Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong met Friday with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, commencing her three-city visit to the United States.
Ms. Liu’s visit with Mr. Peduto included a gift exchange and a closed-door discussion.
Flanked by at least 10 members of her delegation, Ms. Liu followed Mr. Peduto as he showed her around the City Council chambers and gave a brief summary of local history, telling her how Pittsburgh evolved from an industrial giant to the tech-med-education center it is today.
City Council President Bruce Kraus, one of nine city officials and guests who accompanied the mayor, said the closed-door conversation, conducted through interpreters, touched on many topics, including trade, the environment, jobs and human relations.
“I personally was mesmerized by her,” Mr. Kraus said. “[During the discussion] I kept thinking how kind she was. That was the word that continued to resonate with me as she spoke.”
After visiting city hall, Ms. Liu traveled to the University of Pittsburgh, where she met chancellor Patrick Gallagher at the Cathedral of Learning and watched performances by students of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and culture center started in 2007 by Pitt and Wuhan University. Wuhan and Pittsburgh are sister cities.
In addition to the Confucius Institute, at least three other partnerships have been established between Pittsburgh and Chinese universities during the past five years.
Carnegie Mellon University spokesman Ken Walters said Ms. Liu also was scheduled to meet with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. Intel has a research facility at CMU as well as facilities and offices in five Chinese cities.
Following her stay in Pittsburgh, Ms. Liu will head to Houston and Washington, D.C., where she will co-host the U.S.-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Eddy Wang: cwang@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969 and on Twitter @eddywang21.
First Published: June 19, 2015, 5:18 p.m.
Updated: June 20, 2015, 3:26 a.m.
