xi's visit came after China and the United States had spent years working to restore relations in the late 1970s. In 1983, then Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed a sister-state agreement with Hebei and led a 50-member delegation to the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang in 1984, which, as he recalled, led to Xi's trip in 1985.
"We wanted to treat them as we were treated in Hebei. So we went all out," recalled Branstad, who served as U.S. ambassador to China from 2017 to 2020.
Xi's itinerary in Muscatine included tours to farms and food processing plants, interviews with local media, a "Welcome to Muscatine" luncheon and a boat excursion on the Mississippi River.
It was Xi's first sighting of the Mississippi River. "When I was young, I had read the novels of Mark Twain, and I had long wanted to see for myself the picturesque scenery of the Mississippi," Xi said when he revisited Iowa back in 2012.
"He was curious about everything and asked questions about everything," recalled Sarah Lande, one of the Muscatine tour coordinators. Local newspaper Muscatine Journal also reported on how Xi engaged with residents, answering "a variety of questions about China and its people." Xi was also given a key to the city.
In 2023, reminiscing about this experience, Xi said, "I have found that although our two countries are different in history, culture and social system and have embarked on different development paths, our two peoples are both kind, friendly, hardworking and down-to-earth."
LASTING CONNECTIONS
Xi has said on several occasions that the foundation of China-U.S. relations was laid by the people of both sides. Xi has stayed in touch with old friends in Iowa through reunions, letters and shared memories.
In 2012, Xi visited Iowa once again as China's vice president. He made sure to add Muscatine to his jam-packed itinerary so he could reunite with the old friends. They chatted over tea at Lande's home, gathering around a couch in the living room. Their hour-long meeting was filled with laughter.
Thomas and Eleanor Dvorchak, who had moved to Florida, made a special trip back. Xi recognized the couple the moment he saw them and shared his memories of his stay at the Dvorchaks.
"You were the first group of Americans I came into contact with," Xi told his Iowa friends. "To me, you are America."
Lande compiled their stories into a memoir titled Old Friends: The Xi Jinping-Iowa Story, which was published in 2018. Upon learning about Lande's book project, Xi sent some of his own photos.
Another reunion of these old friends occurred in 2023 when Xi visited San Francisco for the APEC leaders' meeting. When Xi saw Gary, son of the Dvorchaks, he said, "I stayed in your room and remember the sweatshirts and ball gear there."
"There was genuine happiness, so you could see the smile on his face. He was really enjoying it," Gary said of the reunion.
Gary first met Xi in person in 2015 when the Chinese president hosted the Dvorchak family for a private dinner in Beijing. During the gathering, Gary's parents presented Xi with a photo album titled "Commemorating 30 Years of Friendship," featuring photos from 1985 and 2012.
When Gary's father, Thomas Dvorchak, passed away in 2024, Xi conveyed his condolences, expressing that he had always valued the genuine friendship.
The Dvorchaks' Iowa home, where Xi once stayed, has been turned into a museum and renamed the Sino-U.S. Friendship House. Gary noted that visitors can appreciate how much the friendship has grown over the years.
"For America and China to be friends as countries, it is important for people to understand each other," he said.
THE YOUTH AND TOMORROW
For the Chinese leader, the future of China-U.S. relations depends on the youth. For years, Xi has worked to foster friendly exchanges between young people in China and the United States.
During his 2023 visit to San Francisco, Xi announced an initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs over a five-year span.
Shortly after, Lande, who maintained correspondence with Xi, wrote to him, expressing hope that Muscatine High School students could join the program.
With Xi's support, over 20 Muscatine students visited Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei and other places in China in January 2024, becoming the first group of American students to participate in the program.
After their visit, the students, delighted by their experiences, wrote a letter to Xi. In a reply, Xi told them he felt happy for them. He encouraged more young Americans to visit China to get a first-hand experience of the real China and foster genuine friendships with their Chinese counterparts.
In April, another group of Muscatine students arrived in Hebei. They made a special trip to Zhengding County to visit the place where Xi once worked.
Lucas Berrone, board of directors of Iowa Sister States, escorted the students on the trip. Berrone met Xi in 1985. He mapped out a two-week itinerary for Xi's first Iowa tour and spent hours driving the delegation to farms and plants. Their friendship has endured over the decades.
Berrone sees these exchange trips as an opportunity to introduce a new generation to the friendship between China and the United States. He is hopeful about "passing the torch" to the younger generation.
Joseph McNeely, a student from Muscatine who traveled to China thanks to the exchange program, expressed his gratitude to Berrone: "Thank you for continuing the friendship between you and President Xi and for helping this trip come to light."
McNeely made some Chinese friends from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School during the trip. As a symbol of friendship, they planted a tree in Hebei.
This year, during the Chinese Spring Festival, Berrone hosted Chinese students from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School in Iowa. The students were on vacation, touring the United States and making new friends in Muscatine.
As he had many times before, Berrone shared his story of hosting Xi and other Chinese delegates in Iowa 40 years ago. "Their stay, even though brief, made the connection with the families opening up their homes and their hearts."
"That connection was the first building brick of a relationship that has lasted 40 years and continues to grow as a wonderful friendship and an inspiring story for relations between China and the United States," Berrone added. Enditem
(Xinhua reporters Zhang Can in Shijiazhuang, Xu Jianmei in Muscatine, Qiao Jihong in Beijing and Hu Yousong in Washington also contributed to the story.)
