Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz lived and worked in China after undergraduate school and has traveled there at least 30 times, often with school groups. But he’s not the only teacher who leads school trips abroad.
Limin Dove is a gifted language teacher with Niles Township District 219 high schools (Niles North High School and Niles West High School) who lives in Evanston. She was born and educated in China and met her American husband during her first job after graduation. They lived in Hong Kong until their son was about to enter high school.
The letter that made a difference
This past summer Dove accompanied a group of 48 Niles high school students and three teachers to China. In total, 174 students and teacher chaperones from 11 other high schools in the United States traveled. The Niles students were the largest group.
Dove has taught at District 219 high schools for 11 years. Together the two schools educate approximately 4,600 students. There are three Chinese language teachers. Dove is a part-time teacher, responsible for about 50 students across three classes, including an honors course. She is also the faculty advisor to the Chinese language club.
In Jan. 2019, she asked her class to write a letter in Chinese to President Xi Jinping, of China, and send him their good wishes for the Chinese new year. The class composed the text together and each student wrote their own copy. Then the class voted on which letter demonstrated the best handwriting. Dove mailed the winning letter to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.
Two months later Dove received a phone call from the consulate. The consular officer told Dove that President Xi replied to the letter and the consul general would like to come to the school to make a formal presentation of Xi’s letter. She was told “it was the first time American high school students wrote a letter to the president of China and received a reply.”
On the selected date, the Chinese delegation included about 10 people, including representatives from several Chinese media outlets. The American invitees included all Niles D219 students studying the Chinese language, the school superintendent, the principals of both high schools, the department chair for languages, and the other Chinese language teachers. There were also local reporters representing newspapers and television.
Dove said in an email, “In the letter, Xi invited students to ‘come to China one day to see the country for yourself.”
As a result of the letter, the high school Dove attended as a teenager was chosen as the sister school for the Niles Township District 219 schools. But before plans could be made to visit the school, the pandemic disrupted travel worldwide.
Journey of Friendship
As the pandemic restrictions eased, Dove received invitations to cultural events held at or sponsored by the Chinese Consulate. Sometimes she attended with her classes.
Flash forward to November 2023. President Xi visited San Francisco and met with President Joe Biden. He promised to invite 50,000 young American students to China to participate in cultural exchange and study programs.
In March 2024, the Chinese language students in Niles District 219 received one of the coveted invitations to travel to China in June. The Chinese government named this program Share Journey of Friendship, U.S. Youth Exchange Delegation.
With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, the district responded quickly.
Dove wrote in her email that “only D219 Chinese program students were eligible to apply. Other criteria included a clear, clean report from the Dean, one teacher recommendation letter other than their current or past Chinese teacher, and their GPA must be 2.5+, an application essay including why they want to go and what they will add to the trip.”
She and the other teachers reviewed the applications and selected the students. For many of the students, it would be the first time they traveled on an airplane. Many of them did not have passports. Dove helped them with the application process to make sure everyone had their travel documents in time.
Trip of a lifetime
On June 30 the group met at O’Hare for the start of their two-week journey. The large delegation of students traveled to five major cities (Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai). In China, the students were minor celebrities. Everywhere they went, the Chinese press followed them, eager for an opportunity to talk to American students.
![A group of American teachers and students with carry on luggage cases wait at an airport in China.]()
The Niles Township D219 students and teachers arrive safely in Beijing in June. Credit: Limin Dove ![]()
Limin Dove and her students at the Great Wall of China near Beijing. Credit: Limin Dove ![]()
American and Chinese students learn together about climate change. Credit: Limin Dove ![]()
Chinese and American high school students practice their Chinese calligraphy skills in Fujian. Credit: Limin Dove ![]()
A group of Chinese and American students in front of Soong Ching Ling School in Shanghai. Soong Ching Ling was the wife of the third president of China. She is often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. Credit: Limin Dove ![]()
The group gets ready for a fun evening out in Shanghai before the trip back home. Credit: Limin Dove
In each of the cities they visited, Dove’s students also interacted with high school students studying English. They even visited the high school Dove attended as a teenager, now the sister school of Niles Township District 219 schools.
The group visited the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, attended performances and art exhibits, and met Chinese students for cultural exchanges and conversation in each city. They traversed China by foot and on trains, boats, planes and buses. From early in the morning until early evening, they were on the go. The Chinese government paid for all of it.
One highlight of the trip, exclusively for Dove’s students, was an opportunity to meet Dove’s parents one evening. She had not seen her parents in several years, so it was an emotional reunion.
A student’s perspective
After they returned home, Dove asked each student to write an essay. She also assigned them to write a thank you note to their hosts. She said some of the words the students wrote filled her eyes with tears. One student wrote, “This trip has completely changed my way of thinking about the Chinese language.” Dove had no idea the trip meant that much to them.
The RoundTable spoke to Kara Sung, a sophomore, who went on the trip. It was the first time she traveled outside the United States.
“It was an eye-opening experience to learn about another culture,” she said. “The trip was building a bridge, a way to learn about Chinese culture through a mutual connection.”
Sung talked about the friendships she made with some of the Chinese students, some of whom she still communicates with through WeChat, a texting platform.
Was there anything that surprised her about the students she met or what she experienced on the trip?
“Yes. All of the Chinese students speak English really well,” Sung said. “It’s a required subject in school. They’ve been studying since they were small. The other thing I didn’t realize was how much natural beauty there is in China. One of the highlights for me was seeing the Kuliang Mountains outside the city of Fuzhou. The views were breathtaking. When we think of China we are only shown big cities, but there is so much more to see. It made me want to continue to pursue my language journey.
“I would definitely recommend traveling there and hope to go again sometime. It made me want to explore Asia and learn more about Korea, the country where my family is from.”
About two weeks after they returned home, the Chinese representatives in Chicago asked to meet with Dove, the chaperone teachers and some of the students for an informal debrief. There, Dove presented them with the students’ thank you notes.
“The Chinese organization told me, ‘We were so impressed by your students, their eagerness to know and to talk to the local students. We think that your students were the only ones who really tried to use the language they learn,'” Dove said. “Other schools probably don’t even offer the language. But my students, they wanted to learn the language, to be able to see with their own eyes what they have watched on videos I showed them in classroom.”
A trip of a lifetime to China for an Evanston teacher and her students is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.