TRR photo by Tom Kane Chinese visitors being welcomed by National Park Service Assistant Superintendent Sandra Schultz and Upper Delaware Council Chairman Harold Roeder. (Click for larger image)

By TOM KANE

BEACH LAKE - A group of Chinese public officials visited the Upper Delaware and the National Park Service (NPS) last week to see how we in America manage our national parks.

A number of them expressed how beautiful the area along the Delaware River was.

The contingent of 26 public officials from Szechuan Province in southwest China visited NPS headquarters in Beach Lake where they heard about plans for the new tourist center that was just approved by President Clinton.

They went on to visit the Zane Grey House, a museum of the river and the Roebling Bridge, the famous bridge designed and built by John Roebling who also designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge..

The officials hold various jobs in the Chinese tourist bureau in their province or are mayors and councilmembers of small towns. Earlier they had visited Washington, DC and New York City and went on to visit national parks in the Great Plains states as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles.