1784年2月，世界上最年轻的国家之一向地球上最古老的人类文明之一派出了一艘商船。就此掀开了美中人民交往的篇章。随着我们向21世纪迈进，美中之间的相互依存日益加深，铸就了世界上最为重要的双边关系之一。
19世纪时，这些“快帆船”曾在美国对华贸易中扮演着重要角色。(图片来源：LOC) 
美国商人来华寻求商机
瓷器、茶叶和丝绸
几乎在整个17、18世纪，中国的贸易产品被欧洲和北美的富有阶层视为奢侈的象征。然而，远渡太平洋危险重重，在中国开展贸易也几乎不可能，因为当时的清朝统治者根本没有打算对外国敞开门户。正如一位清朝皇帝就曾明确表示：“天朝物产丰盈，无所不有，远不籍外夷货物以通有无。”
不过到了18世纪后半叶，英国的“对华贸易”已经发展得相当成熟，成为大英帝国重商主义体系不可或缺的部分。北美殖民者如果想要获得中国产品，则只能通过英国东印度公司的货船做一些转手贩运的生意。值得一提的是，北美殖民地人民通过“波士顿倾茶事件”表达了对英国政治控制的不满。事件中被倾倒的是中国茶叶。随着脱离英国统治的斗争取得胜利，这些新近独立的美国人突然意识到，他们以往从英国商人那里获得中国产品的途径被切断了。1782年11月，美、英双方签署了初步的和平条约。到了1783年3月，美国商人们已经开始准备向中国派出第一个贸易团。
“中国皇后”号
1783年，“中国皇后”号在波士顿完工，贸易团由几名美国富商资助，其中包括被称为“美国独立革命资助商”的罗伯特·莫里斯。出资人们将产自宾夕法尼亚州西部和弗吉尼亚州的约30吨人参——这是当时能引起中国人兴趣的产品——装满船舱。此外，还带了价值18000美元的银币。
莫里斯等人特地雇请亨利·诺克斯将军的前副官山茂召少校担任这支贸易商队的商务总管，也就是“大班”，约翰·格林担任船长。，船主特地在写给格林船长的正式命令中表示：“我们诚挚地建议您，无论是在航行中还是在到达目的地后，都请您向所有与之打交道的人表达善意，并和他们建立友谊。您非常可能是在那遥远地方第一个展示美国国旗的人。务必请您维护自身的荣誉，因为您在一举一动和交易行为中表现出来的正直和善良，将使您获得尊敬；与此同时，也要万分小心不要受骗。”
另外，山茂召和格林还携带了一份《独立宣言》和几份“同欧洲列强签订的条约”副本，这也许是为了证明美国这个国家确实存在。“在需要的时候您可以出示这些文件；不要对他人傲慢无礼；假如有人对您傲慢无礼的话，请顾及个人荣誉，以及您所代表的国家的荣誉，因为您肩负着国家的使命。”资助方还为商队准备了一份美国国会开具的“航海通行证”——如果清政府需要这些公文，可以以备万一。
1784年8月28日，经过1.8万英里的漫长航行，“中国皇后”号终于沿珠江抵达广州，美国正式开始了对华贸易。
山茂召和格林在到达后发现，外国人被限制居住在广州城内一个面积不大、狭窄局促的地带，而且每年只能停留较短的时间。一年中的大部分时候，他们只得在当时的葡萄牙殖民地澳门居住。山茂召曾在自己的日记中这样写道：“那些在这里居住了十二年的欧洲人，至今能够看到的地方并不比他们初来广州第一个月时看到的多。”当时，外国商人仅能与少数中国人开办的贸易公司接触，这些贸易公司被称为“行”，他们负责安排外国商人的住宿，还负责（监督）与自己有贸易往来的外国人（在中国）的行为。每个商行都持有清政府颁发的临时执照允许他们与外国人进行交易，并向海关监督报告。美国人成为行商之中佼佼者之一的潘启官（译者注：即同文行行商潘振成）的客户。
尽管在中国所见有限，这些见闻还是给山茂召留下了深刻的印象。他写到：“在我们对这个帝国的所有了解中，可以确信的是，它历史悠久——显著证明了其政府的智慧，而且这种智慧依然让世界为之钦佩。”山茂召还十分欣赏与自己合作的中国行商，将他们形容为“有才干、严谨的会计人员，守时。”
贸易团成功完成了使命。1784年12月28日，“中国皇后”号返航“花旗”，这是当时中国人给美国起的名字。返航当天，中国人燃放爆竹“向神明昭示商船即将启航”，以此祝福美国商人一路顺风。1785年5月11日，满载着中国茶叶、丝绸，以及“精美的成套瓷制茶具”和火药的“中国皇后”号回到了纽约。
美国政府对于这次航行的成功感到满意。当时的外交部部长约翰·杰伊曾写到，国会对于建立与中国的直接贸易“异常满意”。山茂召被“国会奖给广州领事任命”，1786年，在返回中国途中，他成为美国驻中国第一个外交代表。
尽管“中国皇后”号的首航带回了25%的利润，美国商人后来却长期苦于对华贸易品的问题。中国人想得到白银，这是当时清政府货币体系的基础，然而美国商人所能提供的这种贵金属却十分有限。虽然他们从美国西北部和阿巴拉契亚山区获得的兽皮和人参在中国也有一定市场，然而这些货物的价值不足以抵消美国所需的中国茶叶以及其它产品的价值。
虽然美国商人在中国的对外贸易中仅扮演了小角色，但是一些美国商人从中确实获得了丰厚的收益。在远东地区仅仅5到10年之后，他们一般都能带回超过10万美元的财富，这些钱足够他们舒服地享受退休生活了。美国公司大多属于家族式企业，其中的代表人物包括约翰·库欣、约翰·默里兄弟、罗伯特·本尼特·福布斯，以及小沃伦·德拉诺，最后这位也是后来的总统富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福的祖父。
