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Kevin E. Schmidt / Pool via AFP - Getty Images
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping talks with local people in the home of Roger and Sarah Lande in Muscatine, Iowa.
MUSCATINE, Iowa – A young, blue-eyed Sarah Lande never thought the polite young man from China, Xi Jinping, sitting at her dining room table in 1985 would go on to become the next president of China. She simply thought of him as a gentle soul with genuine interest in her family’s Iowa roots, sharing a home-cooked meal of pork, beef and locally grown corn.
Wednesday afternoon 27 years later – he returned to the same three-story home on Muscatine’s 2nd Street and walked through the same door, but this time as China’s next president.
“Coming here is really like coming back to home,” Xi told a packed living room of familiar faces he met on his 1985 visit. “You can’t even imagine what a deep impression I had from my visit 27 years ago … because you were the first group of Americans that I came into contact with.”
“Everything was very new and fresh,” he added.
Xi’s visit is a rare glimpse at an ascending leader in China’s typically opaque and rigid Communist Party. No high-ranking official has had such direct and personal ties to the United States.
'Old friends'
Xi first visited Muscatine as a provincial official from Iowa’s sister state of Hebei almost three decades ago. Leading a delegation of four other local officials on an educational trip primarily focused on agriculture, Xi and his colleagues toured local farms and businesses as part of an exchange that began with Iowans going to Hebei in 1984. He met then- and current Iowa governor Terry Branstad and more than a dozen other Iowans in Muscatine he now calls his “old friends.”
The cover of the Muscatine Journal showing the young Xi Jinping on his visit to Iowa in 1985. The headline on the story says, "Chinese visitors receive warm welcome" and there is photo of the town mayor handing Xi the keys to the city.
Lande, who was one of the organizers of his trip, was constrained by a limited budget so she resorted to old-fashioned hospitality of home-stays and meals at home. Xi spent two nights with the Dvorchaks a few blocks away from the Landes. There, Xi slept in their son’s bedroom, decorated with Star Trek figurines and wall paper.
“I wish I had updated the room,” Eleanor Dvorchak, 72, recalled. “But he was so congenial, anything would have been fine.”
One thing was for certain, no one ever expected the quiet Xi to become China’s next leader.
“Sometimes we are just in awe, that he is going to be the next leader,” Lande told NBC News in an interview ahead of the reunion.
“Nobody knew,” Dvorchak added afterward. “At the time, I was impressed what a hard worker he was.”
Clearly, Muscatine also left an indelible impression on Xi. Upon invitation back to Iowa by Governor Branstad, he requested to reunite with each person he met in Muscatine.
Small-town charm
Muscatine is the perfect, if coincidental, background to counterbalance Xi’s highly-scripted meetings in Washington. Aesthetically frozen in the 1950s, the town oozes both old-fashioned small-town charm and the harsh reality of post-industrial American economy. Many storefronts and warehouses stand empty in a place that once called itself the "pearl button capital of the world." Meanwhile, China has opened and expanded exponentially since 1985, into a roaring economy.
Kevin E. Schmidt / The Quad City Times via AP
Six-year-old Lucy Lande waits for the arrival of Xi Jinping at the home of her grandparents, Roger and Sarah Lande.
But it was friendship, not jobs, that was the complete focus of today’s reunion. Fond memories about American movies and a tour of the Mississippi river took up most of the conversation.
When Lande recalled Xi seeing puppies play in a Muscatine backyard in 1985, Xi replied, “We love puppies. We have two puppies as pets now.”
However, Xi has not always been entirely friendly to foreigners. According to a diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks last year, the soon-to-be-president lashed out against countries who have criticized China's human rights and trade record.
"There are some well-fed foreigners who have nothing better to do than point fingers at our affairs," Xi said at a lunch meeting in Mexico in February of 2009.
Ultimately, Muscatine citizens and leaders alike had high hopes of leaving another positive memory with Xi that would, yet again, last far beyond his time in Iowa.
“I hope we can really express the warmth and you know we’re proud of him and we look forward to really enhanced relations between China and America,” Lande told NBC News. “Let it start in the heartland.”
“So many Iowans are pleased that a man we befriended those many years ago, has risen to such a position of prominence and respect in the great nation of China,” Gov. Branstad said in a toast to Xi tonight at an official dinner in Des Moines.
