Overseas Chinese and students in the US gathered in front of the Westin Hotel, Seattle, where Chinese President Xi Jinping will stay during the first stop of his first state visit to the US, on Tuesday. Photo: Mao Jianjun

About 500 representatives from the Chinese community in the US attended a reception in Seattle Wednesday evening, on the second day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's State visit to the US. Many of them expressed their hope for deepening Sino-US ties for the benefit of people in both countries.

President Xi delivered a speech at the reception, encouraging overseas Chinese to make more contributions to improving the Sino-US relationship.

Xi hoped that Chinese in the US can actively assimilate into mainstream American society by promoting local economic and social development, make full use of their bilingual skills to enhance cooperation between two countries, and play the role of story-tellers to deepen Americans' understanding of China and Chinese culture.

Wai-Jen Jeffries, honorary president of the US National Organization of Chinese Women, attended the Seattle reception, and told the Global Times that she first met with Xi in the 1990s when the then Party chief of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, visited the US. She recalled that Xi is so easy-going that he called her "Dajie" (elder sister).

She believed that Xi's rich experience of working at the grass-roots level in China will be helpful for China's future growth and several visits to the US will help build up closer Sino-US ties.

Wentian Yang, honorary president of the Arizona Chinese United Association, who also attended the Seattle reception, told the Global Times that it was the third time he met with President Xi. A successful visit is crucial for boosting Sino-US relationship, he said.

The historic meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies may not only defuse divergences between China and the US on politics, economy and culture, but also play an important role in world peace according to Derek Ma, president of the Chinese American Community Affairs Council.

Qiang Lu, president of the Roundtable of Chinese-American Organizations, attended the Seattle event and co-organized the welcome dinner of Chinese in Southern California when then vice President Xi visited LA in 2012.

Local Chinese felt the love of their motherland as President Xi brought many traditional moon cakes to share with them ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival, according to Lu.

Shechao Li, president of the Chinese American Federation, who also attended the Seattle event, told the Global Times that President Xi left her with the impression that he cares about the communication between Eastern and Western culture while watching an NBA game in 2012.

This time, President Xi brought a group of entrepreneurs with him and will definitely enhance both political and economic ties between the two countries, Li claimed.

Mark Wen, president of the Washington State China Chamber of Commerce, told the Global Times that Xi's visit to Seattle encouraged local Chinese and many others, including businessmen, politicians and scholars, to vow to make more efforts to enhance the Sino-US relationship.