2022 U.S.-China High-Level Dialogue Brings Old and New Friends Together in Iowa

Before Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang and his wife arrived in Des Moines, they had visited Muscatine–a city in which Chinese President Xi had spent some time when he was a young county-level cadre from Hebei province back in the 80’s.  Ambassador Qin also visited with Sarah Lande, an old friend of President Xi, the Kimberly Farm, and the Amana Colonies, where President Xi’s father, then Governor of Guangdong province, Xi Zhongxun, had visited as the leader of the first Chinese provincial leaders delegation to the U.S. in 1980.  

When Ambassador Qin Gang and his wife Madame Lin arrived at the historical World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines, where the reception and dialogue would take place later that evening, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, a USHCA strategic advisor, and his wife Le Son greeted them and gave them a tour of this historical building.  Originally the Des Moines Public Library building, the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates was restored to its former glory under the leadership and vision of Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn where he was the President of the World Food Prize for over twenty years.  Ambassador Quinn was inspired by the visions of World Food Prize founder Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, and together they worked tirelessly to promote peace through agriculture. 

Of special importance to U.S.-China collaboration in agriculture are commemorative elements throughout the World Food Prize building.  From the two Chinese winners featured on the wall of the World Food Prize Laureates to a bronze plaque that commemorated the historical 2012 U.S.-China High-Level Agricultural Symposium that took place in this very building when then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address, and a commissioned painting showing the interesting stories that connect both Chinese President Xi and his father to Iowa.