Chinese president visits veteran Jewish journalist

In a goodwill gesture, Chinese President Hu Jintao has visited veteran Jewish journalist and writer Israel Epstein who had interviewed Chairman Mao Zedong in the 1930s, the official news agency Xinhua reports. Epstein interviewed Mao when working for US news organizations. Hu, who is also the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China and chairman of Central Military Commission, visited the veteran journalist to extend greetings on the eve of his 90th birthday. Epstein was born in Poland in 1915. Two years later his parents, staunch Marxists, moved to China where Epstein studied, worked, married, and eventually took Chinese citizenship. He started working as a journalist at the age of 15, and made in-depth reports on the course of China's historic development. His achievements in China throughout the turbulent 20th century, when so many dramatic changes took place, are unparalleled, Xinhua reports.