Peng Liyuan participates in the Kuliang Connection: China-US Youth Friendship Event 2025
Peng also watched a video about the Kuliang Connection: China-USA Youth Choir Festival 2025.
Beijing, July 17 (Xinhua) – Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, participated on Thursday in the Kuliang Connection: China-US Youth Friendship Event 2025 and delivered a speech at the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Peng also watched a video about the Kuliang Connection: China-US Youth Choir Festival 2025. Elyn MacInnis, founder of Friends of Kuliang, and Luca Berrone, a friend of Xi in Iowa, shared their stories from Kuliang, as well as their experiences of people-to-people exchange and local cooperation between China and the US. They expressed their deep affection for China and their gratitude to President Xi for his concern for the youth of both countries. They also said they will continue contributing to promoting US-China friendship.
Representatives of young Americans shared their experiences visiting China and said they are willing to become ambassadors of friendship for the new generation, carrying forward great stories of friendship between the two countries.
In his speech, Peng stated that Kuliang's century-long history and President Xi's deep friendship with his old friends in Iowa, spanning more than 40 years, encapsulate the friendship between China and the U.S.
Although the two countries have different histories, cultures, and languages, the Chinese and American people love their families and are kind, friendly, hardworking, and practical, which means they are perfectly capable of becoming good friends and partners, she said.
Throughout the year, since President Xi proposed the initiative to host 50 young Americans in China for exchange and study programs over a five-year period, many young people from the United States have been invited to visit China. While experiencing the real China, they made new friends and wrote new chapters in the friendship between China and the U.S., said Peng.
Noting that young people are the future of the country, as well as the future of friendship, Peng urged young people to be heirs to the friendship between China and the US and promoters of peace and friendship. She also asked them to build a bridge of friendship between the two countries and contribute their youthful strength to a better future for both nations.
Prior to the event, Peng met with MacInnis and Berrone, expressing appreciation for their long-standing dedication to the cause of friendship between China and the U.S. She encouraged them to continue making active efforts to enhance exchange and mutual understanding between the two peoples.
