Essay on Sino-American Relations

This caused American and Communist Chinese forces to fight each other during the Korean War, which began in 1949. Communist threats against Taiwan in the 1950's drove the U.S. and the Chinese Communists to the brink of nuclear war. The U.S. went to war in Vietnam in part to prevent the expansion of Chinese Communism. For the United States, China today is neither an outright enemy, nor a trusted friend. Today tensions exist because of the kind of government China has, and the actions it takes.

It doesn’t matter what kind of ethnicity you are, or how you were brought up. Everyone is deeply rooted in their own culture. “Culture” has a different meaning to everyone. Comparing American culture to Chinese culture we will find many different meanings to the word “culture”. For example, we Americans are always looking for something bigger and better for our future, and the Chinese are content with a small reserved lifestyle with no intentions of changing it for something bigger. A culture is a way of life of a group of people-the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and are passed along by communication and imitation from

When the Chinese and Europeans first came into contact with each other, there was a mutual fascination for the other's culture, or way of life. The Chinese began to look at the European culture. They became interested in Western thinking. They were also beginning to look at the religion that the European missionaries were preaching about, Christianity. On the other end, the Europeans who came in contact with the Chinese were fascinated by their culture and their philosophy, mainly the philosophy of Confucius. While the two cultures seemed to be a good match, each respecting and admiring the other, it came to an abrupt halt. The end result was China and Europe both rejecting the other culture.

Stalin’s peace treaty with Hitler was of course broken quickly after it was formed by Hitler himself. Hitler too ignored history and fought with Russia in the winter and ultimately lost, helping him lose the war. Stalin caught off any foreign Russia had left with and focus on the ongoings in his country. Mao on the other hand tried to ally China With Russia after becoming communists, after it became apparent Russia had no intention in helping China become a superpower, Mao stopped depending on their alliance with Russia, not satisfied in not being a big player. For 30 years after China became the People’s Republic of China the US did not recognize them formally instead held communications with Taiwan, making Taiwan a middleman of sorts. In the Korean war the Chinese fought alongside North Korea with the help of the Soviet Union, partly due to the threat of the US’s interest in expanding in Asia, and fought against the US in the Vietnam War. In the early 70’s negotiations opened up between China and the USA, deeply confusing the Chinese people as they were the people they were taught to hate.

Since 1899, America has maintained an open door policy with China. Throughout the years, relations between the United States and China have changed with several effects on both countries caused by the open door policy.

In China between the years 1925 to 1950 myriad changes were occurring. Chinese peasants and the Chinese Communist Party joined forces against Japan. During the time 1925 to 1950 in China, relationships between the Communist Party and the peasants grew through the defense against a common enemy, mutual support, and the establishment of equality.

Every time I come home from college, my family and I would go out to yumcha or, as directly translated from Cantonese, to “drink tea. However, drinking tea is only one component of yumcha. To yumcha is to converse with company over a meal of many small dishes and hot tea. Going yumcha is social activity brought to the United States by the people from the Guangdong region of China, also known as Cantonese people. When they immigrated to the United States, yumcha became an important tradition because it also enabled Cantonese parents to socialize their children into the Chinese culture through the language and social practices involved in the meal and the ritual and meaning surrounding the tea. However, to Chinese-Americans such as myself, going yumcha with native Chinese people also emphasized my American identity due to my food choices. Yet when I go yumcha with non-Chinese people, I become distinctly aware of my Chinese identity when they fail the language or rituals of this tradition. The only time when I do not feel alienated during yumcha is when I go with my other

