Thursday, July 10, 2014

Meeting with the Secretary of State and Chinese Vice Premier

Yesterday was an incredible day. One of those days that reminds me how fortunate and lucky I am. I would never have thought growing up or when I was in college or beginning my career that I would be in attendance of a meeting with the United States Secretary of State and Chinese Vice Premier. Crazy!!

The meeting we attended concerned China-US people to people exchange. The meeting was held at the peoples hall in Tiananmen Square. Very few people are allowed into the Peoples Hall. I was surprised at how intimate the meeting was and how close our delegation was to the diplomats. We had the opportunity to meet some of the delegation. I spoke to an intern with the State department who told me about some of the education initiatives they were working on between China and the US. We also met the Vice President of education for National Geographic. I was jealous for a couple participants met Michele Obamas chief of staff and got to talk to her. I had the opportunity to meet the first American to travel to China as apart of the first American delegation. He stayed in China for the last 35 years and has a Chinese wife and two sons. 

Secretary of State Kerry mentioned Fulbrighters in his speech several times and mentioned how his son was a Fulbright participant. The speech was awesome for he mentioned the importance of traveling and gaining a greater understanding of the world through traveling and learning from other cultures by face to face relationships and immersion. He also mentioned the importance of freedom of speech and press. Which was a knock against China for this is not fully permitted in China. I am curious as to how that was received along with his comment about political freedom. I was surprised he mentioned those topics and in that setting. We kept pinching our self through the meeting. I never thought I would have the opportunity to be so close to the Secretary of State of the United States and have my name mentioned as part of such a prestigious trip. I am so luck! Anyone can do this it's just being persistent and chasing after your goals. My goal just happens to be learning about the world through travel. 

After lunch we went to a presentation on the modern history of China. It was a little hard to follow for it was told through an interpreter and very basic. Nevertheless it was cool being at such a prestigious university such as Peking University. We then got a tour of the university. One thing that I forgot to mention was that it was a clear blue sky yesterday which is unheard of in Beijing. We heard that in preparation for the American delegation China shut down its coal factories around Beijing. One of the issues that was discussed during the American China talks was pollution and environmental issues. We mentioned this to some of the American delegates and they just smiled like they weren't surprised. 

After sitting in traffic for two hours we made it to a tea house that is a replica of how the tea houses used to look in China. We got to see some really cool entertainment like martial arts, hand puppets, masks changing on the performers heads, magic, storytelling and music and dance. 

Another incredible day in Beijing. Busy day here with an important meeting with the Ministry of Education. We are all looking forward to our free day tomorrow. We fly to Xian on Sunday. 






















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