Zhang Zhaohong: The country is strong and the overseas Chinese are proud

Zhang Zhaohong: The country is strong and the overseas Chinese are proud. In the early 1990s, the registered Asian population in Arizona was only 55,000, while the Chinese were only one...

Zhang Zhaohong: Our country is strong and our overseas Chinese are proud of it. In the early 1990s, the registered Asian population in Arizona was only 55,000, while the Chinese population was only 14,136. In 1991, Sino-US relations were still developing. The United States has nearly a thousand companies in China, with investment of only US$4 billion, while China purchases about US$5 billion in products such as computers and cotton from the United States. In bilateral trade, the United States often attaches conditions, such as requiring China to engage in internal reforms and return to the international community. In addition, every year, the President of the United States has to ask Congress to pass a bill to extend the most-favored-nation treatment for China. With the rise of peace in China, by 2011, there were countless U.S. companies operating and joint ventures in China, and China's foreign exchange reserves ranked first in the world, of which 800 billion were U.S. Treasury bonds. China has become stronger, making the descendants of Yan and Huang overseas proud. The interaction between the traditional overseas Chinese community in Phoenix and the envoys sent by the host country got off to a good start in the 1990s. On June 7, 1991, Consul General Wang Xuexian flew to Los Angeles, USA, to replace Ma Yuzhen, the first Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles. From August 24th to 29th of the same year, Consul General Wang Xuexian, his wife Zhang Yukun and the consul visited Arizona and New Mexico and met with local state, county and city officials. The overseas Chinese community and overseas student organizations in Alberta warmly welcomed the arrival of Consul General Wang. More than 300 Chinese and Western overseas Chinese communities held a banquet to welcome the Chinese envoy. The representatives of the overseas Chinese community who attended that year were Deng Zizhen and Deng Chaoju. During the floods in mainland China, the Chinese American Association of Alberta invited Consul General Wang to introduce the situation of disaster relief. The State University Chinese Students Association sent more than 5,500 US dollars in donations to the Red Cross for transfer to the disaster areas. The Traditional Overseas Chinese Association of Huangcheng also actively carried out disaster relief donations and donated thousands of dollars in proceeds to the disaster areas for disaster relief. During his first visit, Consul General Wang Xuexian met with the governor, visited McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company, took a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, and visited overseas Chinese groups in Phoenix, Tempe, and Tucson. He said: The welcome given to us by people from all walks of life in China and the West shows their love for China and their friendship with the Chinese nation. Consul General Wang Xuexian came to Phoenix, Alberta for the first time and left a deep impression on the local overseas Chinese community. Since then, the visits of successive heads of Chinese consulates have been warmly welcomed by local patriotic overseas Chinese leaders, international student organizations and traditional overseas Chinese societies. The Chinese Consulate has also established a good relationship with the overseas Chinese community in Phoenix, playing a very active role in balancing and promoting the harmony of various societies and supporting various activities of the overseas Chinese community that love the motherland. Another time that deeply impressed the overseas Chinese and mainstream society in Phoenix City was in 2001, when Chen Zhuomei and Deng Chaoju, chairmen of the organizing committee that organized the celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, invited Diao Ming, Liang Zhengzhen, consul of the Chinese Consulate for Overseas Chinese Affairs, and Science and Technology Consul Dong Jianlong celebrated China's National Day with overseas Chinese. Due to the September 11th incident, the celebration was changed to a fund-raising party. Participants included state and municipal government officials, members of the sister cities of Mesa and Kaiping, various groups under the Phoenix Overseas Chinese Federation, Chinese students from state universities and international colleges, and Chinese schools, a total of about 300 people. In his speech, Consul Diao Ming expressed his deep concern and condolences to the American people, and emphasized that the Chinese government will strengthen international cooperation and resolutely combat terrorism. That night, with kindness and charity in mind, everyone raised a total of more than 4,000 yuan to donate to the families of the firefighters and police officers who died in the 9.11 disaster. This time, it was more meaningful to change the National Day party into a fund-raising party. Overseas Chinese and traditional overseas Chinese communities in Alberta have long loved their home country and worked hard to promote Chinese culture. They have held "China Week" and sister city activities over the years. When the country encountered the SARS epidemic, major floods and earthquakes, overseas Chinese communities and overseas Chinese communities generously donated money to carry out disaster relief and support reconstruction work. After the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, China, overseas Chinese in Alberta contacted mainstream society in the United States and raised a total of more than 250,000 in donations for Sichuan's post-disaster reconstruction. Among them, traditional societies were widely mobilized and achieved impressive results. In 2008, China hosted the Olympic Games for the first time. Overseas Chinese were delighted. Overseas Chinese in Alberta actively donated money to build the "Water Cube" venue and cheered for the achievements of Chinese athletes in the Olympics. 2009 is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 30th anniversary of reform and opening up. The Phoenix Traditional Overseas Chinese Association held a joint flag-raising ceremony. The overseas Chinese were proud of the prosperity of their native country and used this to once again express their meaning in a meaningful way. In the celebration, hundreds of old overseas Chinese, new overseas Chinese, and compatriots from Hong Kong and Taiwan participated. For the first time, a high-standard flag-raising guard of honor was held solemnly. The overseas Chinese were devoted to the motherland, loved their hometown, and united to celebrate the birthday of New China together in the singing of "Singing the Motherland". In 2011, the Hualian Federation of Alberta and the Federation of Traditional Overseas Chinese Communities held a celebration for the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and hosted a banquet for Counselor Chen Zhunmin of the Chinese Consulate and others, once again expressing the enthusiasm of overseas Chinese for loving the great motherland.