President Xi Jinping treasures the bond between the people of China and the US.

A pavilion called Fuzhou Ting in Tacoma stands as a testament to this. Located in a Chinese park, it was a gift from its sister city Fuzhou.

In 1993, Xi, then Party Secretary of Fuzhou, visited Tacoma, Washington, to strike a sister-city relationship between the US port city and Fuzhou. He oversaw the signing of a sister-city agreement a year later.

Since then, both Fuzhou and Tacoma have been promoting and fostering educational and cultural exchanges, and the partnership has deepened with an emphasis on trade in recent years.

On Sept 23, 2015, during his first state visit to the US as president of China, Xi made a nostalgic return visit to Tacoma.

"I want to thank him for his support in making the sister city arrangement happen, because had he not been willing, it wouldn't have happened. And because it happened, we have this long-standing, very successful, very mutually beneficial opportunity," said Connie Bacon, who signed the sister-city agreement with Fuzhou on behalf of Tacoma in 1994.