Overview

Americans in China tells the dramatic stories of individual women and men who encountered the People's Republic of China as adversaries and emissaries, mediators and advocates, interpreters and reporters, soldiers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and scholars. In Americans in China, Terry Lautz provides a series of biographical portraits of Americans who have lived and worked in China from before the Communist era to the present. The pathbreaking experiences of these men and women provide unique insights and deeply human perspectives on issues that have shaped US engagement with the People's Republic: politics, diplomacy, education, business, art, law, journalism, and human rights. For each of these Americans, China was more than just another place: it was an idea, a cause, a revolution, a civilization. Some of them grew up in China while others were motivated by curiosity and adventure. Some believed Red China was an existential threat while others looked to the People's Republic as a socialist utopia. Still others--including a number of Chinese Americans--worked to improve US-China relations for personal or professional reasons. Looming over their narratives is the quandary of whether divergent Chinese and Western worldviews could find common ground. Was it best to abide by Chinese norms, taking into account China's unique history and culture? Or should individual civil and human rights be defended as universal? Would China move in the direction of Western-style liberal democracy? Or was the Communist Party destined to follow an authoritarian path? The figures in this book had distinctive answers to such questions. Their stories hold up a mirror to our two societies, helping to explain how we have arrived at the present moment.

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9780197512838

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Reviews

In Americans in China: Encounters with the People's Republic, Terry Lautz grounds US PRC relations in the lives of 10 Americans ranging from diplomats, scholars, and lawyers to journalists who devoted their lives, and in a couple of cases still devote their lives, to work related to China...For such an expansive and wide ranging discussion of US Chinese relations, Delury should be commended for his attention to detail and commitment to bringing to light sources previously underutilized in US writing on China. * Jeremiah Jenne, LA Review of Books * This wonderfully moving work recovers real human lives and voices that lay at the core of US-China relations. The lived experiences, hopes and dreams, fears and admonitions of a wide spectrum of Americans were fundamentally altered by their deep connections with China. Their stories reveal that many of the questions Americans have had about the world's largest nation are longstanding, unresolved, and as important as ever. * Gordon H. Chang, Oliver H. Palmer Professor in Humanities, Stanford University * A lifelong personal and professional involvement with China—and with the people-to-people interaction that is the lifeblood of Sino-American relations—makes Terry Lautz the ideal author for this fascinating book. He seamlessly weaves stories of thirteen disparate Americans, deeply involved with and committed to China, into the overall tapestry of that country's history and its interactions with the United States. Even readers familiar with the period will learn a lot from it. I certainly did. * Jan Berris, Vice President, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations * Americans in China puts compelling human faces on the complex, ever-changing interactions between the United States and China. Terry Lautz provides thirteen masterful portraits of Americans who have sought personal meaning through their encounters. Some wanted to change China, others to transform themselves, and still others endeavored to alter the course of US-China relations. For the relationship as a whole, the mixed dynamics of paternalism, admiration, optimism, and concern are energizing impulses. * David M. Lampton, Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS * This book is what we have been looking for: a poignant and necessary perspective on US-China relations. Terry Lautz presents and challenges the unending contradictions of the relationship, humanizing it at every turn and with every voice. With his selection of three Americans of Chinese ancestry—C. N. Yang, Shirley Young, Melinda Liu—within his cast of characters, he directly confronts the notion of Chinese Americans as perpetual foreigners and suggests the value of American bicultural transnationals to help build stronger relations with their ancestral home country. * Nancy Yao Maasbach, President, Museum of Chinese in America * readable, fully rounded ... There is something both hopeful and cautionary in these accounts, at a time when relations between the United States and China are at their lowest ebb in decades. * Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs * This is a thoughtful and imaginative book. It will serve as a useful teaching resource and introduction to those wanting to read more about the stories of some quite remarkable American people as well as the broader history of USChina relations since 1949. * Elizabeth Ingleson, London School of Economics *

readable, fully rounded ... There is something both hopeful and cautionary in these accounts, at a time when relations between the United States and China are at their lowest ebb in decades. * Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs *

This wonderfully moving work recovers real human lives and voices that lay at the core of US-China relations. The lived experiences, hopes and dreams, fears and admonitions of a wide spectrum of Americans were fundamentally altered by their deep connections with China. Their stories reveal that many of the questions Americans have had about the world's largest nation are longstanding, unresolved, and as important as ever. * Gordon H. Chang, Oliver H. Palmer Professor in Humanities, Stanford University * A lifelong personal and professional involvement with China-and with the people-to-people interaction that is the lifeblood of Sino-American relations-makes Terry Lautz the ideal author for this fascinating book. He seamlessly weaves stories of thirteen disparate Americans, deeply involved with and committed to China, into the overall tapestry of that country's history and its interactions with the United States. Even readers familiar with the period will learn a lot from it. I certainly did. * Jan Berris, Vice President, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations * Americans in China puts compelling human faces on the complex, ever-changing interactions between the United States and China. Terry Lautz provides thirteen masterful portraits of Americans who have sought personal meaning through their encounters. Some wanted to change China, others to transform themselves, and still others endeavored to alter the course of US-China relations. For the relationship as a whole, the mixed dynamics of paternalism, admiration, optimism, and concern are energizing impulses. * David M. Lampton, Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS * This book is what we have been looking for: a poignant and necessary perspective on US-China relations. Terry Lautz presents and challenges the unending contradictions of the relationship, humanizing it at every turn and with every voice. With his selection of three Americans of Chinese ancestry-C. N. Yang, Shirley Young, Melinda Liu-within his cast of characters, he directly confronts the notion of Chinese Americans as perpetual foreigners and suggests the value of American bicultural transnationals to help build stronger relations with their ancestral home country. * Nancy Yao Maasbach, President, Museum of Chinese in America * readable, fully rounded ... There is something both hopeful and cautionary in these accounts, at a time when relations between the United States and China are at their lowest ebb in decades. * Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs *

Author Information

Terry Lautz writes and teaches on the history of United States-China relations. He is former vice president of the Henry Luce Foundation, and has chaired the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Lingnan Foundation, and the Yale-China Association. He is the author of John Birch: A Life (Oxford, 2016) and lives in Reston, Virginia.

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