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A letter from Chinese president, a tale of China-U.S. friendship

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2019-04-23 08:47:34Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping ECNS App Download
Wang Limin (R, front), a Chinese teacher at Niles North High School, shows a reply letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping in Illinois state, the United States, April 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

Wang Limin (R, front), a Chinese teacher at Niles North High School, shows a reply letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping in Illinois state, the United States, April 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

Wang Limin, a Chinese teacher at Niles North High School in the northern suburbs of Chicago, still remembers clearly the reaction of her students when she told them that Chinese President Xi Jinping had replied to their letter.

"Their eyes wide open, mouth wide open, asking is this real?" Wang recalled. The students just could not believe that the Chinese president, who runs a country of more than 1.3 billion people, has time to reply to a letter from a group of high school students in the United States.

Only when Wang presented proof, an email from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, did they come to realize that it was not an April Fool's Day prank.

It all started in February, just before the Chinese Spring Festival, when Wang gave the 44 students in her class a piece of homework of writing a Chinese letter to Xi, to wish him a Happy New Year. The students then voted for the best letter, signed the letter, and Wang mailed it to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.

In the letter, the students introduced themselves, saying that they are studying Chinese, that they love the Chinese language and characters, as well as music and Chinese food, and that they would love to have a chance to visit China.

They also asked Xi about his work, life and hobbies, wished him a Happy Year of the Pig, and expressed the wish to receive his reply.

Their wish came true. In his reply letter, the Chinese president said he feels their love for the Chinese language and their interest in the Chinese culture.

He praised the students' neat writing and correct wording in Chinese, and encouraged them to continue the efforts to achieve greater progress in Chinese learning.

"I have visited the United States for many times, and was deeply impressed by the beautiful scenery, hospitable people and diverse culture there. I have also made many American friends, including young friends," the president said.

"My job is to serve the people. It is very tiring, but also very fulfilling," he added.

Calling the young generation the future of China-U.S. friendship, Xi said he hopes that these young students will study hard and make contributions to promoting friendship between the Chinese and American people, and welcomes them to visit China.

Xi also sent his best regards to the families and teachers of the students.

When the Chinese Consul General in Chicago brought the reply letter to the students earlier this month, all students studying Chinese at Niles North High School held a ceremony to receive it.

At the ceremony, the students chanted famous Chinese poems such as "Quiet Night Thought" and "Spring Dawn," and sang a Chinese song named "The Moon Represents My Heart" in perfect Chinese.

Kendra Le, a freshman at the high school, was so excited that her letter, which was quite professional in grammar with the help of her Chinese teacher, has been selected and sent to the Chinese president.

"I did not expect it at all because I thought he was really busy. Why would he have time to just respond to us? But he did and everyone was kind of surprised," Le said. "It's an honor."

As a Chinese American, "I wanted to learn about my own culture because I am Chinese. I wanted to learn more of the language and one day hopefully I do want to go to China," Le said.

Serena Meyers, a senior among the 44 students, was also thrilled at the reply letter from the Chinese president. "He cordially invited us, saying it would be nice of you to come to China. And of course that gave me a lot of inspiration just to know that he would put his time and effort into the letter to mention that," Meyers said.

James Edwards, principal of Niles North High School, told Xinhua that he did know that his students were once in the middle of writing a letter to the Chinese president.

"But I had no idea that we would have this wonderful outcome as a result of that letter writing. I'm very proud of our students for writing the letter," Edwards said.

"We've had three very dedicated Chinese teachers who not only teach the language, but just as importantly the culture, the music, the art, the literature, which is imperative to understanding what China is all about," he said.

Edwards thanked Xi for "being able to take time out of his busy day to acknowledge the work of our students."

"The students have been thrilled for the last few days," he said.

Edwards said he is confident that with support from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, his school will rekindle exchange programs with China.

Niles North High School, a public school established in 1964 in the U.S. state of Illinois, began to teach Chinese in 2008 at the request of parents and following a student interest survey. In the past few years, the number of Chinese classes has increased from four to 11.

"We were very excited," said Steven Isoye, superintendent of the high school, noting that Xi's reply letter "allowed for our students to be able to celebrate" and at the same time "to further ties with China."

"We can begin our conversations about how to continue a relationship, now that we've kind of built this bridge right now," he said. Enditem

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