Muscatine celebrates pearl of a partnership
This Friday will be a huge day for Muscatine, as it renews a profoundly important friendship with China and helps celebrate the Chinese New Year.
On Feb. 9 at 7 p.m., at – for the first time in four years – a live Chinese New Year concert will be held. It features the Art Troupe of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China (RDFZ), renowned for its diverse artistic groups including dance, boys’ dance, symphony orchestra, martial arts, aerobics, choir, and folk orchestra.
With over 300 members aged 13-17, these junior and senior high school students boast excellent academic and artistic talents. They have achieved national and international acclaim in various competitions, and since 2004, the troupe has participated in international exchange performances, showcasing Chinese culture globally.
The performance will be approximately 90 minutes, and the sold-out show is free to all, thanks to the Bank of China and the Muscatine China Initiative Committee.
“Restarting the annual Chinese New Year concerts, which had occurred for five years in a row prior to COVID, shows the importance of the relationship between Muscatine and China,” Chris Anderson, president of Pearl City Media, said Wednesday.
The RDFZ’s U.S. tour this year consists of just four stops — Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Muscatine and Chicago. Muscatine is honored to continue to play a significant role in this relationship, Anderson said.
“The celebration promises to be an unforgettable cultural experience, highlighting the rich traditions of the Chinese New Year and fostering the enduring friendship between China and the United States,” he said.
This performance is a testament to the strong cultural and educational ties between Muscatine and China. The relationship began in 1985 with (now) Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Muscatine and has since flourished through various cultural exchanges and business partnerships, including the establishment of a sister city relationship with Zhengding County and significant investments in the local community.
Dan Stein, a key figure in Muscatine-China relations and chairman of the Sarah D. Lande US-China Friendship Education Fund, expressed his excitement.
“This performance is not just an artistic display; it’s a celebration of the deep friendship and mutual respect between our communities,” he said in a release. “We are honored to host the RDFZ Art Troupe and share this cultural gem with the people of Muscatine.”
Celebratory lunch
Also on Friday, in celebration of the Chinese New Year, this performance, the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between U.S. and China and the recent visit to China by 24 Muscatine High School students, MCIC and the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago are hosting a noon luncheon at the Merrill Hotel.
Expected dignitaries in attendance are to include:
Zhao Jian, Consul General, The People’s Republic of China in Chicago
Sarah Lande of Muscatine, Citizen Diplomat
Ambassador Terry Branstad, President, World Food Prize Foundation
Luca Berrone of Des Moines, Citizen Diplomat
Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, President Emeritus, World Food Prize Foundation
There was a similar Chinese New Year lunch event held on Feb. 1, 2023.
The Muscatine China Initiative Committee is dedicated to fostering cultural, educational, and business exchanges between Muscatine and China. It aims to build strong, lasting relationships based on mutual understanding and respect.
In 1985, three decades before he rose to become China’s top leader, a then-31-year-old Xi Jinping visited Iowa to study agriculture as part of a five-person delegation from Hebei province.
Lande and her husband befriended Xi during his trip, both Chinese and U.S. media reported. Per Chinese state media agency Xinhua, Lande helped coordinate Xi’s 1985 visit, and she remembered him fondly.
“He had a smile that would not stop. He was curious about everything and asked questions about everything,” she said of Xi, according to a Xinhua interview published last year.
Xi visited Iowa again in 2012, this time during a state visit as China’s vice president. There, he reunited with the Landes at their Victorian home in Muscatine. A year later, he was appointed as China’s top leader.
“You were the first group of Americans I came into contact with,” Xi told residents of Muscatine, per state media. “To me, you are America.”
The visit was big for Muscatine, with Chinese and local officials attending and national U.S. outlets providing coverage.
In 2022, Xi replied to a letter from Sarah Lande:
“I visited the beautiful state of Iowa twice, and have forged an indissoluble bond with the city of Muscatine,” he wrote. “The Chinese and American people are both great people and our friendship is not only a valuable asset, but also an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations. The Chinese people are ready to keep on joining the American people in strengthening friendly exchanges, pushing forward mutually beneficial cooperation, and jointly promoting the well-being of the two peoples.”
On Oct. 22, 2023, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng visited Sarah Lande’s home, where he reviewed Xi Jinping’s four-decade friendship with the people of Muscatine, and cordially interacted with local students studying Chinese.
Students including Molly Mercer and Renee Lin welcomed Ambassador Xie at the porch. They happily shared their stories with Chinese learning, and expressed their admiration for the Chinese culture, according to a report from the Chinese Embassy in the U.S.
Ambassador Xie commended Lande for her efforts to encourage students in Muscatine to study Chinese and the youths in both countries to deepen mutual understanding. He said that the future of China-U.S. relations lies with youth.
President Xi’s stories with his old friends in Iowa, especially Muscatine, are inspiring more young people to be part of the efforts to renew China-U.S. friendship, the embassy said.
He expressed expectation to meet with the students again in Washington D.C., and encouraged them to take study tours to or pursue further studies in China, so that they could see the country for themselves and better understand it as well as its culture. Ambassador Xie gave the students the DVD of the documentary “Chinese Puzzle” as a gift, encouraging them to aim at greater success in studying Chinese and be part of the Chinese puzzle.
Local gifts of art
Chris Anderson, a local mural artist who works for Discover Muscatine, and his 15-year-old daughter Chiara, a sophomore at Muscatine High School, have made paintings and inscribed pearl buttons to donate to the visiting Chinese dignitaries and performers.
He has made artwork for previous Chinese New Year events in Muscatine, including pearl artwork.
“They’re really big into pearl,” Anderson said recently, noting each of the 65 dancers and performers will get a donated pearl button at the visit. He’s affixing pearl buttons to one of the paintings.
“The school district has had great success with the foreign exchange program with China,” he noted. “Whenever Chinese people meet other people, you bring gifts.”
Anderson has made art for Chinese visitors at least four times. “Pearl in particular represents immortality, good luck, health, and a bunch of really cool things,” he said. “Muscatine being the pearl capital of the world and China being on the other side of the planet, it ties into so many aspects of the relationship between Muscatine and China.”
Muscatine was the “Pearl Button Capital of the World,” mother of pearl shells, taken from rivers of 19 states to once make 1.5 billion pearl buttons annually, 1/3 of the world’s pearl buttons. The National Pearl Button Museum is at 117 W. 2nd St., Muscatine.
“I think it’s my daughter is in the high school; they’re doing this event at the high school and she gets to be there to give a gift,” Anderson said of this Friday.
Chiara said this will be her first time at the Chinese New Year event at her school.
“I’ve done at since I was a little kid – I doodled, paint, and it just kind of stuck with me,” she said. “I want to make my skills better and make things out of my art, to be something.”
“I’ve been to many of these, and my favorite part is the cool instruments they use,” Chris said. “They use traditional everything, so it’s a totally foreign experience. When you’re there, you feel like you’re in China. It’s cool.”
“This is my first kind of big thing, so I am kind of nervous, but excited at the same time,” Chiara said. “I am so happy I get the opportunity to do this.”
She considers herself lucky that she lives in Muscatine, that has this special relationship with China.
Discover Muscatine will record the program, so the public can watch a video later, both online and Muscatine cable access.
“I love it – this is just wonderful and I feel so privileged to be part of it,” Chris said. “There’s so much turmoil in the world right now, that we can have this, to come together and see that we’re all just humans.”
“These prominent officials, they run the show over there, so these relationships are crucial for them to feel good about our relationships worldwide,” he said. “I really feel like there’s something special with Muscatine, being that it’s in the middle of America and we’ve got this presidential connection. It’s just incredible – it’s a small world.”
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