This afternoon I will leave for Iowa for a visit. This is a revisit to the hometown of Aizhou after a 27-year absence. I would like to tell my old friends in Aizhou that the "golden key" presented to us by the representative of the Muscatine City Hall was a symbol of opening the door to local exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States, and now China and the United States have established 38 pairs of sister provinces and states and 176 pairs of sister cities. In the past 10 years, 47 of the 50 US states have increased their exports to China several times or even dozens of times. This shows that once the door of Sino-US exchanges and cooperation is opened, there is no force that can close it again, on the contrary, the door will only open wider and wider.

-- "Creating a Better Tomorrow for the U.S.-China Partnership: Speech at the Welcome Luncheon for U.S. Friendship Groups" (February 15, 2012)

Further reading:

The city of Muscatine, the capital of Muscatine County, Iowa, USA, is located on the banks of the Mississippi River, and its economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry, especially for its watermelons and pearls.

In 1985, Xi Jinping, then party secretary of Zhengding County, Hebei Province, led a delegation to Iowa and visited the small town of Muscatine to inspect local agriculture and animal husbandry. He walked into the farm and asked the farmer to demonstrate how to grow sweet potato seedlings in a greenhouse. He lived in people's homes and took every opportunity to get to know America; After returning to China, he wrote a detailed report, many of which quoted the original words of the local people in the United States, and used it as a reference for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry in Zhengding County. In the eyes of locals, Xi Jinping is a "very capable leader, who knows very well what he needs to know, who shows up on time and neatly dressed, and who is always full of curiosity" and asks questions wherever he goes.

In February 2012, Xi Jinping, then China's vice president, revisited the United States during his visit. Iowa Governor Branstad and his wife, Lieutenant Governor Reynolds and his wife, the mayor of Muscatine, the landlord Dvorcek and his wife, who had hosted Xi Jinping, and representatives of local high school students, warmly received Xi Jinping and his delegation. Old friends have said that Xi Jinping's visit has built a bridge between the past and the future, continued the special fate and friendship forged 27 years ago, and also set an example between the people of China and the United States, hoping and believing that Xi Jinping's visit will promote the establishment of a better cooperative partnership between the United States and China. Subsequently, the mayor of Muscatine once again presented Xi Jinping with the city's "golden key". In the history of Muscatine, Xi Jinping is the first person to receive two "golden keys".

"To me, you are America," is the Muscatine that still remembers Xi Jinping's assessment. On September 17, 2015, Muscatine Mayor Devin Hopkins announced that the house where Xi Jinping lived 30 years ago would be named the "China-US Friendship House" as a testimony to China-US local cooperation and people-to-people friendship, and it would be open to the public free of charge. "This house is a symbol of friendship between China and the United States," said Gray Dvocek, the Dwoček's son. Walking into the "Sino-US Friendship House", the warm room is full of "Chinese style". Walls and fireplaces are covered with photos of Xi Jinping and Muscatine's friends.

"If the clothes are new, the people are the same." On February 15, 2012, Xi Jinping revisited the city of Muscatine, and he used this ancient Chinese phrase to express his friendship with the old landlord, Dwochek and his wife. As he said, "The American people are as simple, hardworking, enthusiastic, and friendly as the Chinese people, and the two peoples have many common languages, so they can become good friends and good partners in mutually beneficial cooperation." At the welcome luncheon, he told the story of the "Golden Key", which not only reflected the way of making friends by remembering old feelings, renewing old friendships, and renewing new friendships, but also highlighted the importance of local exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States.

On September 22, 2015, when attending the 3rd China-US Governors' Forum in Seattle, he once again emphasized that "state-to-state relations need the support of the people in the final analysis, and ultimately serve the people", and "the local area is the closest to the people".