Wendy Liu of Mercer Island has been a consultant, translator, writer and interpreter. Her last book was tilted "My first impression of China--Washingtonians' First Trips to the Middle Kingdom."
Shenzhen has become more like Hong Kong economically as a financial and technology hub, and also as home of the EV giant BYD. Hong Kong has gone the other way, losing free speech and independence.
A prominent sponsoring group was named the Shared Journey of Friendship US Youth Exchange Delegation. It consisted of around 190 teachers and students from 14 schools of seven U.S. states, and Tacoma's Lincoln High School was among them.
The horseshoe theory was considered simplistic by serious political scientists, some of whom even called it nonsense, but it can be illustrative and fun.
What rubs salt in the wound of American pride in its democratic system is the mockery from China: the fact that netizens of the one-party authoritarian state are laughing over the debacle.
One writes: "When your advantage is thin or at a disadvantage, you practice protectionism in a big way. This is the so-called 'beacon of nations.' Such actions are bringing U.S. credibility to the bottom of a valley. What a mess!"
“If the U.S. constantly regards China as its main rival,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasized, “China-U.S. relations are bound to remain fraught with troubles and problems.”
This American movie has been adapted into a Chinese play shown on Chinese stages, all under an ever-censoring government and an often anti-American state media.
One hundred students plus their teachers from Lincoln High School of Tacoma did it in 2016 after Xi had visited the school during his Washington state tour in 2015. Ten Lincoln High students will go to China this month.