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Can Winnie Xi speak English?
- Thread starter jurongwest
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Of course he cannot but I understand he can speak Mandarin and write Chinese very well. What about Sinkies ? BTW Singlish is not a language.
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Xi Jinping and his four-decade bond with Iowan friends
Updated: February 5, 2025 15:14 Xinhua
BEIJING, Feb. 5 -- 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."
Updated: February 5, 2025 15:14 Xinhua
BEIJING, Feb. 5 -- 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."
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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.
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.
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But the officials underestimated the hands-on enthusiasm of the most important member of their delegation.
"I saw Mr Xi looking at the John Deere tractor," Mr Kimberly says, "and I asked him if he wanted to climb on.
"Of course he did. We were speaking through a translator, but he even didn't wait for the translation, he understood me right away and went right to the tractor."
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, Xi Jinping (centre) climbs out of the cab of the tractor with Rick Kimberley (r) while touring his family farm in 2012
The health and safety fears turned out to be unfounded, and Mr Xi was both delighted and uninjured by his ride on farm equipment.
It proved to be another chapter in the Chinese president's curious ties to the largely rural Midwestern state.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, The future leader of China seemed to enjoy his hands-on visit
Mr Xi first travelled to Iowa in 1985 as part of an agricultural delegation from China's Hebei province.
He stayed in Muscatine, a city of about 24,000 people circled by farmland and the Mississippi River.
The People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, noted that the delegation "visited elderly people in the local community, attended a birthday party, had six interviews with local media outlets and attended five welcome banquets held by the US side".
"I thought he was a very nice, focused, polite man," Eleanor Dvorchak, who hosted Mr Xi at her home during his stay, later told the BBC. "It was a pleasure to have him at the house."
The Dvorchaks put Mr Xi up in their son's bedroom - he was away at college at the University of Iowa at the time. If the Chinese president had an opinion about the room's Star Trek wallpaper, he has managed to keep it to himself.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, The Chinese leader reunited with Muscatine residents including Sarah Lande (L) during his 2012 visit. In 1985, Ms Lande helped coordinate a visit to Muscatine for a delegation headed by Mr Xi
"I saw Mr Xi looking at the John Deere tractor," Mr Kimberly says, "and I asked him if he wanted to climb on.
"Of course he did. We were speaking through a translator, but he even didn't wait for the translation, he understood me right away and went right to the tractor."
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, Xi Jinping (centre) climbs out of the cab of the tractor with Rick Kimberley (r) while touring his family farm in 2012
The health and safety fears turned out to be unfounded, and Mr Xi was both delighted and uninjured by his ride on farm equipment.
It proved to be another chapter in the Chinese president's curious ties to the largely rural Midwestern state.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, The future leader of China seemed to enjoy his hands-on visit
Mr Xi first travelled to Iowa in 1985 as part of an agricultural delegation from China's Hebei province.
He stayed in Muscatine, a city of about 24,000 people circled by farmland and the Mississippi River.
The People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, noted that the delegation "visited elderly people in the local community, attended a birthday party, had six interviews with local media outlets and attended five welcome banquets held by the US side".
"I thought he was a very nice, focused, polite man," Eleanor Dvorchak, who hosted Mr Xi at her home during his stay, later told the BBC. "It was a pleasure to have him at the house."
The Dvorchaks put Mr Xi up in their son's bedroom - he was away at college at the University of Iowa at the time. If the Chinese president had an opinion about the room's Star Trek wallpaper, he has managed to keep it to himself.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, The Chinese leader reunited with Muscatine residents including Sarah Lande (L) during his 2012 visit. In 1985, Ms Lande helped coordinate a visit to Muscatine for a delegation headed by Mr Xi
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