An exchange across the ocean at the beginning of 2024 continues the story of friendship between the Chinese and American people.

U.S. Muscatine High School students paid an exchange visit to Beijing, Shanghai and Hebei Province, among other places in China from January 24 to 30, 2024.

On January 28, just before the end of their trip, the American students wrote a letter to express their joy and gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the invitation.

On the Lantern Festival on February 24, Chinese President Xi Jinping replied to their letter and sent them New Year cards. Xi extended holiday wishes to the teachers and students of the school and encouraged more American youths to come to China for exchanges and to study.

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President Xi replies to letter from Iowa's Muscatine High School students

'Grandpa Xi, here we are'

During President Xi's trip to the U.S. in November 2023, Xi announced a program to invite 50,000 American youths in the next five years to China for exchanges and study.

Sarah Lande, a friend of Xi in the U.S. state of Iowa, wrote a letter recently to Xi, in which she expressed the hope that Muscatine High School students can join the program.

With Xi's support, the Muscatine High School students are the first group of guests to participate in the program.

One of their gifts to Xi upon their arrival in Beijing was a school flag written with Chinese characters "Grandpa Xi, here we are."

Leo Reginator, a sophomore at Muscatine High School, was one of the students who visited China in January. "It is a life-changing experience," Reginator said as he recalled the trip. "I would love to go back and explore even more, and it was an awesome experience."

"We interacted with three schools, and we got partnered up with people. We all talked about different stuff, what they do in China and what we do in the United States," he said.

It was also ninth-grader Sienna Stoneking's first trip to China in January. "It was an amazing trip, and we got to see so many cool places, and honestly, the culture was beautiful," said Stoneking.

"My favorite part was getting to see the other students and just talk about like how they live their day-to-day lives compared to how we live ours," Stoneking said.

Stoneking was impressed by Chinese students' work ethic. "I definitely look forward to learning more Chinese after this trip ... The future is up to the youth. The young need to experience different cultures in their eyes. I think that this is helping us create a better understanding and making lifelong friendships."

"China is really huge. Just like the United States. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come to China," said the letter signed by over 20 students, with some drawing hearts next to their signatures. On the right side of the main text, students drew a soaring Chinese dragon over the Great Wall.

In his reply letter, the Chinese president encouraged the Muscatine High School students to visit China again 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 Chinese youths and learn from each other so that they can jointly contribute to a stronger friendship between the people of the two countries.

Enduring friendship

Citing a Chinese saying that reads "seeing is believing," Xi, in the letter, said the warm and friendly American people he met during his first visit to the United States in 1985 have given him an indelible impression.

Likewise, it is believed that through this exchange visit, the students can gain a more intuitive and in-depth understanding of China and the Chinese people, Xi said.

In 1985, Xi Jinping, who was then the Communist Party Secretary of Zhengding County in Hebei Province, led a corn inspection team from Shijiazhuang City to Muscatine, Iowa, for a study tour.

The small house where Xi Jinping stayed in Muscatine is now named the "Sino-U.S. Friendship House."

During his U.S. visit as China's vice president in 2012, despite a tight schedule, Xi made it to the reunion in Lande's house on a snowy day. They gathered around a couch in the living room and reminisced about their joyful memories. The hour-long meeting was filled with laughter.

In November 2023, President Xi went to the U.S. to attend the China-U.S. Summit. In San Francisco, President Xi took the time to meet with these old friends.

At a welcome dinner hosted by friendly organizations in the US, Xi once again recollected the trip. "During my first visit to the United States, I stayed at the Dvorchaks in Iowa," he said. "I still remember their address - 2911 Bonnie Drive."

"It is the convergence of many streams of goodwill and friendship that has created a strong current surging across the vast Pacific Ocean; it is the reaching out to each other by our peoples that has time and again brought China-U.S. relations from a low ebb back onto the right track," Xi said in the speech at the welcome dinner.

According to Ryan Castle, the principal at Muscatine High School, a group of 50 more students is scheduled to visit China in April, and Castle will lead the group himself this time.