First impressions of China at the dawn of diplomatic age

Islander’s new book is collection of stories of first visits to China

By Reporter Staff • October 21, 2014 2:21 pm
Islander Wendy Liu interviewed 35 Washingtonians about their first visits to China that began in the early 1970s
Islander Wendy Liu interviewed 35 Washingtonians about their first visits to China that began in the early 1970s

The year 2014 marks the 35th anniversary of the normalization of the diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

Author Wendy Liu, who is also a former citizen of China, chose to honor that relationship by compiling 35 essays that detail some Americans’ first impressions of their trip to China.

“My First Impression of China” presents reflections from a group of prominent Washingtonians, including those who established the Washington-Sichuan friendship-state relationship and the Seattle-Chongqing sister-city relationship.

Their first trips to China took place from 1973 to 2008, covering the time the two countries cautiously opened liaison offices in each other’s capitals to the time of the Beijing Olympics.

The participants in this project are some of Washington’s government, business, academic and community leaders.

They tell valuable stories not only in terms of the history of Washington state-China relations, but also in the overall understanding of U.S.-China relations, especially for future generations—American or Chinese.

The book provides insight into the changes in American attitudes toward China as well as changes in China’s political, cultural and technological landscape during the last decades of the 20th century.

Liu, an Islander, is originally from Xi’an, China. She earned a master’s degree in Technology And Science Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has been a consultant, translator and writer. Her writings include op-eds on China in the Seattle Times.

Names that Islanders might recognize include: Former Governor and Washington Senator, Dan Evans, Congressman Jim McDermott, Mimi Gates, Islanders Tom and Mary Brucker, Ruth Walsh McIntyre and Former Governor, John Spellman.

Islander David Bachman wrote the foreword to the book. He is Professor at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington and an expert on China.

Liu’s new book, as well as her 2009 book entitled “Everything I Understand about America I Learned in Chinese Proverbs,” is available at Amazon.com and Island Books.