Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle to begin his state visit to the United States.

　　ChinesePresident Xi Jinping arrived in Seattle and began his state visit to the United States. Source: xinhuanet.com

　　BEIJING, Sep. 24 (Youth.cn) (By trainee reporter Kai Ke) During his visit to Seattle, President Xi Jinping not only held talks with American business barons but also visited the Lincoln High School, a really “down-to-earth” activity. According to The Seattle Times, students of the high school couldn't wait to see this “leader of 1.3 billion people”.

　　Lahm, a 15-year-old girl, is a student of Lincoln High School. She and her classmates spent an extraordinary day: to welcome a guest from afar—Chinese President Xi Jinping. The students and local government waded in to intense preparation work from Monday. Lahm meticulously learned to write Chinese characters “Huan Ying (Welcome)”, the first time for her to do such a thing.

　　Davis, a teacher in charge of the grades of the senior high school, was very proud of and surprised at Xi’s arrival: “We are ‘leaders’ of this school, but will greet a leader of a country. It’s really great!”

　　As for the students, their focuses were on clothes to be worn to welcome the president and the candidates to hold their school’s flag in front of the president.

　　Boaks from the student union said: “These students might not understand the significance of President Xi’s arrival for Lincoln, Tacoma and Washington. They are most concerned about how to leave a deep impression on President Xi and how to welcome him with the greatest enthusiasm.”
　　The students were not aware of what President Xi would do in their school. Owen, president of the high school, only said President Xi would like to learn about an American school.

　　According to the introduction of Gary Faye Locke, former governor of Washington State and American Ambassador to China (2011-2014), President Xi participated in sports activities with the students, visited the school and finally delivered a speech to the students.

　　On Monday afternoon, Owen introduced the importance of this greeting activity to the students and told them President Xi is a leader of 1.3 billion people. He expected his students to have a good performance.
　　Owen received a phone call from China in July. Unexpectedly, he was told that President Xi would visit his school. He said from then on, the whole school got busy: cleaning the windows, renovating the aisles and installing new fence.

　　Owen thought that the reason for President Xi’s favor for the school is that it is the most diversified school in Pierce County and has the closest relationship with China. According to his introduction, 15 percent of the students of Lincoln High School are Asian descendants.

　　Knowles, representative of senior students of the school, hopes the school to show a truest and most “down-to-earth” America. “I know little about politics, but His Excellence President Xi’s arrival is indeed a boon for Sino-US relations.”

　　According to theNews Tribune of Tacoma, Washington, President Xi Jinping ever visited Tacoma and Lincoln High School when he was the Party Secretary of Fuzhou City in 1993. Driven by him, Fuzhou and Tacoma became “sister cities” in 1994. From then on, the two cities have more and more exchanges in culture and education. In 2008, Lincoln High School and Fuzhou Institute of Education Affiliated Middle School became “sister schools”.