两华裔市长获邀出席白宫国宴
美国加利福尼亚州奥克兰市新上任的华裔女市长关丽珍(Jean Quan)获邀出席白宫计划为中国国家主席胡锦涛举行的访美国宴。一同前往白宫赴宴的还有其好友、旧金山华裔市长李孟贤(Edwin Lee)。
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will attend the state dinner, the first staged for a Chinese leader in 13 years, alongside United States President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee will attend the state dinner, the first staged for a Chinese leader in 13 years, alongside United States President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Both Quan and Lee made history by becoming their respective cities' first Asian-American mayors and, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle this week, are "the most prominent Chinese-American mayors in the country".
The 61-year-old Quan, a Democrat and Oakland's first female mayor, told reporters that she felt honored by the invitation.
Her husband, Dr Floyd Huen, will not attend due to work commitments, she said.
In her inauguration（就职典礼，开幕式） speech this month, she said her great-grandfather came to the US 104 years ago from his hometown in Kaiping, Guangdong province. Her generation was the first of its family to be born in the US.
Quan said she was aware her Chinese ethnicity would interest the media and hopes to use the coverage to promote Oakland and attract investment from China.
Lee, whose friendship with Quan dates back to the 1960s when they were classmates at the University of California, Berkeley, was sworn in on Jan 11 and received his invitation to the White House two days later.
A descendent of Taishan in Guangdong province, he was born in Seattle, in the state of Washington. He is married and has two daughters.
The mayors will travel together to Washington DC, the Chronicle reported.