MUSCATINE, Iowa — Chicago's Chinese Consulate hosted a lunch at the Merrill Hotel in Muscatine to commemorate the Lunar New Year and the longstanding friendship between the Iowa Town and China.
It all started with a group of five Chinese officials coming to America. They stayed in the Dvorchak family home for two weeks in 1985. One of the Dvorchak's sons, Gary, was away at college.
"This is the thing that everyone kind of forgets. They're like, oh the President stayed in your house, when in 1985 he wasn't the president," Gary said. "These were five regular Chinese guys. There's nothing special about them. And you know, they were nice regular people."
None of them knew that nearly 30 years later, one of those officials would become president of the People's Republic of China. Since that first trip, President Xi Jinping has maintained a relationship with the family and the city that welcomed him.
Accompanying the 1985 delegation was Luca Berrone, who is now on the Board of Directors for Iowa Sister States.
"What is wonderful is that 40 years later, everybody still remembers the trip and the involvement and recollect with much fondness," Berrone said.
In celebration of that bond, and the Lunar New Year, the Consulate-General to China hosted a lunch.
Students from Muscatine High School and the RDFZ Art Troupe continued the tradition of cultural exchange, sharing performances, gifts and friendship.
Leo Regennitter was one of 24 high schoolers who visited Beijing, Shanghai and Muscatine's sister city Zhending during a trip to China in January. He said the trip was life-changing.
"What I saw was we're not that different," Regennitter said. "Like we like some of the same stuff. We do some of the same stuff. And we do have those differences, but we can learn from those differences and teach each other."
One of the landmarks of the 1985 trip is the Dvorchak family home, now dubbed the Sino-U.S. Friendship House. Visitors from China make a point to visit 2911 Bonnie Drive. Gary recently bought back the home and said he has plans to turn it into a museum.
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