做对华贸易的美国商人通过他们收藏的中国画和工艺品在增进美国对中国的了解中起了重要作用。例如，费城商人内森·邓恩曾在中国经商12年，凭借中国同行的帮助，他陆续收藏了约1200件中国艺术品，涵盖绘画、陶器、铜器，家具、植物标本以及日常用品。回到费城后，内森·邓恩于1839年在“中国博物馆”中展览了这些收藏。为了给参观者一个感受中国式生活的窗口，邓恩将整个展厅隔成数个房间，把收藏品陈列在复制的中式场景中，并配以中国人的塑像。截至1841年闭幕，共有超过10万人参观了这个展览。随后，展览在英国伦敦继续举行。像邓恩等人的展览，激发了美国人收藏——甚至研究——中国艺术的兴趣，这种兴趣在19世纪末、20世纪初达到了顶峰。 
一些美国商人与财力雄厚的中国行商保持着密切的往来。例如，广州行商伍浩官（译者注：即伍秉鉴）的身家高达5000万美元，他希望在美国做一些投资，因此向福布斯兄弟请求协助。福布斯兄弟通过自己在最重要的美国商行——旗昌洋行（Russell & Co. ）的职务帮助伍浩官管理投资。之后的数十年里，伍浩官和他的后代每年都能分红4万美元。
1879年美国前总统尤利西斯·S·格兰特与清朝外交大臣李鸿章合影 (照片来源：Corbis) 
19世纪后期的外交活动
在1784年“中国皇后”号首航中国之后的60年里，美国派往清朝的外交官员仅限于领事级。1843年，时任美国国务卿的丹尼尔·韦伯斯特派遣加雷布·顾盛作为特命全权公使前往中国谈判，希望签订一个美在华贸易与外交权利的条约。1844年7月3日，顾盛和清朝政府官员耆英签订了《望厦条约》，标志着美国与中国正式建立了官方关系。顾盛的继任者是义华业（Alexander Everett），他于1845年奉命出任美国驻华专使，但美国参议院却始终没有通过对他担任特命全权公使的任命。义华业在抵达中国后不到一年，便死在了任上。
美国外交使团影响不大，部分原因是其驻华官员的任期都比较短，他们在任期内行使的职责也有限。在1844年到1900年间任命的17位外交官中，大部分人的任期都不到两年，其中两人——义华业和艾嘉敏——更是因病死在了任内。当时所有美国外交官在华只能就事论事的行使职责，因为在整个19世纪美国政府尚没有正式的针对中国的外交政策。
首位深入中国内陆地区的美国专使是马沙利。1853年，他从上海出发，行进30英里到昆山。马沙利深信，继续发展美中外交关系“可能有助于消除阻碍美中双方密切友好往来的偏见。”
蒲安臣于1862年成为第一个常驻北京的美国代表，在促进中国的国际关系上扮演了更为积极的角色。蒲安臣迅速结识了一批清政府的主要改革派官员，其中就包括咸丰皇帝的弟弟，设立了中国第一个外务部的恭亲王奕。1867年，清朝政府决定派遣一个外交使团出访诸国，以重新谈判与各国签订的条约，但却缺少一位具有足够经验的高级别官员担任领队。清朝政府将目光落在了蒲安臣的身上。经过华盛顿方面的许可，蒲安臣辞去驻华公使一职，成为清朝使节。他率领一个小型清朝使团访问了西方几个重要国家的首都，其中就包括美国首都华盛顿。蒲安臣宣称，此行具有跨时代的历史意义：“（这）意味着通商；意味着和平；意味着将她（指中国）的利益与全人类结合在了一起。四亿中国人兄弟般的感情开始从华盛顿的土地上流淌到那些老牌西方国家。而且，这种感情将永远流淌。”
此次出访的成果就是蒲安臣与时任美国国务卿的威廉·H·苏厄德共同签订的《蒲安臣条约》，该条约扩展了中美两国的往来领域。条约规定，两国人民享有在彼此国家游历、居住的互惠权，并可入对方官学；中国领事在美国口岸享有完全的外交权利；鼓励华工移民美国；美国政府支持中国的领土主权。该条约的内容令清廷的部分官员感到意外，特别是有关鼓励移民的条款，已大大超出了清政府最初所同意的。尽管如此，双方还是在1868年签订了《蒲安臣条约》，次年条约获得了两国政府的批准。
《蒲安臣条约》批准几年后，清朝在华盛顿设立了公使馆。陈兰彬，这位曾在美国居住数年、督导中国赴美留学生的官员，被任命为公使。尽管接受了这一职位，但陈兰彬并未立即启程赴华盛顿就职，而是在中国继续呆了一段时间。在他未到任的这段时间里，已加入美国国籍的容闳一直代为履行公使之职。容闳的首批任务之一，就是为中国外交官员寻找住处。他最终租到一处宏伟庄严的维多利亚时代的宅邸，名为斯图尔特堡（Stewart Castle）。这座寓所距离杜邦环岛附近的其他外国公使馆比较近。陈兰彬则于1878年正式到任，标志着美中两国正式建立起全面的双边外交关系。
美国作家赛珍珠之像，以及她写的有关中国生活的代表作《大地》一页手稿（照片来源：美联社） 
早期教育交流与认识中国
早期的教育工作成为美中合作最有成效的舞台之一。20世纪头十年中，外国传教士在中国开办了几十所学校和学院，合在一起每年可接收全国10%-20%的中学生。这些办学机构注重教授英语、哲学、宗教和自然科学，也十分注重体育运动。
