Chinese, U.S. students plant roots of friendship, understanding(3)

Stronger together

As a key promoter of the China tours, Sarah Lande is one of Xi's "old friends" from Iowa who hosted Xi in Muscatine when he first visited the U.S. in 1985 as a county-level official.

After a reunion with the president in San Francisco in November, Lande wrote to Xi and expressed her hope that the Muscatine High School students could join the youth exchange program.

In January, Xi replied that he welcomed the school's students participating in the program.

When talking about what the U.S. students could learn from the trip, Lande said she expected them to "appreciate China through their own eyes, how they are growing, how we are together, how we are similar, and then how we are different".

"There's so many opportunities to work and cooperate with students and learn from them all over the world," she said in a video message prerecorded for the trip.

Lande also had a welcome message for the exchange students from China. "We want to share our culture with you, our music, our environment, and show you our friendship," she said.

"So please come so we can share with you what you've been sharing with us, and build the foundation between our countries even stronger," she added.

During the latest exchange, the Chinese hosts learned more about the U.S. as the delegation promoted their local culture through gifts they had prepared. Among them were colorful, delicate pearl buttons, as the Mississippi River town of Muscatine produces a large number of them.

Another intriguing gift was a badge promoting Iowa Corn, with a corn pattern on it.

"This is from our Iowa Corn Growers Association. We just want to make sure everybody is aware that Iowa corn is our top export," said Castle, the school principal.

At a local performing arts center, the guests from Iowa were overwhelmed by a multimedia musical performance called China Impression, which was choreographed and created by teachers and students from the host school.

The hour-long show featured the school's classical orchestra and its Chinese traditional orchestra on the same stage.

Dressed in costumes, the student performers presented examples of Chinese cultural heritage, such as poetry from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), conveyed through songs and readings.

In the school's gym, it was the Chinese students' turn to be amazed by their U.S. peers who showed great proficiency at a table tennis practice session.

All the students also enjoyed a master class given by Lu Yuansheng, a former head coach of China's national women's table tennis team.

While table tennis is popular in China, there are fewer opportunities for U.S. teenagers to get to love the sport, Lu said. "Some of the kids are just beginners, so I just taught them some ABCs and how to get some practice going at home, such as tossing and catching the ball against a wall," he told China Daily. "It's quite a fun sport, and it has great benefits for their eyesight, too."