On the evening of October 9, the Confucius Institute at Webster University and the St. Louis Council for World Affairs jointly organized the China Town Hall event. Students, faculty and community members of Webster University watched a keynote speech on Sino-US relations by former Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Condi Rice in the auditorium of Webster University’s downtown campus, and had a face-to-face communication with Joan Kaufman, a Chinese public health expert in Schwarzman Scholars, Tsinghua University.

The event was hosted by the US-China Relations National Committee and held simultaneously at more than 100 meetings throughout the United States this year. Former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Condi Rice elaborated on a series of global issues affecting US-China relations, including intellectual property disputes, energy and environmental pollution issues and current trade frictions. She talked about herself as a “big believer” in student communication: “We can't just learn a country’s language and culture from books. We hope more young Americans can learn Chinese and go to China to visit and communicate”. After that, Professor Joan Kaufman introduced the general situation of China's population and public health safety from the perspective of public health at the conference site, combining her own research and personal experience, and held active exchanges and discussed with participants.