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Ｄｉｎｇ　Ｂｉｙｕ

Yao Qin, from Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province, was a winner at an international beauty pageant in America in October, 1995. In 1998 she was awarded a peace prize. Today, she is an executive of an American financial organization. A friend of many important Americans including American presidents, she attended at the inauguration ceremonies of President Clinton and President George W. Bush. Before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she visited many countries in the capacity of an ambassador for peace and invited many people to visit China. And she came to Beijing riding in the same airplane with American president George W. Bush. On January 20th, 2009, she attended the inauguration ceremony of President Obama. After the ceremony, she flew back to Tiantai County to see her parents. Before she went back to USA, I had the honor of seeing her for an interview.

American Presidents in Her Eyes

She was very pleased to be invited as a representative of the American mainstream to attend the inauguration ceremony of American President Obama. She felt it was the honor of Chinese people in the United States. She said that President Obama was elected to lead the United States out of economic crisis and people placed great hopes on him for leading the country out of the woods and leading its economy back onto the right track. She believed that America was the most powerful of the developed countries in the world and that China was the most excellent of the developing countries in the world. The two countries could work together and lead the world toward a better tomorrow.

Yao had more contacts with President Clinton after he left the White House. Mr. Clinton, in Yaos eye, is a man of talent and wisdom, an excellent and fast-thinking debater with a preference for economic topics.

According to Yao, President George W Bush is a very friendly man. He is much more charming when he is off stage. Yao and President George W Bush exchanged health tips on the plane when they flew together to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Acquaintances with KMT Big Names

1992 Yao Qin met with Jiang Weiguo and Chen Lifu, two big names of the ruling KMT in Taiwan. They became happily nostalgic after learning that Yao Qin was from their home province. Jiang Weiguo reminisced about Xikou in Fenghua and described the house he had lived and lanes he had walked in great detail. Chen Lifu chatted about the deliciousness of the sweets and cakes in his hometown Huzhou. Yao Qin made a mental note of these things. Back in USA, she managed to put together a batch of photographs of present-day Xikou and bought books printed on the mainland about the Chiang family. She sent these things to Jiang Weiguo. When she met with Jiang Weiguo again, Jiang asked her what kinds of delicacies produced in Xikou she had tasted. He complained after learning that Yao had not bothered to taste a special cake in Xikou. Yao explained that she was a girl and she preferred fruit. She joked that as it was no longer starving years, she did not have to eat cakes for survival.

Recovery from a Car Accident

Yao Qin was hospitalized for five and half a months after a severe car accident. Leaving hospital, she was given things a physically challenged person needs: a wheelchair and a pair of crutches. She looked fat. She vowed to become her former self: slim, svelte and sweet. One day, she decided to walk all the way from the bedroom to the kitchen. It took her 20 minutes to negotiate the route which usually took her no more than 1 minute to cover. She worked very hard. Three months later she looked beautiful again.

Huge Changes in Hometown

After attending the inauguration ceremony of President Obama, Yao visited her parents in Tiantai County for the Spring Festival. She was not able to direct the taxi driver to find her home in the old downtown in her memory as Tiantai had experienced huge changes during her absence of these years. The taxi went all the way to the old urban district and then came back to the new urban district before she finally figured the address out. □