Kevin Coriolan | News Editor

In honor of the 30th anniversary of a Chinese-American agreement, a Buena Vista University (BVU) alumnus has produced a video to be presented to the president of China. BVU financially sponsored the project.

Luke Harwath, a 2005 BVU graduate, has been video recording interviews of delegates and Iowa citizens for under a month. The video will be presented to Chinese President Xi Jinping and later broadcasted over television to the Hebei public, a population of about 70 million.

There were 20 people interviewed for the video including the mayor of Muscatine, Governor Terry Branstad, and employees within Iowa Sister States. The project had a short deadline, but the video was finished before the celebratory banquet on Oct. 22.

“I work really quickly. That’s one of the goals with Studio Koyo to be able to move fast and get into places,” Harwath said. Studio Koyo is the entrepreneurship that Harwath uses to tell stories of people through videos. Iowa Sister States has asked for the most recent project from Studio Koyo.

Iowa Sister States is a volunteer organization that works to connect Iowans with the international community. They currently have eight sister states from Terengganu, Malaysia, to Veneto, Italy, to Yucatan, Mexico. Hebei is a province in North China and contains Beijing within its borders.

The strong tie comes from a 1983 agreement to partner with Hebei to “establish cultural, educational, and economic ties bridging the geographic gap” according to the Sister States website.

President Xi visited Muscatine, Iowa, as a head of an agricultural delegation in 1985 and enjoyed his stay so much that he has kept up with relations to the state since.

Hebei Party Secretary Zhou Benshun took President Xi’s place at the Des Moines banquet. Both Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds were also in attendance.

“The story is so much bigger than that and the exchange was so much bigger. There were hundreds of people that were a part of this exchange,” Harwath said.

Two student interns from BVU worked with Harwath to produce the video. Harwath values the opportunities he had to travel and experience different cultures in his life. Iowa Sister States even funded Harwath’s study abroad experience as an undergraduate in Taiwan.

“At BV I spent time studying languages, particularly Asian languages, as part of my major. I follow some of the news and politics that go on in East Asia. Seeing this strong connection … I felt was very powerful, and being able to see how much we interact and being able to tell that story meant a lot to me.” Harwath said.

The video may be available online after the national showing in Hebei, China. It illustrated the current and past exchanges of the state relationship.

Studio Koyo has been a business for about a year bringing Harwath across the States for several projects.

Graphic by Grace Bodey