雅礼协会（Yale-China Association）的前身便是成立于1901年的耶鲁海外宣教团。该组织成立的原因之一是为了纪念在义和团运动期间去世的耶鲁毕业生、传教士斐德金（Horace Tracy Pitkin）。雅礼协会几乎从创立之初就将工作重心从传播基督教义转向了教育和医疗领域。由该协会筹建了多所中国最重要的院校，其中包括在长沙建立的几所学校和北京的燕京大学，后者整合了当时的三所学院，并聘用中外教授任课。从这些学校走出的毕业生，相互之间一直保持着密切联系。1952年，中国的王牌大学北京大学搬迁到了燕京大学的原校址。
另一所由雅礼协会创办的学校——湘雅医学专门学校，护士学校和医院——成为闻名遐迩的中国教授西方医学的一流学校。
此外，美国人还开展了很多长期的教育项目，其中很多都是与中方伙伴合办的。包括：成立于1908年的欧柏林山西协会在山西太谷农村地区组建的工农学校，该协会为纪念义和团运动中被杀害的欧柏林学院毕业生和中国基督教徒而成立；办学规模更大的北京协和医学院（PUMC），洛克菲勒基金会创立的一所顶级医学机构，基于约翰·霍普金斯大学的模式组建——一所涵盖教学、研究和实习的大学。这所1915年建立、1921年开放的北京协和医学院，将培训中国医学界一流医护人员作为办学目标。学校建筑充满中式风格，表达了创建者希望中国师生能够将协和医学院视为本国的学校，而不是简单的舶来品。最初的时候，协和医学院重点培养医学精英，但长期来看，杨忠睿（音译）和陈志谦(音译)等毕业生则通过培训接生员和乡村医生的方式，逐渐改变了中国城乡的医疗状况。
认识中国
在中国长大的美国人
在美中关系不断改善的过程中，在华传教士的后代们时常发挥着独特的作用。他们其中的一些人成为了作家和教育家，将鲜活的中国形象呈现到广大的美国人民眼前。诺贝尔文学奖奖获得者赛珍珠等作家的作品，成为外界了解中国人生活与中国文化的一扇窗户。新闻界人士亨利·卢斯创办了多本知名杂志，例如《时代》周刊和《生活》周刊。在中国抗击日本侵略者的过程中，他的这些杂志曾在支援中国的宣传中发挥了重要作用。
还有一些传教士的后代则凭借他们的中国背景进入外交领域，为扩展美中双边关系发挥了重要作用。司徒雷登曾是1949年新中国成立之前美国派驻北京的最后一任大使。职业外交官谢伟思则在国共内战时期力主美国应当保持中立，并主张承认成立后的中华人民共和国。美中实现双边关系正常化以后，恒慕义和李洁明都曾出任驻华大使。可以说，那些传教士留给后世的，远远超过他们在鼎盛时期的活动本身。
20世纪20年代，一些来到中国的美国人利用他们获得的第一手信息，积极为中国进行宣传。例如，1928年，正在进行环球旅行的埃德加·斯诺到达中国。斯诺在上海找到了一份记者的工作，在中国一呆就是13年。在这期间，斯诺逐渐成为报道中国的最著名记者之一。1936年，他来到偏远的延安，成为见到中国共产党领导人毛泽东和周恩来的第一个美国人。1931年，另一位抱着寻求冒险经历来到中国上海的美国人海伦·福斯特（后来成为海伦·福斯特·斯诺），成为美国驻上海领馆的工作人员，并为美国报纸撰写报告文章。在之后的十年中，她利用自己享有的治外法权，成为研究、撰写中国的外国人士。她所倡导的民族主义，在帮助中国恢复主权的努力中起到引导性作用。1937年，海伦·福斯特还亲自拜访共产党领导人。斯诺夫妇与许多的美国记者、学者一道，深深影响着当时美国人对中国的看法。 
中国研究
20世纪30年代，美国的中国研究开始起步。30世纪早期，一位名叫费正清（John King Fairbank）的青年历史学家来到中国，并花了五年时间学习中文、收集资料，拜中国的历史、考古和文学学者为师。他的这些老师之中，有很多人都曾前往美国留学。1936年，费正清回到美国哈佛大学任教，其职业生涯几乎都致力于创建和发展中国历史研究及改善两国关系。几乎在与费正清同一时代，一位名叫劳伦斯·希克曼的学者也来到中国，为堪萨斯的纳尔逊-阿特金斯艺术博物馆收集中国艺术品。他在中国获得的知识，成为了之后美国人研究中国艺术史的基础。
这是具有标志性意义的二战照片之一,在这张照片中，一名年轻的中国士兵守卫在一排属于美国空军驻华特遣队的第23战斗机大队的柯蒂斯P-40K战斗机前。 
战事的发展把美中两国更为密切地联系在了一起。第二次中日战争（1937–45，即抗日战争）爆发后不久，美国明显加强了对中国的支持力度。1937年夏，日本全面发动侵华战争，美国国内的流行民意压倒性地转为支持中国一方。在接下的几年中，美国政府先后通过提供购买信贷和《租借法案》延长对南京国民政府的援助。与此同时，美国还不断加大对日本施压，并在日本扩大其在东南亚地区的军事攻势之后，彻底对其实施了禁运。
一些美国公民也为中国人民的抗战做出了重大贡献。1937年末，日军对南京城实施了暴行。在此期间，一名德国商人成立了“南京安全区国际委员会”，保护了20万中国人免遭日军迫害。几位美国教师、传教士或医生——包括刘易斯·史迈斯、贝茨、威廉敏娜（明尼）·沃特林、罗伯特·威尔逊和乔治·费奇——都是该委员会的主要成员。除了以外国人的身份为沦陷区提供食品、医疗救助和人身保护之外，他们还通过文字、照片等方式公开揭露日军在南京的暴行，争取国际社会对中国的支持，可惜收效不大。
