In October 2005, Dr. Jess G. Nieto of Heritage of America and Superintendent Ken Chapman of the Beardsley School District arranged for Ms. Ma Zhimin, Principal of Kindergarten No. 21 School in Tianjin City, China and 5 other teachers to come to Bakersfield to train teachers in the use of the abacus during a two week period.  The trip was coordinated with Ellis Wu, the Tianjin Heritage Office Director, to allow the Chinese teachers to get permission from their school district to come to Bakersfield during this period.  Dr. Nieto and Mr. Chapman had previously seen Ms. Ma's program and were excited that it could provide a  valuable learning experience for both teachers and students in Bakersfield.  Ann Georgian, Director of the BTSA program of the Kern County Superintendent's Office, who had observed the abacus program in China,  also supported the program by having training sessions at the Kern County Superintendent's Learning Center.