Others hope Vice President Xi’s two visits here will help push US-China relations in a more positive direction, as diplomatic tensions have escalated over trade and currency valuation.
Hope for improved relations
During the tea at her home, Lande told Xi that she hopes the US and China will “have a surge in the amount of visas that they issue, so we can have more international exchange and more trade, as we’re having here between Iowa and China.”
Others in Muscatine are hoping to contribute to leaving a warmer legacy between the two countries.
“If you meet people and treat them the way you would want them to treat you, then good things can come from that,” said Steinbach of the Muscatine Journal.
“I hope that's the case for Muscatine and that Mr. Xi would take that back to China with him and remember that in any dealings he has in the years to come with the United States,” Steinbach added. “There are people here who are honest and hardworking that you'd I'm sure find in parts in China and anywhere else.”
Xi’s stop through the Midwest also put Muscatine on the map like never before. The anticipation of Xi’s visit took the town by storm. The local paper welcomed Xi on its front page and reproduced the articles and photos that appeared in a 1985 edition, hailing his visit as a young official.
At the local high school, a classroom of students dutifully practiced their "ni hao’s” and "xiexie's" ahead of Xi’s arrival.
Jenny Juehring has been learning Mandarin for three years and today was selected to stand on the front porch of Lande’s to greet Xi and show off her language skills.
“I think he's very cool, that'd he come back here, to a place that's so small and pretty insignificant, for such a small town,” Juehring told NBC News.
Ho Xuefeng, a waiter at a Thai restaurant downtown, took the day off of work to watch Xi’s motorcade whiz by.
“I’m originally from Shenyang,” Ho told NBC News. “To see someone like him come to this little town is rare.”
The town’s McDonald’s posted a message on their marquee for their Chinese visitor: “Welcome back, Vice President Xi Jinping,” perhaps lending a new local meaning to “billions and billions served.”
Inside, line cooks and high school-aged cashiers peered out the drive-through windows hoping to catch a glimpse of Xi’s motorcade whizzing by.
Some protests
But the trip wasn’t without minor hiccups. Free Tibet supporters lined the block leading to the home where Xi was hosted for tea and waved Tibetan flags, often chanting opposite equally animated college students from mainland China responding with “We love China!” across the street.
Just minutes before Xi’s arrival at the Lande home, security officials rerouted the vice president’s motorcade to arrive on the other side of the house, where the Tibetan flags were far from sight.
Agile protestors questioning the Chinese government’s human rights record slipped past police barricades, waving signs that read “Stop Prosecuting the Falun Gong” in English and Mandarin. They were quickly ushered away by Iowa State Troopers and a Chinese government representative.
But overall, the visit was exactly how many in Muscatine hoped it would be: friendly, smooth and memorable.
As Xi departed the Lande home in the evening rain, he peered through the window of his bullet-proof limousine, waving and waving to his “old friends” until his motorcade turned the corner.
Clad in a red silk jacket emblazoned with Chinese characters, Lande waved after the polite young man who came over for that pork and corn dinner 27 years ago.
“Wow, I just can’t believe it!” she said.
Leave a Comment:
After having a part time residence in southern China for 6 years now, I can see how polite and friendly Chinese people really can be. These protesters attempting to mar a perfectly wonderful afternoon make me sick. Every time I'm here, I'm reminded of this friendliness.
Maybe you oughta live in that place full time.Since it's so great and all!
Yeah they're really friendly alright!I suppose it passed right under your nose how a TWO YEAR KID, was run over by a truck,and left to die in the street,while your friendly people just passed by her and ignored her.It took a homeless woman to drag the kid off the street and get some clown's attention in order to get her to a hospital.By the way the kid died anyway!
Oh yeah and how about those forced abortions,they have as rule if you more than the allotted kids.Yeah that's real friendly
That's seems to be the NORM in China!
Yes very friendly! Like I said live there full time! GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEsus
You sound angry Gloria. Maybe you should stop reading the news. I don't know if you noticed that decades ago China wasn't as big as it is now. Its growth spurt is leading to a huge clash of differences from the poor and rich, things like "manners" for example, you help a person who just fell in the river and then people point the finger at you saying you only saved them because you "pushed" that person!
