People-to-people exchanges key to US ties, Xi says

President sends congratulations as friends of China gather at Kuliang forum

More than a century ago, some United States citizens began living in Kuliang, a famous summer retreat in Fuzhou, Fujian province, joining thousands of other foreigners. They later became part of the China-US friendship, working and living in harmony with local Chinese.

On Wednesday, a group of descendants and associates of those Kuliang residents held their first major reunion with Chinese friends since the COVID-19 outbreak. Gathering at a forum in Fuzhou, they were amazed to receive a letter from President Xi Jinping extending his congratulations to the event.

In his letter to the Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-US People-to-People Friendship Forum, Xi emphasized that the friendship of the two countries lies in the amity between their people. "The root of the development of country-to-country relations lies in the people of the two countries," he wrote.