[pepsi_junkie]

I thought Xi lived in Oklahoma as a young guy as a part of some Chinese government delegation at one point. Thatt tidbit came up when they were discusing one of Trump’s nominees, who apparantly was friends with Xi at that time and still is. Maybe the ambassador to China? Anyway Xi probably does speak English it that’s true.

[sphinx]

Xi was part of a Chinese agricultural delegation that spent a couple of weeks in Iowa back in the 1980's. He was a relatively low level guy back then. He stayed with a local family, so I've always assumed he spoke enough Iowan to get by. Whether he's fluent in English is another question.

The Iowa connection apparently means a lot to Xi. If it was his first trip out of China, it would probably have made a major impact, especially 30 years ago. And it is probably a good thing that his first exposure to the U.S. was the heartland, not New York, DC, or some crazy place in California.