In 2021, Colorado was China’s fastest-growing trade partner amongst the Heartland States, boasting a staggering 88% increase in goods exports. The total of $1.1 billion in export revenue marked the highest year on record, well above the 2008-2017 average of $637 million. A significant portion of this growth is likely attributed to meat products, which more than tripled from 2020 to 2021. Colorado’s strength in renewable energy, clean-tech, and tourism further positions it well for service export expansion with China. Yet as with many Heartland states, such promising opportunities may be hampered by broader geopolitical tensions. Colorado’s solar industry, for example, was heavily impacted by a 2022 federal investigation into potential Chinese avoidance of tariffs. The inability to travel due to the pandemic has also significantly diminished Chinese tourism to the state. Chinese Americans, although small in numbers, have had a long history in Colorado. Denver’s Historic Chinatown was once one of the largest and most prosperous Chinatowns in the Heartland before it was destroyed during anti-Chinese sentiment in 1880. Thanks to John Yee, a Flying Tigers veteran who had emigrated to Colorado, Denver and Kunming became sister cities in 1986 and celebrated their 35th year of friendship via a virtual celebration in 2021. 

The China-Colorado business relationship grew tremendously in 2021, with Colorado as China’s fastest-growing trade partner out of the 21 Heartland states, boasting a staggering 88% increase in goods exports. 2021 marked the highest year on record for Colorado’s goods exporting to China at $1.1 billion, having previously barely topped $700 million, a number a little above the 2008-2017 decade average of $637 million. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, service exports from Colorado to China fell by -39%.

Prior to 2021’s massive upswing, Colorado’s exporting to China had been remarkably steady–so steady in fact, that the state experienced remarkably little disruption to its exporting to China during the trade war, with a very small 6% decrease–not to say that the impact on Colorado’s industries was a net zero. Tariffs on Chinese solar panels throttled the solar power sector and neither administration since has incentivized solar production which is a major industry in Colorado. Colorado’s solar industry–with 330 solar companies in state, employing 7,000 Coloradans–was also heavily impacted by a federal investigation into potential Chinese avoidance of tariffs, raising the price of solar panels and causing hiring freezes; this prompted Colorado Senator Michael Bennet in May 2022 to protest the investigation and tariffs stifling said industry.

To further put 2021’s remarkable growth in perspective, Colorado’s exports to China had hit the low of the past decade just two years prior in 2019 at $534 million–less than half of 2021’s total value. A significant portion of this growth may be attributed to meat products, Colorado’s #1 export to China, which more than tripled in revenue over the course of a year for a total of $373 million. Beef exports alone grew by a factor of 418% in 2021 due to China’s increasing demand for high-quality American beef–in fact, China has become the 2nd largest market for Colorado beef. The major detractor has been the pandemic’s throttling of international travel, as Colorado previously generated the fourth largest revenue from Chinese tourism in the Heartland region totaling at $216 million in 2019.

Recently Colorado has experienced a period of not only growth but also reflection. 2021 marked the 35th anniversary of the Denver-Kunming sister cities relationship, celebrated last November in a panel organized by USHCA (watch the video here). In addition, on April 16th, 2022, Mayor Michael Hancock officially signed a letter of apology to the Denver Chinese community for the city’s role in the anti-Chinese race riot of 1880. Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU) has been working to re-envision Denver’s Historic Chinatown (known as the “LoDo” sector) which was once one of the largest and most prosperous Chinatowns to have existed in the Heartland. These efforts mark a growing appreciation for the history of Coloradoan Chinese and Chinese-Americans.

China ranks as Colorado’s second leading place of origin for international students in 2022, dropping from first place in 2021, with an estimated 1,627 students in attendance. This marks an estimated -33% decrease in enrollment of Chinese students from 2021 to 2022, and a -50% decrease from 2020 to 2022.

This data and content is updated periodically. The most recent update was January 2023.