Bio: Linda Mealey-Lohmann is Co-Founder and President of the Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society and Vice President of US-China Peoples Friendship Association-MN. She is a former employment law lawyer, who now works as a mediator and arbitrator (Mealey-Lohmann Mediation & Dispute Resolution), helping parties resolve commercial and employment law disputes. She is an avid gardener and has a deep interest in China and China Gardens. She has taught Chinese language and culture to all ages, from preschool to college to senior citizens. She holds an undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies, a Master’s Degree in Chinese Language and Literature, and speaks Mandarin Chinese. She has traveled to China 22 times over more than thirty years and lived / studied in Taiwan for six months and lived in Tianjin, China, for two summers as Assistant Director of the U of M Chinese language program at Nankai University. Her last trip was to Changsha (St. Paul’s sister-city) with St. Paul Mayor Coleman’s delegation, where a sister-park agreement was signed with St. Paul Phalen Regional Park and Changsha Wetlands Park. She manages the day-to-day operations of the China Garden Society's current project to build the St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden at Phalen Regional Park. This is a collaboration with the City of St. Paul, St. Paul Parks & Rec, Changsha's Yanghu Wetlands Park, and the Changsha People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. The goal is to promote friendship and understanding between the peoples of China and Minnesota.