'Chinese Encounters with America' argues U.S. and China lost shared interests

In March 2000, a package deal from the U.S. Congress arrived at Shanghai’s Fudan College. Inside was an American flag that had flown over the Capitol — despatched as a gesture of appreciation for Xie Xide, the famend Chinese language scientist who had just lately died. Xie had performed a key position in fostering cultural and scientific exchanges between the 2 nations.

Tales like this are nearly inconceivable at the moment in each the USA and China, because the tone of their bilateral relations has basically shifted. However within the new ebook, Chinese language Encounters with America: Journeys That Formed the Way forward for China, profiles of 12 Chinese language people remind us of the optimism that when outlined the 2 nations’ engagement. This optimism has light away lately.

The dozen profiles on this edited quantity spotlight the optimistic elements of U.S.-China change, which started in earnest after diplomatic relations have been established in 1979. These accounts vary from lecturers like Xie Xide, to environmental activists like Ma Tianjie, and diplomats like Ji Chaozhu, who served as an interpreter throughout President Richard Nixon’s historic go to to Beijing in 1972.

Right this moment, because the U.S. and China discover themselves in a interval of intense competitors, these tales could also be interpreted in another way, relying on the reader’s personal views on the once-popular engagement coverage. However, they function a reminder of a singular chapter in bilateral relations, nevertheless transient it might have been.

The ebook’s co-editors, Deborah Davis — a number one sociologist on China — and Terry Lautz, creator of People in China, argue that the ebook underscores the worth of discovering widespread floor. They categorical concern that each People and Chinese language are dropping sight of their shared pursuits and the advantages which have come from cooperation.

In an electronic mail change with NPR, the editors despatched joint responses to questions in regards to the points addressed within the ebook. Right here is an edited model of the change.

NPR: You mentioned you have been involved that each People and Chinese language had overpassed their shared pursuits. Why, in your view, did this occur?  

Davis and Lautz: China’s surprising arrival as a significant financial and navy energy triggered a downward spiral within the U.S.-China relations. Washington noticed China’s ascent and its hardline diplomacy as a problem to the present world order. Beijing considered the USA as a risk to its pursuits, particularly the PRC’s declare to the island of Taiwan. This new energy dynamic undermined the long-held assumption that Sino-American engagement would result in optimistic, peaceable change. As a substitute, it produced a local weather of worry and mistrust. The intention of our ebook is to point out the advantages of cooperation and mutual understanding regardless of our variations.

NPR: In brief, how has encountering the U.S. modified these people —  and China itself?

Davis and Lautz: The affect varies over time. Those that returned to an impoverished China through the Chilly Struggle confronted totally different challenges and had totally different motives from those that returned within the Nineteen Nineties or 2000s when China was extra open politically and affluent. The results of their encounters additionally range by occupation — from schooling, dance, and diplomacy to civil society, science, and sports activities.

Their life tales are exceptional. For instance, Xie Xide, a famend physicist who acquired her PhD from MIT in 1951, grew to become the primary girl president of a significant Chinese language analysis college in 1983. However she additionally spent years cleansing flooring through the Cultural Revolution. Wang Jisi, one in all China’s most distinguished America watchers, spent seven years herding sheep in Interior Mongolia through the Cultural Revolution earlier than getting into Peking College in 1978. Lang Ping, a Chinese language sports activities icon, coached the U.S. ladies’s volleyball workforce to a silver medal on the Beijing 2008 Olympics, after which led China’s workforce to gold on the 2014 World Championships. Peng-Peng Gong was educated on the Juilliard College in New York however walked away from a profitable profession as a world live performance pianist and returned to China because the resident composer of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. He calls himself “a translator in each instructions.”

NPR: Among the many 12 people you profiled, whose story resonated with you probably the most — and why?

Davis and Lautz: It is tough to select just one, however the diplomat and interpreter Ji Chaozhu stands out as a result of his life mirrored the dramatic ups and downs of Chinese language politics and U.S.-China relations. The Chinese language Communist Get together despatched his household to New York Metropolis when he was a boy and by the point he returned to New China in 1950, after his sophomore yr at Harvard, he might barely communicate Chinese language.

The International Ministry despatched Ji to make English transcripts of the armistice negotiations in Panmunjom through the Korean Struggle. However due to his American background, it took a number of years earlier than he might be part of the Get together. He was “despatched down” to the countryside through the Cultural Revolution however reemerged to interpret for Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai throughout President Nixon’s journey in 1972 and accompanied Deng Xiaoping to the USA in 1979. There have been occasions when he might have sought asylum overseas, however he remained patriotic, satisfied that the Communist Get together was your best option for his nation’s future.