A 26-member delegation of Chinese political and business leaders from Henan, paid a three-day visit to Kansas, a sister state since 1981, to bolster economic ties Gov. Kathleen Sebelius promised to visit China in October.
The Chinese delegation was led by Xu Guangchun, chairman of the Standing Committee of its People's Congress, Henan's top political leader. He presented two 100-million-year-old fossil dinosaur eggs. The Chinese delegation was given a bronze buffalo sculpture by Salina artist Richard Bergen, whose sculpture of an American Indian tops the Statehouse dome.
Henan with a population of 96 million is a leading producer of wheat. China is Kansas' fourth-largest foreign market. (Source: Kansas City Star, July 28, 2005 and AsianWeek, August 5, 2005)