抗战时期，这些美国人为中国老百姓提供庇护，另一些美国人则制定计划，帮助中国抗战。1938年，海伦·福斯特·斯诺和埃德加·斯诺等外国友人设想在偏远地区建立相对简易的小型工业合作社（简称“工合社”）的模式，为前线生产奇缺的军需物资。南京国民政府立即接受了这个计划并为其提供了启动资金。不久之后，共产党领导人也对这个模式表示支持。工合运动的组织者们又通过在美国和其他一些地区筹集私人捐款获得了更多资金，分拨给各地的工合社。从“工合社”的建立、推广到运营的全过程里，中国公民做出了大量贡献，而“工合社”也从物质和精神双方面大大鼓舞了抗战士气。这个项目的中文简称“Gung Ho”（工合）也成为了一个新的英语词汇，表示“通力合作、努力工作”之意。 
美国为抗战提供支持
除此之外，美国还通过直接参战来支持中国人民的抗战运动。1937年，退休的美国空军飞行员陈纳德启程前往中国，担任蒋介石的军事顾问。不久后，陈纳德同中方政府官员一道开始游说美国政府，希望获取美方的军事供给和抗战支持。1940年，陈纳德的努力终于取得了成效。美国总统罗斯福不仅向中方提供了100架战斗机作为支援，还准许陈纳德从美军各个级别的军人中招募飞行员，赴华执行飞行任务并培训中国飞行员。
这支“美国志愿援华大队”有个更为人所熟知的名称“飞虎队”。1941年末，志愿队开始正式投入战斗。在日本战机数量大大多于志愿队战机数量的情况下，“飞虎队”取得了巨大的胜利。在1942年之前，这支驻扎在云南省的作战队伍帮助确保滇缅公路畅通无阻，战略物资被源源不断地从这条公路运往中国。不仅如此，“飞虎队”队员还是有效地担当了美国使者的角色，他们在抗击日本人的过程中赢得了许多中国人的尊敬。例如，抗战结束后不久，云南中部一个名叫祥云的小镇为在当地牺牲的“飞虎队”成员罗伯特·穆尼中尉修建了一座纪念碑。穆尼在与一支日本战机小分队作战时身受重伤，他一直坚持将飞机开出小镇范围以外，最后因坠机而牺牲。尽管他的纪念碑曾于文革期间（1966-76年）遭到毁损，但20世纪90年代初又得以重建。
1941年，日军轰炸珍珠港，美中军事合作也达到顶峰。美国不再限制对华实施援助，立即加入同盟国一方参与对共同敌人的作战。罗斯福总统命令曾多次赴华执行任务的约瑟夫·史迪威将军前往当时中国的“战时首都”重庆，担任中国政府的军事顾问和美军驻中国战区的总司令。为支持中国抗击日本侵略者，罗斯福还尽可能地为中国提供援助，并晋升陈纳德为少将司令，将他率领的“飞虎队”编为美国派遣到中国的正规军。罗斯福还象征性地将中国列入二战的四大同盟国之一和在亚洲对日作战的“ABCD”（美、英、中、德）四强。除此之外，1943年，美国废除《排华法案》、与英国共同结束在华治外法权，并承认日本战败后中国可以收回对台湾、满洲里的主权。中国的军事抵抗加上美方提供的援助和人员培训，成功地将日军牵制在了中国战场长达数年。与此同时，美国则通过海空对战争施压。
1944年，重庆的紧张局势一触即发。国民党军队混乱不堪，所到之处老百姓皆对其怨声载道。国民政府内部分崩离析，受到包括史迪威将军在内的多方尖锐批评。罗斯福曾试图说服蒋介石让史迪威将军担任在华军队总指挥，但遭到蒋介石的激烈反对。最终，这一矛盾导致史迪威被罗斯福召回美国，取而代之的是魏德迈将军。尽管在这一事件上罗斯福向蒋介石做出了妥协，但美国方面已经决定要发展同共产党的关系了。
1944年夏，美国派遣一个小型观察组“迪克西使团”赴延安考察，领队是外交官约翰·S·瑟维斯。观察组通过几个月的考察，对共产党领导层和军队的纪律严明、组织有序留下了良好的印象，并几次递交报告，建议美国政府向共产党提供直接援助。然而，对于此次派遣观察组的行动，蒋介石表示强烈反对。魏德迈和新的驻华大使帕特里克·赫尔利则顺从蒋介石的意思，并最终放弃该计划。
二战即将结束之际，中美之间的关系又有所转暖。在这场战争期间，两国人民可以列举出无数双方共同作战的例子，因为在如此漫长的战争年代，美国一直都是中国最坚定的国际同盟。也许最为重要的是，美中两国人民在战争终结时对彼此的看法，远比刚开始时积极地多。正如至今仍伫立在云南的一座美军飞行员的纪念碑，那些看法得以久存于两国人民心中，甚至长过接下来数十年里双方之间曾出现的激烈矛盾。
1979年，吉米·卡特总统和中国高级领导人邓小平在华盛顿 (照片来源：美联社) 
渐进开放 
美中关系逐渐解冻和尼克松的“对华开放”
20世纪50年代末到60年代初，美国国会出现一些势单力薄的呼声，要求重新评估美国对华政策。1959年5月，加州参议员克莱尔·恩格尔呼吁美国政府对华采取更为温和的手段。参议员外交关系委员会也开始要求专家学者制定新的计划，以替代美国当时的政策。1965年12月，美国国务院修改了《对华旅游禁令》，第一次谨慎地释放出对华态度有所松动的信号。
直到1969年理查德·尼克松上台后，美国和中国才开始果断地朝着实现双边关系正常化的方向不断努力。尼克松总统从掌权之初就开始秘密释放愿意改善对华关系、与北京方面进行对话的信号。为此，他特意选择法国和巴基斯坦领导人作为与中国的沟通媒介。1971年2月，尼克松第一次公使用“中华人民共和国”这个称谓；3月，美国国务院解除了持美国护照前往中国旅游的所有限制。
“乒乓外交”
