A new type of people-to-people diplomacy

President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the United States will be high powered, high profile and of high intensity - Internet and big business events in Seattle, formal summit in Washington, and activities honoring the 70th anniversary of the United Nations in New York. But there is something that just happened, far from the big cities and bright lights, which could represent a different way of thinking for strengthening China-US relations.

In Muscatine, Iowa, a ceremony was held to dedicate the "China-US Friendship House". The house has come to symbolize the desire of common people for closer ties between China and the US, because in 1985 Xi, then a young local official, stayed in this house as part of a delegation visiting Iowa to learn the latest agricultural techniques. The hospitality and friendship of Americans from the "heartland" made such an impression on Xi that he continues to value the experience to this day.

But when I was invited to speak at the Muscatine ceremony, I wasn't sure I could make it. Until I actually arrived in Muscatine, I could not grasp its significance.