US woman's dream of Chinese park nears fruition

SAINT PAUL, United States - Sinophile Linda Mealey-Lohmann is excited and delighted at the prospect of a Chinese garden being completed in her hometown.

"We have engraved the naming stone and we hope to get that installed before it gets too cold," Mealey-Lohmann, president of the Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society, told Xinhua recently.

The 1.2-hectare St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden is being finalized in Phalen Park in the Minnesota capital. St. Paul has had a sister-city relationship with Changsha, Hunan province, since 1988 and the garden, or Liu Ming Yuan, has become a symbol of Minnesota's long-standing friendship with China.