1971年春，美国乒乓球协会代表队赴日本参加一项国际乒乓赛事。美国队队员格伦·科恩先是错过了队车，最后竟误上了中国队的车子。当时，中国乒乓球队主力球员之一的庄则栋送给科恩一块绣着杭州秀美群山的织锦。科恩则在几天后回赠了他一件运动衫，上面印有代表和平的红白蓝英文字母。1971年4月6日，中方邀请美国乒乓球队访华的消息令美方倍感吃惊。接下来，美方做出了更多缓和双边关系的政策调整。4月14日，美国宣布允许通过法国将装有美制发动机的车辆运往中国，标志着美国对华实施多年的贸易禁运出现松动。4月，中国总理周恩来对1970年12月份尼克松总统命人捎来的消息进行了答复，从而为更为密集的双边磋商铺平了道路。
这一系列经由秘密渠道进行的外交接触在1971年7月达到高潮，美国国家安全顾问亨利·基辛格在这个时候访问了北京。基辛格此行为尼克松总统实现对中国的历史性访华进行了铺垫，尼克松对此则评价为“改变世界的一个星期”。尼克松和毛泽东共同批准的《上海公报》不仅是一份单纯的行动计划，还涉及诸多宽泛原则，并就双方重启建立外交关系的程序达成了协议。1973年，美中驻对方国家联络处正式成立。
双方经过漫长的多次谈判，终于在1979年1月1日批准实现双边关系正常化。当时的美国总统是吉米·卡特。根据双方协议，美国承认中华人民共和国是中国的唯一合法政府，“承认只有一个中国，台湾是中国的一部分，”并表示仍会与台湾人民保持文化、经济和其他非官方往来。1979年2月，邓小平成为正式访美的第一位中华人民共和国领导人。
然而，美中关系实现正常化并非意味着双方所有争端的解决；更确切地说，随着双方关系的正常化，在面对争议时，两国放弃了从前那种充满敌意的单方面发表声明的形式，转而注重通过外交手段解决问题。实际上，这些外交渠道不仅推动美中关系不断向前发展，还引导着两国不断发现双方所拥有的共同利益。
1979年，美国商务部长朱厄妮塔·克雷普斯在广交会上签署协议 (照片来源：美联社) 
中华人民共和国与美国第一家大型企业的初次接触，甚至比尼克松总统访问北京还要早。1972年1月，为准备接待尼克松访华，中方人员与美国RCA公司取得联系，请求他们协助建造卫星通讯地面站。美方企业迅速意识到，这是美中贸易潜在的巨大商机。1973年，美中贸易全国委员会正式成立。
尽管美中已经建立了正式外交关系，也意识到其中蕴含的巨大经济潜力，但美国商人们对于如何切实重建双边贸易关系依然感到茫然。因为在那时，想参加两年一届的广交会还只能凭邀请函。1972年春，2.1万名来自世界各地的经销商——包括20名美国人——汇聚广州。在最初几年，美国销往中国的货物超过了他们从中国购买的产品，因为当时中国的出口产品极少。然而到了1975年9月，这种状态发生了改变。为了更好地了解美国人可能购买哪些产品，中国的一家外贸企业派团赴美进行考察。
随着美中贸易额从1972年的500万美元猛增到1978年的1.42亿美元，两国普通民众之间也有了越来越多的交往。20世纪70年代中期，共有大约400个中国人赴美接受技术培训，而在中国也出现了一些定居的美国人。例如在1974年到1978年间，普尔曼·凯洛格在中国建立了8家氨肥加工厂，这些工厂中的美国工人达到140个。
中国这一时期事实上的领导人邓小平所倡导的改革开放过程是推动贸易发展的唯一最重要的因素。根据规划，邓小平和其他几位改革的推行者十分注重学习西方技术，用于实现中国国防和工业的现代化，增强中国的商品制造能力。在众多美中双方合作项目中，最首要的就是派遣中国医生、科学家赴美深造，接受培训，并邀请美国工程师赴华担任技术顾问。
为鼓励外资进入中国，中国政府还批准建立了多处经济特区、允许成立合资企业。这些经济特区加上中国沿海地区众多实行类似政策的城市，在一定意义上就像20世纪20、30年代允许外国企业在华设厂、雇用中国工人的条约口岸。
这些中资占主要部分的合资企业，成为所有在华开办业务的国外企业的标准模式。无论是在经济特区还是其他地区，均是如此。在这些合资企业中，外方负责提供资金、技术和出口，而中方则负责办理所有法律手续，为在华办厂、雇用工人提供后勤。与19世纪时的“广州贸易制度”相类似，这些新时代的合资公司也由政府官员主管，他们也要对外商合作伙伴的行为负责。
由于双边贸易往来曾出现长达40年的中断，两国的商界纷纷加快动作，弥补失去的时间。与20世纪早期的情况有所不同，美国企业这次在中国建立的合资公司数量远远超过上次。无论是可口可乐、通用汽车这样的商界巨人，还是成百上千的小型企业，甚至是那些私人企业家，无不希望在中国找到自己的用武之地。截至1986年，超过300家美国企业与中方建立贸易往来，合同总额超过25亿美元。除此之外，更有数不胜数的美国企业曾做过类似尝试。
最惠国待遇与世贸组织
尽管美中双边贸易规模在20世纪80-90年代期间实现了迅猛增长，但两国之间的商业往来却并非从此一帆风顺。美国国会每年一次的中国最惠国待遇废留之争，就是双边贸易关系的一个主要刺激因素。1979年，吉米·卡特总统首次支持延长对华最惠国待遇。但之后最惠国待遇问题依然是双边关系中的难题。直到20世纪90年代中期，比尔·克林顿总统宣布永久性放弃对中国实行的“人权与经济挂钩政策”。对中国而言，90年代在经贸领域的最重要事件就是成功加入世界贸易组织。这不仅为中国带来了巨大的贸易机会，也标志着中国终于被全球最大的贸易组织吸纳为成员。自1986年申请加入世贸组织以来，中国曾数次遭到阻挠。但经过不懈努力，中国终于满足了入世所需的条件。中国政府不仅降低了一半多的关税，还逐渐增强了人民币的流动性。1999年底，美国最终放弃了对中国入世的反对。2000年5月，美国国会通过了给予中国永久正常贸易关系地位（PNTR——即原先的最惠国待遇）的议案，中国也在第二年正式加入了世贸组织。
