Michelle Kwan Scores High Marks in China Trip
January 25th, 2007 by dd
Michelle Kwan’s first performance as an American diplomat was flawless.
As America’s first “public diplomacy envoy,” a position created to try to improve the U.S. image abroad. Greeted by students two- to three-deep, Kwan waded into the crowd and by the end of the visit, Kwan’s ankle-length black coat was smudged with white dust, and she nearly cried when a girls choir sang the school’s anthem.
“I got teary-eyed,” Kwan said. “I had to look around and just compose myself.”
The five-time world champion figure skater got the diplomat job last year. Sitting at a White House dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao, President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Kwan told Rice she was studying political science at the University of Denver.
The daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong and southern China, the 26-year-old Kwan was born in California. She speaks Cantonese - used in southern China. She got loud applause when she asked the Beijing crowd for help with her Mandarin, the predominant language there.
Posted in China, Sports, Michelle Kwan | 
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