It all began when I was on a TV program celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of President Nixon's opening the doors to China. I was interviewed, back in the Nixon days, the mayor on San Clemente had commissioned me to paint the beach at the summer White House. Mr Wukang Li, the Chairman of the World Cultural Exchange, was on the same program and he was impressed that four U.S. Presidents [Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush] owned my work.

The next day Mr. Li faxed me an incredible invitation to visit China, for what was to be the most fantastic week of my life. Two weeks before I was scheduled to leave for Beijing, the minister at my church told the congregation about the trip, and thirty friends and church members decided to form a delegation to accompany me.

Fourteen hours in first class on Air China was exciting, especially looking out over the vastness of the Arctic and the Bering Sea. When we landed, fifty school girls and boys greeted us with flowers and behind them was a fifty-foot banner welcoming us. Actually, everywhere we went there were banners: at the airport, hotels, colleges and museums.

With a police escort, I was whisked away from the airport in a limousine with an American flag on one fender and a Chinese flag on the other. I had a motorcade for the whole eight days. I felt like the President! My delegation traveled well too, in an air conditioned bus.

The next morning, after a lavish breakfast, we were off to the Great Hall of the Peoples Republic of China. What a work of art that is, with all the provinces represented and magnificent tapestries covering the walls – such finely done silk embroidery that they looked like paintings.

From one ceremony to the next, we made our way to the magnificent China National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing for the presentation of my painting, "Moonlight Southern California" to the Museum director. I was escorted with my delegation where only VIPs and heads of state are allowed. What a thrill to be seated next to the governor of Beijing, and in the exact seat where President Bush had been seated just a few weeks before. After the ceremony, we were escorted back to the hotel to rest and get ready for my welcoming banquet hosted by the governor.

Among the guests that evening were two hundred and twenty of the most prominent people in Beijing – actors, actresses, opera singers, senators, governors and the American Ambassador. I was seated between the Governor of Beijing and Luo Zhongfu, who, according to Forbes Magazine, is the richest man in China. Someone had leaded that it was my birthday and a birthday cake the size of a table was wheeled out and "Happy Birthday" was played. Oh my, but it was impressive!

The next days were spent visiting the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Jade Factory.

When I didn't feel I could be any more impressed, we flew in to Chanchung where we were met with a police motorcade and taken to Jilin College, an art college. A two hundred piece band flying a Chinese flag awaited us, and as I approached, they unfurled the American flag. When the band played "Stars and Stripes," there wasn't a dry eye in our group.

Jilin College is only one and a half years old – the sidewalks had been completed just ten days before our arrival – but it is magnificent. As we entered the foyer, there was my picture – I was already installed a Professor Emeritus, through that ceremony wouldn't happen until later that day. The students were studying cartooning, art and animation. There were four floors of classrooms, two filled with students drawing and painting, and two filled with students working on Apple computers. I met two teachers, an American and a Russian.

They begged me to do a painting, so, with one-inch brush and a painting knife, I finished a seascape in fifteen minutes. They loved it!

Another bit of historic significance came that evening when we were hosted for dinner in the very room where President Nixon and Mao Tse Tung had met to discuss the opening of China to America thirty years before.

Next, on to Shanghai for sampan rides, visits to silk factories, and a farewell banquet. Finally, good bye to China where I had been Queen for a Week.

Read about Violet's second invitation to China.

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