The Chinese Communist Party paid for multiple trips to China for high school students from small-town Iowa who exchanged letters with President Xi Jinping praising the country and its leader.
Shocking emails reviewed exclusively by DailyMail.com reveal lengthy correspondence between public school officials in Muscatine, Iowa, and Chinese government officials to coordinate several field trips to the Asian country.
A Chinese teacher who helped organize a previously reported trip to China in January 2024 informed Muscatine Community School District officials that the trip for 24 students would be fully paid for by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The trip is fully funded by the Chinese government and our students are there as guests of the Chinese Minister of Education, Huai Jinpeng,” the school announced.
But that wasn’t the only journey, according to documents obtained by the nonprofit Parents Defending Education.
Another group of Muscatine High School students, this time 32 in total in addition to eight teachers, visited China again last month.
On January 10, the China Daily reported that Xi had sent a personal invitation to the students and staff of Muscatine High School to visit China.
Furthermore, email correspondence between Muscatine administrators, reviewed by DailyMail.com, indicates that a third trip to China is tentatively scheduled for Muscatine students in October.
“In recent days, the Chinese consulate has been in contact with me about the upcoming China trip,” the Chinese language teacher writes to fellow administrators.
‘We have been invited by the Ministry of Education of China for a visit at the end of January.’
“You are all invited and China will pay all expenses,” the note continued.
Days later, two dozen Muscatine High School students were flown to China for an eight-day trip, concurrent with visits to the Great Wall of China and the Chinese Ministry of Education.
It is unclear whether the Chinese government paid for the trip in April or whether it will pay for Muscatine students to visit the country on an upcoming trip in October.
Administrators at Muscatine High School and Muscatine Community School District did not immediately return DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.
In February, Chinese state television channel CCTV visited Muscatine High School to interview students about their journey.
Students were full of praise for the country, with a group of them telling the newspaper: “I love you, China.”
The students also sang a song in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping for helping him visit the country.
“Thank you Grandpa Xi,” one student said in Mandarin, before adding, “China is huge and beautiful.”
The official invitation came three days later, on January 13, and on January 22, 24 students and four staff members were on a plane to China.
Photos posted by the Muscatine Community School District show the group did activities such as visiting Fudan University and learning about ancient Chinese paper and writing
Muscatine High School in Muscatine, Iowa, has 1,500 students, at least 50 of whom traveled to China this year
“The Chinese Communist Party wants the next generation of American leaders to be responsive to its political goals and willing to denounce the plethora of atrocities it has committed, including genocide,” Parents Defending Education research associate Alex Nester told DailyMail .com.
“American schools are playing right into the hands of the CCP,” she continued. “‘All fees paid’ does not mean ‘free’ when we talk about the communist regime in China.”
“The CCP has openly stated that infiltrating the American education system is a top priority,” Nester told DailyMail.com. “Adults need to wake up and realize what is really happening under their watch.”
Democrat Raja Krisnamoorthi of Illinois also expressed skepticism about the CCP-funded excursion.
“I would just like to warn them not to be used as props by Xi Jinping or anyone else,” he told DailyMail.com, adding that Xi wants to use Americans as “props.”
Although, he added, the US is a “free country” and citizens can decide for themselves whether or not they want to visit the country.
The hastily planned trip to China in January came after Sarah Lande, 85, of Muscatine, sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, taking him up on an offer he made to host American students in remarks at the summit on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in November. San Francisco.
The Chinese president said at the time that he wanted to bring 50,000 American students to an Asian country in the next five years.
The elderly Iowan has a long relationship with the Chinese leader dating back to 1985, when she hosted him and other Chinese officials visiting the Midwest.
The unlikely pair met again in Muscatine in 2012 – when Jinping was vice president – to celebrate their friendship and his trip to statehood decades earlier.
Chinese President Xi Jinping responded to Lande’s January letter informing her that he would be happy to host students from Muscatine – and later that month the school made their first visit to the country.
In this award provided by the Iowa Governor’s Office, Vice President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China sits with Sarah and Roger Lande (R) on February 15, 2012 in Muscatine, Iowa
In 1985, Lande helped coordinate a visit to Muscatine for a delegation led by Xi, then a rising official in a pig farming region in Hebei province.
Xi fell in love with Iowa during his 1985 visit as a 32-year-old and led the Hebei Shikiazhuang Prefecture Corn Processing delegation on a 12-day visit to rural Iowa
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco in November, Xi expressed his desire to host American students in his country
During their January visit, Muscatine students wrote a letter to Jinping, according to emails reviewed by DailyMail.com.
Surprisingly, the Chinese president responded and thanked the students for their note.
Previously, Parents Defending Education published a report showing that the Chinese government was investing millions in public schools across the country.
The report states that close coordination between the CCP and US schools to set up Confucius classrooms historically included 143 school districts in 34 states and Washington DC.
In addition, at least seven contracts are active in Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington.
The report called ‘Little Red Classrooms’ reveals that $17 million has been funneled from CCP-linked financial institutions to US primary schools, through Confucius Institutes and other cultural and language programs.
It also states that the CCP has “ties to school districts near 20 U.S. military bases” and has infiltrated three of the country’s top science and technology high schools.