王薇薇(照片来源：美联社) 
20世纪后五十年里，移民美国的中国人数量迅速攀升。二战后，美籍华裔人士在学术研究方面做出了重要的贡献。例如很多研究中国问题的权威学者本身就是美籍华人，汉语研究领域涌现的成果在很大程度上也归功于那些华人教师。在科学界，华裔科学家的影响则更为深远。从1957年的李政道、杨振宇，到1998年的崔琦，总共有六名美籍华裔科学家获得过诺贝尔物理奖或化学奖。以这几位获奖者为代表的很多华裔学者都对中国的科研发展做出了不可磨灭的贡献。他们不仅积极地与中国国内科学家进行合作，有几位还在内地、香港和台湾的大学中任职。 
华裔政治家
在美国政坛的最高层，也活跃着几位美籍华人的身影。1959年，邝友良成为了第一位华裔——实际上也是第一位亚裔——国会参议员，他代表的选区是夏威夷。1964年，身为共和党人的邝友良甚至尝试争取共和党提名参加美国总统竞选。另一位美籍华人吴振伟，则凭借自己在俄勒冈州第一国会选区赢得的席位，成为了首位进入美国众议院的华裔。2001年，女政治家赵小兰成为了第一位进入美国政府内阁的华裔，乔治·W·布什总统任命她为劳工部部长。
骆家辉于1997年成为美国历史上首位华裔州长，他的就职典礼在华盛顿州隆重举行。骆家辉的人生轨迹属于一部典型的移民奋斗史。他的祖父于19世纪来到美国，靠当佣人来维持生计。他的父亲曾参加过第二次世界大战，退伍后经营一家杂货铺。在担任州长期间，骆家辉这样描述从家人那里获得的经验：“我的祖父在差不多一百年前来到美国，他曾经是一名佣人。如今，我当上了华盛顿州的州长，距离我祖父工作过的地方仅一英里之遥。我的家庭用了一百年才走完了这一英里的路程——这是只有在美国才能发生的奇迹。” 骆家辉后来继续在欧巴马执政期间担任美国商务部长和美国驻华大使。 
华人对美国经济的贡献
华人移民为美国的经济和科技发展也做出了很多重要贡献。例如，一名叫做王安的中国青年于1945年从中国上海来到美国，在哈佛大学攻读自己的博士学位。在那里，他有幸参与了世界上第一台电子计算机的研发工作，并发明了最早形态的核心存储器之一。1951年6月，王博士建立了自己的科学实验室，继续埋头于计算机技术研究。到了20世纪70年代中期，他与同班同学在美国共同创立的公司已经成为个人电脑设计与销售领域的佼佼者。王安在开发电脑硬件方面的努力成果为后来人起到了铺垫的作用。20世纪90年代，一名在台湾出生、就读于美国斯坦福大学的工程系研究生杨致远，与一位同学共同开发了万维网在线指南。由于他们提供的这项服务受到了令人难以置信的欢迎，因此二人又重新设计了在线指南，第一家网络搜索引擎雅虎就此诞生了。1995年4月，这对合作伙伴又成立了与搜索引擎同名的公司。正是这家公司引领了20世纪最后几年兴起的网络风潮，推动互联网成为全球通信的主要媒介。
华裔文艺界名人
时至今日，在美国文化与社会的各个领域都活跃着被人们所熟知的华裔明星，这些人有些是在出生后来到美国的，也有些人就是在美国本土出生的。例如，著名华裔作家张纯如和汤婷婷无论是在原创小说领域还是在知识性读物领域都有各自的畅销著作。华裔作家谭恩美的小说《喜福会》曾连续八周登上《纽约时报》最佳畅销书排行榜。后来，这部小说还被翻拍为成功的动作影片。此外，谭恩美还写过一部极其畅销的儿童系列卡通《傻瓜：一只中国暹罗猫》。
华裔电视女主播陈晓怡和宗毓华早已被美国千家万户所熟知，同时在美国家喻户晓的华裔电视人还有烹饪节目的主持人甄文达，他已经出版了超过24本食谱。著名华裔建筑师贝聿铭，正是他设计了坐落于华盛顿特区的美国国家美术馆东馆。此外，位于俄亥俄克利夫兰市的摇滚名人纪念堂也出自他的手笔。美籍华人在时尚界也不乏杰出代表，例如谭燕玉和王薇薇就是其中的先锋人物。不过，要说真正使美籍华人在美国社会大放异彩的还是那些来自体育界的明星，他们包括世界男子网球冠军张德培、1996年奥运会体操项目团体冠军获得者周婉仪和花样滑冰世界冠军关颖珊。此外不得不提到的人物还有NBA有史以来第一个外籍选秀状元——姚明。

In February 1784, one of the world’s newest countries sent a trading ship to one of the Earth’s oldest civilizations. Thus began the story of the relationship between the peoples of the United States and China.  As we progress into the 21st century, the United States and China are deeply intertwined, forging one of the most consequential relationships in the world.
