In March, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley visited China. The two sides signed a governmental agreement on educational exchanges and cooperation. In November, Chinese Minister of Education Chen Zhili led a governmental delegation to visit the U.S. From late August to early and middle September, the big event "Chinese Culture in the U.S." was carried out in New York and other 8 cities from the east coast through the central land to the west coast of the U.S. That was a comprehensive culture event of the biggest scale China has ever held in the U.S. The theme speeches, arts performance and exhibitions attracted an audience of around 100,000. President Jiang Zemin, President Clinton and Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan wrote words of congratulations for the event respectively. President Jiang attended the performance by China Traditional Music Orchestra in the Lincoln Arts Center. Vice Premier Qian Qichen attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition " A Close look at China".

According to incomplete statistics, up to November 20, 2000, 262 cultural exchange programs were carried out, with 3226 mutual visits, between the two countries, among which 136 programs and 1554 visits were carried out by the Chinese side in the U.S.

(Source: website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs)