Organizations from the Province of Shaanxi and the State of Minnesota, including the governors and other representatives of government, business, academia and the non-profit sector, gathered for a Zoom-based celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Shaanxi – Minnesota Sister State/Province relationship. On December 1, 2022 (the evening of November 30 in the U.S.) the meeting was convened, with dozens of participants and presenters recognizing and celebrating the deep bonds established between them over the decades in their various fields. The Minnesota Chapter of the USCPFA is proud to have been a driving force in bringing about the Sister relationship. Here is a short trailer prepared by the Shaanxi Foreign Affairs Office shortly after the event:
The remarks delivered by Ralph Beha, President of the USCPFA-MN, are set forth here:
Dear friends, 大家好，my name is Ralph BEHA (or in Chinese, since my college days, 毕若孚), and I am the current President of the Minnesota Chapter of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association. Since its founding in 1974, our organization has played a leading role in establishing and maintaining people-to-people relationships between the peoples of China and the US, on the basis of mutual understanding and respect.
Minnesotans have long played key roles in these efforts; to name just a few, our local chapter leader Barbara HARRISON led the national USCPFA organization for more than a decade, and continues to be active on the Boards of both our local chapter and the national USCPFA., and Margaret WONG, also a leader on our chapter Board, has had long-standing ties going back to 1976 when she led the first group of US high school students on a trip to China.
We are particularly pleased today to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Shaanxi – Minnesota sister relationship. Several of our Minnesotan founding members, including University of Minnesota Professor C.C. HSIAO and his wife Joyce HSIAO, together with Fred PTASHNE, were among the earliest advocates of this relationship. CC and Joyce Hsiao visited Xi’an and its Jiaotong University a few times in the late 1970s, and Prof. Hsiao was honored as Honorary and Consulting Professor there. Through the efforts of the Hsiaos and the Shaanxi Foreign Affairs Office, and with the collaboration of the Minnesota Trade Office, the relationship was cemented by Minnesota’s Governor Al QUIE and Shaanxi governor YU Ming Tao on October 12, 1982. Not long afterward, in 1983, Minnesota’s newly-elected Governor Rudy PERPICH visited Xi’an.
Since that time, the Minnesota USCPFA chapter has been active in cultivating the relationship. Minnesota USCPFA Board leaders such as Mary WARPEHA and Linda MEALEY-LOHMANN led many tour groups of US educators, our Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Carol MOLNAU, and others to Shaanxi. The USCPFA has conducted educational symposia, business seminars, and cultural events featuring Shaanxi over the past 40 years, including several Chinese New Year banquets highlightling Shaanxi culture. We will do this same this coming year.
We have assisted in hosting delegations, including Shanxi’s Vice Governor LIU Chunmao; visits by a long-standing leader of the Shaanxi Translators Association and the Shaanxi Foreign Affairs Office, Mr. AN Wei; a delegation of 11 officials from the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress; other delegations focused on health and other shared issues; and student groups from Xi’an #3 Hi-Tech Primary School among others. We have collaborated with the Shaanxi Translators Association to help bring forth an English-language translation of Old Land New Tales: a collection of twenty short stories by Shaanxi authors.
Looking back, we are proud to have been a part of the establishment and nurturing of the Sister State/Province relationship between Shaanxi and Minnesota. Now we look forward to a time, hopefully soon, when we can once again visit with one another face-to-face, learn more about our common challenges, hopes and dreams, and build bridges between our peoples. Former US ambassador to China Jon HUNTSMAN, Jr. (a former state governor himself, of the state of Utah) put it well in a national China Town Hall convened earlier this month: “There’s more to be gained through sub-national, people-to-people engagement at the municipal and state level.” The Minnesota USCPFA will continue to strive to build this kind of engagement, to the furtherance of peace, well-being, and prosperity among all of our peoples.
Thank you.