U.S. Merchants Look to China
Porcelain, Tea, and Silk
For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Chinese trade goods symbolized luxury for wealthy Europeans and their American counterparts. However, the arduous Pacific crossing was filled with danger, and trading in China seemed almost impossibly difficult because the Qing Empire had no desire to open its doors to foreigners. As one Emperor proclaimed, China “needed nothing from the outside world.”
By the latter half of the 18th century, the “China trade” was well-established and was an integral part of the British mercantile system. American colonists could only obtain Chinese goods carried by the ships of the British East India Company and, in one notable incident, expressed their displeasure with British political control by dumping Chinese tea into Boston Harbor. After prevailing in their revolutionary struggle, these newly independent Americans found themselves cut off from British trade and Chinese trade goods. The preliminary peace treaty with England was signed in November 1782, and by March 1783, American merchants were already beginning to plan a U.S. trade mission to China.
The Empress of China 
A new ship was built in 1783 in Boston, the Empress of China, and the mission was financed by several wealthy American merchants, including Robert Morris, who was known as the “Financier of the Revolution.” The investors filled the ship with the one thing that the Chinese wanted—ginseng. In all, about 30 tons of ginseng from western Pennsylvania and Virginia made up the bulk of the trading cargo, along with $18,000 in silver coin.
Major Samuel Shaw, former aide-de-camp to General Henry Knox, was chosen to take chief responsibility for the trading mission as the “supercargo” or business manager, and John Green was chosen as captain. The owners were aware of the importance of the mission and wrote formal instructions to Captain Green:
“It is earnestly recommended to you as well on board as on Shore to cultivate the good will & friendship of all those with whom you may have dealing or Connections. You will probably be the first who shall display the American Flag in those distant Regions, and a regard to your own personal honor will induce You to render it respectable by integrity and benevolence in all your Conduct and dealings; taking the proper precautions at the same time not to be yourself imposed on.”
Shaw and Green also carried a copy of the Declaration of Independence and copies of “several treaties made with different European powers,” presumably to prove that the United States really did exist. “You will show these things as occasion may require and avoiding all Insult to others you will consult your own Honor and that of the Country whose Commission you bear; if any are Offered to you.” The owners also provided a “sea letter” from the U.S. Congress—just in case the Chinese required such formality.
After a journey of 18,000 miles, the Empress of China sailed up the Pearl River and into Guangzhou (Canton) on August 28, 1784, and the United States formally entered the China trade.
Upon their arrival, Shaw and Green found that foreigners were confined to a tiny, claustrophobic district within Guangzhou, where they were allowed to reside for only short times during the year. Most of the time, they lived in the Portuguese colony of Macao. As Samuel Shaw wrote in his diary, “Europeans, after a dozen years’ residence, have not seen more than what the first month presented to view.” Contact was restricted to a small group of Chinese firms, or hong, which were responsible for the housing and behavior of the foreigners with whom they traded. Each hong merchant received a special, temporary imperial license to interact with foreigners and reported to the Chief of Customs. The Americans became the clients of Puankehequa, one of the ablest of the hong merchants.
Samuel Shaw was impressed with the little he was able to see of China and wrote: “All we know with certainty respecting the empire of China is, that it has long existed—a striking evidence of the wisdom of its government, and still continues the admiration of the world.” Shaw also admired his hong partners, describing them as “intelligent, exact accountants, punctual to their engagements.”
The trading mission was a success, and on December 28, 1784, the Empress of China set sail for Hwa-Ke (“Flowery Flag”), the name the Chinese had given to the United States. The Chinese lit firecrackers to “awaken the gods to the vessel’s departure” and give them good sailing. The ship arrived back in New York on May 11, 1785, filled with tea, silks, “fine tea table china in sets,” and gunpowder.
The Government of the United States was pleased by the success of the voyage. Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay wrote of the “peculiar satisfaction” of the Congress upon the establishment of direct trade. Samuel Shaw was “honored by Congress with their commission of Consul at Canton,” and became the first American diplomatic representative to China, returning to China in 1786.
While the first voyage of the Empress of China returned a 25 percent profit, later merchants always wrestled with the difficulty of trade goods for China. The Chinese wanted silver, which was the basis of their monetary system, but U.S. merchants had only limited supplies of the precious metal. They found a market for the animal skins and ginseng root from the Northwest Territories and Appalachia, but the value of these did not equal that of the demand for tea and other Chinese goods in the United States.
Although U.S. merchants played only a small role in China’s foreign trade, some American traders did acquire substantial wealth. After only 5 or 10 years in the Far East, they generally returned with well over $100,000, more than enough to retire in comfort. U.S. companies were generally family-run affairs, led by men such as John Cushing, brothers John Murray and Robert Bennet Forbes, and Warren Delano, Jr., the grandfather of future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
China traders played a key role in expanding American awareness of China through their collections of art and artifacts. For example, during his 12 years in China—and with the help of his Chinese counterparts—Philadelphia merchant Nathan Dunn assembled a collection of 1,200 items, ranging from paintings, ceramics, and bronzes, to furniture, botanical specimens, and items for daily use. After he returned to his native city, in 1839 he displayed the collection in a “Chinese Museum.” Dunn intended to give visitors a window on Chinese life by dividing the exhibit hall into rooms and cases that displayed objects in replicas of their original settings, complete with statues of Chinese people. More than 100,000 people passed through the exhibit before it closed in 1841 and was moved to London. Exhibits such as Dunn’s sparked an interest in collecting—and even studying—Chinese art, which later flourished at the turn of the century.