There was an uproar in different parts of China of how people called for the heads of all those who passed by that child, you must have missed that part. As for the abortions, well, what about all the kidnapped girls? Seeing how people only want boys, girls are becoming high demand, illegally.
All chinese people that I have met have been the everyday Joe as we call them, very polite and helpful, really good neighbors to have.
great the next leader of communist china is visiting.in other news;on npr today they played chinese radio from bejing.the commentator was quick to address the negative free trade dialog coming from presidential candidates.he reminds us that chinas emergence as the dominate super power in the world was due to greedy corporate america wanting cheaper labor and nothing the chinese were doing.many blame u.s. corporate taxes but this is just misleading dialog.the only reason we are mired in this recession for the past 4 years has been the outsourcing of the jobs necessary to end it.he also reminded us that millions of american families now out of work for a year or more require the governments help to provide the basic necessities of life,food,shelter and medical help.again this is not due to anything the chinese are doing.he is of course right.if you dont like strengthening our enemies the communist chinese and destroying the american middle class end free trade
Clearly, the people of this town made an impact on him those many years ago.
It's a shame that people aren't as open to vistors as they used to be. We get so scared by media reports of killers and such that we no longer show the compassion and openess that we once did. 27 years wasn't that long ago, but we have grown so much more paranoid since. Not just of outsiders, but of anyone that we don't know.
The majority of the problems with China stem from its centrally controlled socialist government which will say or do anything it has to to stay in power "for the good of the nation". Sound familiar Obama lovers?
We Obama lovers are not socialists, we are progressive though.
Most of the folks making noises about obedience in our land are the bible-thumping and backwards KoolAid Party hypocrites.
What is the difference between socialist and progressive? As the initial idea is over 100 years old that doesn't seem like progress. There are no simple answers or simple problems.
So, I guess that means you're a Romney Lover? A supporter of someone who would say or do anything to GAIN power...uh..."for the good of the nation"? But, I'm sure that behavior would have changed had he been elected.
China has sure come a long way, im happy for their people. Amazing really how fast and how much they have caught up, but not surprising.. They are a great people. I have known a few chinese people in my life, and they were all honorable, honest, hard working, nice people. Having the Chinese as a friend is definitely and asset for the country. I think its great that relations between countries has come this far. Both have a lot to offer eachother, and both can benefit from it. Its a win/win.
There was a time when Americans understood something about the shared values of commerce and friendship, neighbors and learning from each other. You have to be an old geek like me to remember that.
But, if current generations don't learn from that part of our past and listen instead to the Ron Pauls and Rick Santorums of this day - they are doomed to follow our economy into the bilge of history to rot and diminish. Folks who think a nation's future rests on religious pride and ego-smitten phrase-mongers are more stupid than ignorant.
Leave it up to the US government and we will mostly become poor dirt farmers like most of China. I'm glad his first visit was mainly with, as some would refer to them, rednecks, teabaggers, gun toting conservatives, the people that consider the Constitution more then morning a$$ wipe material. Also in Washington we have the flip side or as liberals would call them, the dark side, the "moral" minority, these are the ones that want to legislate morality from a bench, invade personal rights, pass laws to demand compliance using "biblical" teaching to push their interpretation of "freedom". As a Christian myself, I understand that God wants freedom of choice for all people, that is why I didn't use a capital in "biblical". My Bible makes it clear, personal choice to follow Him is a responsibility for individuals. And as a Great Nation, We the People, need to realise that Our government has taken control away from the people and put it in the hands of bankers and narcissists on the left and right, using the idea of "One Nation under God" as a focal point.
Here and Hear my point. We Christians cannot demand conformity any more than non believers can demand we conform to them. As a Nation, we cannot allow the left or right to drag us into this quagmire of deception any longer. Freedom of Choice is all we, on both sides, want, but we get side tracked by organised individuals on both sides to tear down the documents that guarantee freedom as a right of the Individual.
As a Christian my laws are set, and if you believe as I do, our laws guide us into harmony with our Creator. If another man wants to join with a man, or woman with woman its their choice but the government should only make laws that benefit children not laws that benefit (any) couples, equal rights. If a woman wants to abort a pregnancy that is her and the man, if any is "involved", to make that decision. The government has no right to pay for abortion or birth control, again, equal rights. It would take years to fix the damage that has been done to Our government by the internal struggles for"Freedom". Otherwise we are just another China waiting to happen.
