School thrilled with Xi's response

A high school in Tacoma, Washington, was once again pleased to receive a message from China.

It was the second time they received such a communication, the first in 2016 — from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

About four weeks ago, Patrick Erwin, principal of Lincoln High School, sent a communication to President Xi. He wrote about the exchanges between his school and China over the past years and how the educational partnership is important to his students.  

"President Xi is a strong believer in educational exchanges. He had written to my students before. But I never had an expectation for this response," said Erwin.

Erwin got a message on Monday from Xi via the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco. Xi said he had received the letter and encouraged students at the school to build a bridge for people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.  

Xi visited Lincoln High School in 2015, at the start of a state visit. He brought gifts including a ping pong table, books on China, and later sent a personal invitation for the students to visit China, building friendship between the two countries' youths.   

Xi invited the students to China, and in 2016, nearly 100 of the students took up the offer. He and first lady Peng Liyuan sent them a letter afterward inviting them to return. 

Since then, the school has arranged visits to China every year. Students have been visiting cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Dujiangyan in Sichuan province and Fuzhou in Fujian province.   

The last time Lincoln High students got a chance to visit China was in July 2019, when they participated in the International Youth Interactive Friendship Camp in Shanghai, an opportunity for foreign students to learn about traditional Chinese culture through lessons and outdoor activities with local volunteers.  

They still regularly communicate on WeChat with their friends from Shanghai, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere.     

Around three years ago, we took five students to visit China and one of them did not know what to expect, Erwin said. "He was excited to go but he had never traveled, never been on a plane. Not long ago, when I saw this student, who is in college, he gave me a hug and said he thinks about the trip to China every day," Erwin said.

"It is a life-changing experience, both in terms of the travel itself, and the exposures to the culture, the history and the Chinese people," Erwin said. "My students all want to go back to China and study in China."  

Due to the political situation between the two countries and the coronavirus pandemic, the trips to China last year were canceled, but Erwin said that as soon as travel is viable, there will be another student trip to China.  

"We still don't have specific plans in terms of where we would go," Erwin told China Daily but said, "Chengdu with the panda base" is always on the priority list.

The city of Tacoma and the Washington State Panda Foundation gathered about 7,000 surgical face masks and sent them to Fuzhou early last year. Last summer, when a shortage of personal protective equipment was endangering the safety of Tacoma, Fuzhou donated more than 70,000 N95 masks to the city.