“He did not complain,” said Ms. Dvorchak, 72, who is now retired and living in
On Wednesday, Mr. Xi returned to Muscatine — triumphantly this time, with an entourage and a room of his own — as China’s vice president and heir apparent to the leadership of a rapidly rising world power. Seventeen people he met here in 1985, including the Dvorchaks, were invited to
Casual it was not. Streets were blocked by the police around the neighborhood where the reunion took place. And then it began to rain — a cold, off-and-on drizzle that obscured the view of the
About a block from the house where the tea took place, a few dozen people protesting China’s human rights record traded shouts with counterprotesters across the street. A pro-
Chinese officials have said the trip flowed from Mr. Xi’s desire to relive a pleasant period from his past and to reconnect with Iowa farmers and other residents he came to know a quarter-century ago. It was also clearly a propaganda event at a time of heightened tensions between the United and China over a
The tightly choreographed moment was intended to show audiences in the
It was also likely meant to highlight China’s growing dependency on food imported from the United States. Iowa, the country’s leading soybean producer, is a big supplier to China. On Wednesday, Chinese trade representatives signed agreements with American grain companies to increase soybean imports.
But even if the trip was propaganda for the Chinese government and Mr. Xi, as many residents here cheerfully admitted, who cared? It was also a good advertisement for Muscatine, population 23,000. What was in 1985 just ordinary Iowa niceness came boomeranging back. Cornfield diplomacy worked.
And with reporters and cameras swarming in town — the Chinese news media were especially keen to get shots of the various houses and bedrooms where Mr. Xi stayed — Muscatine’s moment in the spotlight, many residents said, was not to be squandered. It is the sort of rural wisdom that
“We’ve displayed to this world leader our work ethic, No. 1, and our value for friendship; that’s No. 2,” Mayor DeWayne M. Hopkins said in an interview at
At the Long John Silver’s fast-food restaurant, the sign out front said, “Welcome back to Muscatine Xi Jinping” on one side, and on the other, “Original menu available, fish sandwich 2 for $3.”
Inside, the general manager, Michelle Cacho, said that good buzz was good business. “It’s kind of propaganda, but if it helps folks in Iowa we might as well roll out the red carpet,” she said.
Other residents said they believed the compliment that Mr. Xi paid the town by coming back was real, and that residents should be honored.
“He could go to
Some of the people who played host to Mr. Xi in the 1980s, sounding like polished diplomats, said the lasting value of the visit was the relationships that would be built for Iowa’s sake or Muscatine’s or maybe for rural America in general.
“I’m hoping that our friendship from the past will be an example of how we build an even stronger relationship,” said Sarah Lande, who served on the committee that organized Mr. Xi’s trip to Iowa in 1985 and who held the tea on Wednesday.
The Muscatine-China connection is being bolstered, as it turns out, by one of the Star Trek-loving sons whose world Mr. Xi was exposed to in 1985, Mark Dvorchak. He is now 46, living near