It's been over a month, but Yu Xiaoqing's trip to the United States remains vivid in her memory.
The 13-year-old took part in a weeklong study tour in the Midwestern state of Iowa in early October, together with nine other students and two teachers from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province.
"I got a small golden pumpkin from Kimberley Farm in Des Moines," the teenager told China Daily on Monday, adding that she saw a truck full of pumpkins as it was harvest time at the farm.
"As Halloween was approaching, the farmer, Rick Kimberley, gave each of us a pumpkin as a gift. I think it was very meaningful because our country's president had been to that farm and fostered friendships with the farmer," she said.
Zhao Suxia, head of the school's foreign affairs office, said the Friendship Inheritance Study Program was initiated for students to retrace the routes President Xi Jinping took during his visits to Iowa in 1985 and in 2012, and for them to advance and expand the friendship.
In the spring of 1985, Xi, then a county leader in Zhengding, Hebei, set foot on US soil for the first time.
Xi led a five-member agricultural delegation to look at farm technology in Muscatine, Iowa, a leading US production area of corn and soybeans.
That trip helped Xi get acquainted with the US, and from then on, he has fostered friendships with US people.
Zhao said the study group also visited the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines, as well as the Sino-US Friendship House and Muscatine High School in Muscatine.
The house where Xi stayed in 1985 has come to symbolize the desire of ordinary people for closer ties between China and the US. "We have fully experienced the warm and friendly hospitality of the American people," Zhao said, adding that the trip has also helped plant the seeds of bilateral friendship among youngsters.
Yu was very excited when she told China Daily that she had become friends with several students from Muscatine High School. "I talked with several students in the school about multiple topics, such as painting, music and performances," she said.
Such friendships have also created opportunities for study exchanges among Chinese and US youths.
Zhang Yuchen, a senior high school student from the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, participated in a weeklong academic conference that focused on young people's efforts to address global food security issues.
The 2023 World Food Prize Youth Institute event was held in Des Moines from Oct 24 to 27, during which students such as Zhang from across the world shared their recommendations from research they had conducted on food security issues and related topics.
"I shared my study of how cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutes can contribute to rural vitalization," the 16-year-old said.
Zhang said he had learned a lot from his peers and the panel of experts on food security, agriculture, climate change and sustainability issues.
He said he also discussed other issues with US students such as the different education systems in the two countries.
"These experiences in the United States not only allowed me to experience the warm hospitality and inclusiveness of American people, but also broadened my knowledge and perspective. I feel that they will have a great impact on my life," Zhang said.
Education experts in Hebei said the program has provided a great international exchange platform for youths to make contributions and help build a community with a shared future for mankind.
"It is thanks to the Sino-US people-to-people friendships that students from our school are able to participate in the World Food Prize program," said Pei Hongxia, head of the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School.
A total of 80 high school students from the school have participated in the World Food Prize program for 11 consecutive years, including 10 this year, Pei said. They are the only team taking part in the event whose native language is not English, she added.
In 2013, the 30th anniversary of the Hebei-Iowa sister state relationship, Kenneth Quinn, then president of the World Food Prize Foundation, invited the students from the school to participate in the program.
The invitation came after a visit to China in 2012 by a delegation of Xi's old friends who also visited the Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School.
During this visit, Sarah Lande, former president of the Iowa Sister State Friendship Committee, and Terry Branstad, former US ambassador to China, former governor of Iowa and current president of the foundation, introduced the youth program to the students, Pei recalled.
The students participating in this year's study tour to Iowa visited the home of Lande, who received Xi when he visited Muscatine in 1985.When he visited the US again in 2012, Xi, then Chinese vice-president, went to Lande's home again to meet his old friends.
"It was a beautiful two-story building, and Lande, who was in her eighties, stood at the door to greet us," recalled Zhao, who visited Lande. She was "very touched "when the students sang Lasting Memory, a song about friendship, at her home, Zhao said.
The 10 students participating in this year's academic conference also visited Valley High School in Des Moines to experience high school life in the US and engage in exchanges with the students. They also got a taste of family life in the US through their host families.
"After feeling the sincerity, enthusiasm and friendliness of the country's people, I believe they will act as messengers for friendly exchanges between China and the United States and make their contribution to the long-term friendship between the two countries," Pei said.
She added that her school has also invited students and teachers from Muscatine High School and Valley High School to visit the Shijiazhuang school.
"Via exchanges in person, we can enhance mutual understanding between youths, so that they can carry forward friendships," she said.
In October, Xi said it was necessary to gather the strength of all parties to advance China-US ties when he met with California's governor, Gavin Newsom.
Xi said the foundation of the relationship lies in the people, the hope for the two countries' future lies with their youth, and vitality comes from local cooperation.
Zhang Yan, an English teacher at the Shijiazhuang school who led the October tour to the US, said she was impressed with the great hospitality.
"A lady even kissed me on my face when welcoming us," she said, adding she will remember it as a "souvenir" of the friendship.
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