Before became as a President, in 1967, Nixon had written in a magazine as a President candidate “We simply cannot afford to leave China outside the family of nations”(PBS). The reason Nixon paid so much attention on China was that he foresaw the US, the USSR, China, Western Europe, and Japan would become the major world powers. Being the world’s most populous country, China’s great potential attracted Nixon to rebuild the connection between the East and the West. The growing friction between Beijing and Moscow in the beginning of the 1960s urged the USSR withdrew all their technical supports and industrial projects in China. Nixon saw his chance. He first began to woo China in February 1969; he sent lots of positive messages towards China through third party countries such as Pakistan and Romania (PBS). Nixon’s hard working paid off by the end of 1970—China responded. Nixon successfully warmed up the relationship between China and America by sending a team of Ping Pong players to China to play. This famous political move in US-China history is called “Ping-Pong diplomacy”(PBS). Same year, Nixon sent Kissinger, his National Security Council director, secretly visited China to arrange a visit for him (PBS). Finally, on Feburary21, 1972, Nixon became the world’s focus: he visited China. However, at that time Chairman Mao was under bad health condition, the Premier Chou Enlai greeted Nixon at the airport instead. The opening

Prior to Communism in China, it was known to be a chaotic country on the brink of self-destruction. With the emergence of the party leader Mao Zedong, came a new hope, which filled its inhabitants with the belief that China would return to its former historical greatness. American and Chinese relations before 1971 were in simple terms described as “uneasy”, due to the American, Soviet Cold War. It was not until President Richard Nixon visited China and realized the high value of having China as a ally that relations between the two powers began to become positive. Unknown at the time, it is assumed in the book Chinese Lessons written by John Pomfret, that the relationships he formed with the people he met in China would change his outlook on life and Communist China forever.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was quoted as stating that his visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) “changed the world…to build a bridge across sixteen thousand miles and twenty-two years of hostilities.” By meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, Nixon took groundbreaking first steps to opening relations and formally recognizing the People’s Republic of China. The history of the aforementioned hostilities between the United States and the PRC dates back to the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of mainland China following its civil war in the

In 1972, Nixon began normalizing relations with the communist People’s Republic of China by traveling to Beijing for a week of talks. The People’s Republic of China and U.S. troops fought in Korea during the early 1950s and had been enemies. Nixon’s trip to China was meant for a even deeper wedge between the two most significant communist powers. The U.S. benefited by having closer diplomatic relations with China. This also helped with leverage in dealing with the Soviets, mainly in Vietnam. The United States also took advantage of the Chinese as a counterweight to North Vietnam. People believed that instead of using Vietnam to contain China, Nixon resulted in more success to use China to contain Vietnam. The People’s Republic of China had

As I understand the historical connection between China and United States, they were and in some sense still are both rivals, which began with Mao Zedong driving American-supported Chang out of China soon after the unconditional surrender of the defeat of aggressive Imperial Japan in 1945. Mao took over China and forced Chang to beat a hasty retreat to Taiwan Island. Then in l950, the world witnessed the fierce armed confrontation between Mao led China versus the United Nations' forces with the full backing of United States during the three year Korean War which eventually became a stalemate to this day. Then there was another world-shattering war between U.S. and Communist Soviet-China over the devastating Vietnam. So China had been at

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War was over, making the U.S. the only superpower left in the world. This has made the international system much more tranquil, and relaxed. The only country potentially powerful besides the U.S., is China. Many Americans fear China, not only because they are communist, but also because of their huge population. Their population is 1.3 billion people, which accounts 1/5th of the world’s population. As one of the only potential superpowers in the world, it would be in the best interest of all Americans if the U.S. and China became allies, instead of enemies. Peace and development, economic prosperity and social progress, are goals that both of

in the US, upper, middle, and lower. They are determined by money, the rich are

China and U.S. relations are complex, but it is important to attribute historical context when analyzing contemporary issues. Prior to China establishing their global role as a superpower, their nation endured nearly a century of humiliation which began in the 1800s and concluded in the mid-1900s. Although they’ve redeemed their nationalism, the intrusion of Western imperialism created tension and hostility which lasted for years after. Also, the United States’ response to local Chinese events, such as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, negatively impacted their relationship because it was an example of how American media and officials utilized knowledge about particular Chinese events and disseminated various rhetorical messages in response.