Ron Paul in 2012
Visits like this, personal contact like this are what the world needs more of. It gives hope to the belief that as people we can all get along and share this planet.
And there is no better place to do this than in Iowa!
I am sorry to say that your view is entirely naive. Mr. Xi is pursuing his country's interest with great determination and cunning in equal measures. Our irresponsible and stupid, in equal measures, politicians argue about abortion, while they pick the winners in the new economy like Citibank, Bank of America, Fannie Mae, and Sallie Mae--all companies for which the country would be a lot better off, if they had been allowed to fail and be replaced with more efficient/ethical firms that respond better to the market place. While taking payola from these firms and industries, congress--of both parties--scheme to get an ever increasing amount of your money while providing @!$%#ty services in return. Some congressman even have the gaul to take stock options on companies they favored with legislation.
People need to wake up and ask why 'Energy Independence' has not been achieved in 30 years while the worthless war on drugs goes on wasting billions of dollars each year...not to mention the completely unnecessary occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Get rid of Sadaam, yes, occupy Iraq for five years....are you @!$%#ing insane? Americans need to wake up to the fact that the educational system is intentionally dumbed down and controlled so as to make the majority of us stupid and ignorant consumers rather than the 'owners' that the constitutional framers intended. Money has corrupted congress so thoroughly that they can only give lip service to getting anything accomplished in campaign rhetoric which gullible Americans believe every election cycle.
Solutions: 1) Outlaw all campaign contributions greater than $1,000 for individuals, and all corporate and pac contributions. Mandate free airtime on 'C-SPAN4' or other channel for debates for all candidates in all elections. 2) Allow proportional representation of minor parties in congress to take away the dictatorship of the two party 'club' system. 3) Outlaw accepting money, gifts, and travel from any party. 4) Outlaw lobbying by government contractors doing business with the government, who have been successful in extending the occupations overseas to enrich themselves. 5) Take away the free money extended to the large banks by the federal reserve and instead make it available for homeowners to refinance and/or pay off their mortgages 6) Totally revamp the US healthcare system be for the care of patients rather than profits beginning with medical schools and encompassing insurance companies, drug companies, pharmacies, and coroners. 8) Have truly participatory elections over the Internet so that all citizens can vote and always giving the voter the option: none of the above and abolish this office.
Thoreau: I am anything but naive. Call me hopeful, what else is there?
It seems you jumped on this article as one jumps on a soap box. Could you have not at least stayed on the issue?
Chinese civilization is the longest survivng civilization in the history of mankind. What they have accomplished at our expense in the last 25 years is amazing and only rivaled by our rise to World power at the end of WW II. While our leaders are engaged in constant bi-partisan warfare only focusing on the next election cycle and kicking the can 5-10yrs down the road (ie: 2013 budget/10 yr deficit projections), China is continuing to move forward. They probably have a blueprint 50 years into the future while we have no clear plan or agreed upon short term solutions as to address a myriad of challenges we currently face that threaten our long term survivability as a world power.
Our government has spun out of control and it's up to WE THE PEOPLE to stand up and do something about it ! US Citizens...we need to become more educated and involved in our political process. It is more importamt than ever before that we do. If we could invest time into how we want to live and the future of our kids and grandkids instead of spending so much time watching others live their lives on TV and Facebook maybe we could make a positive difference. If we can't we better start kissing ass right now and be prepared to be cheap labor for the Chinese manufacturers in 2030 and beyond.
It is refreshing that this heir apparent would spend some time in the Midwest, returning to say hello once again to a family that took him in and treated him as guest. Americans have a way, as do the Chinese and most cultures, of welcoming newcomers into their midst. Hopefully, this man will take these memories as serious illustrations of America's desire to remain in touch with Chinese and American realities. As a temporary resident in China, I have also been treated with respect and dignity and f ind the openness and desire to learn about the west invigorating. My best day is always on Sunday at the English corner where I meet with many people, young and old and we discuss topics of interest. The children often ask me the most vivid questions, and sometimes I am asked to read stories to them for they love to hear the voice of an American. When you are one on one and within the freshness of a Chinese family, its a social occasion and very satisfying. I would hope that the Chinese government will invite our President for a state visit and allow him access to the average homes for a gracious welcome.
