Feature: Muscatine residents get a taste of Chinese culture

A group of students surrounded Feng Huiyun and looked on as the Chinese master of dough modeling pinched out a vivid Minion in less than 10 minutes with colorful dough.

"It is so cool," "it looks so easy, but it's so hard," admired the students, overwhelmed by the masterful skill of the Chinese artist.

The students and teachers of Muscatine High School gathered at the school's Hall of Honor decorated with Chinese red lanterns to have a sip of Chinese culture during the 2016 Muscatine Chinese Culture Week.

Doing it yourself gave the students a lot of fun. Laura Arroyo made a Panda with dough. She twisted two rolls, black and white, stacked them in order, pasted two white spots on the black head, and rolled a green dough as bamboo to stick it to the body. Laura proudly hold the Panda she made with a stick.

Dough modeling is not the only Chinese heritage that the U.S. students have tried their hands on. They also tried their talent on the circular fan, inside snuff bottle painting, the Lord of Rabbit, facial painting, and calligraphy.

On the table chaired by Zhao Wei, Master of the "Circular Fan" lay more than 10 blank moon-shaped fans. More than 10 students sat there, intent on adding either green or red colors to the fan. The flowers they painted do add certain vivid life to the fans.

Inside snuff bottle painting is an art that really needs some skills. A student thrusted a slim long pen into a small sniff bottle and painted. Though the color she added inside looked uneven from the outside, Master Wang Dongping still gave her a thump-up.

Rylee Blake and Kaylie Reynolds tried Chinese calligraphy. Both Rylee and Kaylie attended the school's Chinese classes, Rylee is at Level Two and Kaylie at Level One. Rylee wrote five Chinese characters "I love strawberry". Another girl wrote a Chinese character "home" helped by a Chinese calligrapher.

Muscatine High School listed Chinese as a second language, among others, for students to learn starting from 2006. It now offers four levels of Chinese learning.

To inaugurate the Chinese Culture Week, artists Li Hui and Li Yang performed "the Beautiful Muscatine", a music they especially composed for the event.

The Muscatine High School Choir in return presented to the Chinese artists a Christmas song and a Chinese song. The 28-person choir attended the 13rd Beijing International Chorus Festival this summer.

Muscatine's friendship with China dates back to 1985, when Chinese President Xi Jinping, then a local official from China's northern province of Hebei, visited Iowa as a member of an agricultural exchange delegation, and stayed with a local family in Muscatine to better understand Iowan farm life. Xi visited Muscatine again in 2012 as Chinese Vice President.

"Muscatine is blessed because we have such a long relationship with China," said Dan Stein, president of Muscatine-China Initiative Committee. "It (the event) brings Chinese culture to the younger students, and get them excited about China and Chinese culture. I'm hopeful we will make a big impact for many years to come," Dan added.

Daniel Wang, CEO of China Windows Group which co-sponsored the event, said the Chinese Culture Week "not only offers American people a chance to know Chinese art, but also presents them a modern and energetic China." Endi