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View all search resultsDifferent times, shared hearts: What brings China and the US together
Long before treaties and summits, the enduring bond between China and the United States was forged in classrooms, cockpits and ballparks by ordinary people with extraordinary hearts.
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United States President Donald Trump (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping talk on Oct. 30, 2025, as they leave after a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan, South Korea. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
A
s the leaders of China and the United States meet in Washington to seek common ground and opportunities for cooperation, public attention inevitably centers on statecraft. Yet the foundation of bilateral relations has long been shaped by encounters between ordinary citizens - across communities, through shared hardships and on playing fields.
Though separated by geography and culture, these individuals are bound by universal human instincts: acts of quiet grace, solidarity in moments of crisis and shared passions.
That bond traces back more than a century to an Iowa woman determined to expand opportunities for Chinese women and girls: Lydia Trimble.
In 1889, after graduating from what is now the University of Northern Iowa, Trimble arrived as a missionary in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. She soon observed that local girls had virtually no access to formal schooling - left, as a contemporary phrase described, like rootless lotus flowers drifting with the current. Having benefited from higher education herself, Trimble refused to stand idly by. She believed women deserved the tools to become independent, literate and self-determining.
What began as a posting became a five-decade commitment. Trimble remained in China until her death in 1941, establishing institutions that opened academic doors across generations. Her endeavor required resilience. When one school faced insolvency, her elder brother, James, mortgaged the family farm in Iowa to keep the doors open.
The investment bore fruit. One student, He Zhenni, later traveled to Iowa to attend Coe College before returning to become the first female middle school principal in Fujian Province.
Decades later, Trimble’s great-nephew, Gordon Trimble, pieced together her legacy through family journals and historical records. One entry recounted her intervention to shield a 10-year-old girl from being sold into marriage. Inspired by her example, Gordon traveled to Fuzhou in 2005 to teach at the very college his great-aunt founded.
