House showcasing Sino-American friendship opens to visitors

Photo taken on Sept 17, 2015 shows the door plate of Sino-US Friendship House in Muscatine, Iowa, the United States. A white bungalow in Muscatine, a small town in the US state of Iowa, which was proclaimed as the "Sino-US friendship house," was opened to visitors Thursday. The structure is located at 2911 Bonnie Drive of Muscatine, with a population of 20,000. [Photo/Xinhua]

MUSCATINE, the United States - A white bungalow in Muscatine, a small town in the US state of Iowa, which was proclaimed as the "Sino-US friendship house," was opened to visitors Thursday.

The structure is located at 2911 Bonnie Drive of Muscatine, with a population of 20,000. The town has become well-known in China because of Chinese President Xi Jinping's two visits to it before he took office in March 2013. President Xi will pay a state visit to the United States from Sept 22-25.

"This house was a unique witness to President Xi Jinping's friendship with people of Muscatine, and it will certainly go down in history as a symbol of China-US friendship," said Zhao Weiping, Consul General of China's Chicago Consulate-General at a ribbon-cutting ceremony organized to mark the opening of the house where Xi used to live.

In 1985, Xi visited Muscatine with a Chinese delegation when he worked in Zhengding, north China's Hebei Province. Xi at the time lived in the Dvochaks' house and he received a warm welcome. The couple have moved to Florida after selling the house to the China Window Group, a company mainly engaged in activities for promoting Sino-American exchange.