What a heart warming story. Wish we could have had the head commie stay in our sons room. See, they aren't monsters, just plain folks like those Iowans. Communism isn't so bad after all. Just cause they beat the crap out of everyone who disagrees with them and put them in prison, or make them disappear doesn't mean that they aren't just plain folks. Maybe it's time we all took a commie into our home. Maybe we could even take them to Church with us, or maybe sit around the supper table and smile and talk about the evil bourgeoisie. And thanks for the little red book comrade.
The state of Iowa is on eBay! 7 day auction, highest bidder wins! All shipping/handling charges will be charged to the winner! ... Hey, by the way, no terrorists will be included ....
Try driving or getting into an elevator in China and you will see how "polite" the Chinese really are. Anyone can pretend politeness for show. But does your society show any sense of a civil society, that's the real question. I believe that China and the US must learn to cooperate and live together peacefully. However, the kind of photo-op slock shoveled in this article does nothing promote a real understanding of two vastly different societies.
America and China should be
good friends and partners but they have to act like a friend. Mutually
beneficial trade would be balanced with US exporting agricultural products,
high tech products and teaching their students skills that would help them make
consumer products for domestic consumption. They would export labor intensive
products and develop their domestic consumption economy.
What they would not do is steal our technology, be the source of cyber
attacks, rapidly build their military, threaten their neighbors in the South
China Sea, embargo rare earth metals and support rogue states like Iran and North Korea. When they start acting
like friends we can resume treating them like friends. Until then we should
protect our technology and return to training American engineering students
instead of Chines students. Read more at www.china-threat.com.
Sometimes China gets ahead of us because our politicians allows it to happen, like allowing our jobs to go to China.
Yes in dee dee an article on how the Devil came to dinner in a small Iowa town and all the gullible clowns applauding it ! They actually think this Devil is there friend! AAAAAAAHH.It's heart warming isn't it?
Unfricken Believable!
Haha... those of you falling for this bullspit are the the most gullible our society has to offer. I'll always believe my own eyes over propaganda. I've personally known too many conniving chinese to ever trust them. Do good ones exist? Of course, but when the culture is generally corrupt then I could care less.
When china ascends as the dominant force on the global scene (which I think they will) they'll all change their names from "Roger", "Brian", "Wendy", etc. back to their native names. If another country ascends instead, say the Russians, and that country is stupid enough to let hordes of chinese invade their shores, receive top-notch educations, steal its technology, set-up up all cash businesses and run food-stamp fraud, human-trafficking, prostitution, counterfeiting, and every other scam imaginable, then you'll see Xi, Mao, Ling, and the rest of the lot magically turn into Vladimir, Boris, and Sergey.
what this got to do with names? chinese in US change name to a english name because most american can't pronounce it. can you pronounce xuhaiwang, juanyu etc etc.
Who can believe that the last 30-40 years has seen such a change in the world-- Europe´s economic problens and the U.S.`s stumbling for a country that was the example for the rest of the world? Brazil´s emergence as a world economic power? Things are changing and in one of the apparitions of the Blessed Mother, Mary, she warns us of the second coming of Jesus and the need to conversion, repentance etc. Believe or not, that is your free will but for me, the message was enough.
""There are some well-fed foreigners who have nothing better to do than point fingers at our affairs," Xi said." Meanwhile, his government is starving to death the blind activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife inside their house for the "crime" of exposing the barbaric practice of forced abortions in China. No one is allowed to visit them, and even his mother, who had been bringing them food, has been barred from the house. I lived in China and had good friends there, but their government is pure evil.
well There's already 600 posts ( a lot Of Armchair Politicians! ) Only Thing I could add. if someone else hasn't.. is : ISN'T CHINA BEING ACCUSED OF HELPING THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT? ( who is strapping innocents to tanks) our good old "dear friend" coming back... kiss kiss: Yeah and the Falon Gong ("religious freedom" has been Quashed .. And Tibet Invaded and taken over.
Those dear dear lovely "Chinese"........ ( The people can be good, but. the Government?? )