Some of the China traders developed close ties with the hong merchants, who themselves were tremendously wealthy. For example, when one hong merchant, Howqua, wanted to invest some of his $50 million fortune in the United States, he turned to the Forbes brothers. They managed his investments through their positions with a leading U.S. firm, Russell & Co., and paid dividends of $40,000 a year to Howqua and his descendents for decades.
Later 19th Century Diplomacy 
For the first 60 years after the 1784 voyage of the Empress of China, U.S. diplomatic representation was confined to the consular level. [Note: this passage taken from intro paragraph] In 1843, Secretary of State Daniel Webster dispatched Caleb Cushing as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate a treaty for trading and diplomatic rights with the Qing Dynasty. On July 3, 1844, Cushing and the Qing Dynasty official Qiying signed the Treaty of Wangxia, which marked the beginning of official relations between the United States and China. Cushing’s successor, Alexander Everett, was appointed Commissioner in 1845, but the Senate failed to confirm him as Envoy and Minister. He died at post less than one year after his arrival.
American diplomacy’s low profile was in part the result of the short careers and limited scope of action of the U.S. officials who served in China. Of the 17 ministers posted there between 1844 and 1900, most had a tenure of less than two years, and two—Everett and Benjamin Avery—died of disease while at post. All of them acted on an ad hoc basis, since the U.S. Government had no formal policy towards China throughout the 19th century.
The first American Commissioner to visit the interior of China was Humphrey Marshall, who traveled 30 miles inland from Shanghai to Kwoonsan in 1853. Marshall believed that continued diplomatic contact between the two sides “might serve to efface prejudices … that retarded the intimate friendly intercourse which ought to exist between the United States and China.”
Minister Anson Burlingame, who in 1862 became the first U.S. representative to reside in Beijing, took a more active role in China’s international relations. Burlingame quickly acquainted himself with leading reformers in the Chinese Government, including the influential Prince Gong, the brother of Emperor Xianfeng, who established China’s first Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1867, when Chinese officials decided to send a diplomatic mission overseas to renegotiate China’s treaties, they lacked a high-ranking official with sufficient experience to lead the expedition. The Chinese turned to Burlingame who, with permission from Washington, resigned his ministerial post and entered the service of the Qing Empire. He then led a small group of Chinese to the capitals of the West, including Washington, D.C., an event that Burlingame billed as having epic historical significance:
“[It] means commerce; it means peace; it means a unification of her own interests with the whole human race … The fraternal feeling of four hundred millions of people has commenced to flow through the land of Washington to the elder nations of the West, and it will flow on forever.”
The resulting treaty, the Burlingame Treaty, signed by Burlingame and U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, expanded contact between Chinese and Americans. It ensured the reciprocal rights of travel, residence, and study; it provided Chinese consuls with full diplomatic rights in U.S. ports; it encouraged Chinese laborers to immigrate to the United States; and it offered official U.S. support for Chinese territorial sovereignty. The two sides signed the treaty in 1868 and ratified it the following year.
Several years after ratifying the Burlingame Treaty, the Qing court established a legation in Washington, D.C. Chen Lanbin, who had already spent several years in the United States leading a group of students, was appointed to head the legation. Although he accepted the post, Chen remained in China for a time and did not proceed immediately to Washington. Until his arrival, Yung Wing, a naturalized U.S. citizen, served as temporary minister. One of Yung’s first tasks was finding a home for China’s diplomats. He obtained a lease on a stately Victorian mansion known as the Stewart Castle, located near other foreign legations in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. Chen’s arrival in 1878 marked the beginning of full bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Early Educational Contacts and Learning about China
Educational endeavors early on became one of the most fruitful arenas for U.S.-China collaboration.
In the first decades of the 20th century, dozens of schools and colleges were established in China, altogether teaching between 10 and 20 percent of China’s post-secondary students in any given year. These institutions emphasized instruction in English, philosophy, religion, and the sciences, and also stressed physical education and athletics.
The Yale-China Association originally was established in 1901 as the Yale Foreign Missionary Society, in part to honor a Yale graduate, Horace Tracy Pitkin, who had died during the Boxer Uprising. Almost immediately after its founding, the Association shifted its focus from missionary activity to education and medical enterprises. The Association founded several of the most important institutions in China, including sites in Changsha, as well as Yenching University in Beijing, which integrated three existing colleges and had a mixed faculty of Chinese and foreign professors. Graduates of these schools maintained close ties to each other throughout their lives, and, in 1952, China’s flagship institution, Beijing University, took over Yenching University’s former campus.
One of Yale-China’s other ventures, the Hsing-Ya Medical College, Nursing School, and Hospital, became renowned as a the top source for training in Western medical procedures in China.
Americans also launched a number of other educational initiatives, many of them in conjunction with Chinese partners. These ranged from the agricultural and industrial school in rural Taigu, Shanxi Province, to the much larger Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). The Rockefeller Foundation funded PUMC as a flagship medical institution, based on the model of The Johns Hopkins University—a single institution that combined teaching, research, and practice. Founded in 1915 and opened in 1921, the goal of PUMC was to train doctors and nurses as the core of China’s medical profession. PUMC initially focused on creating an elite group of professionals, but in the long run graduates such as Yang Zhongrui and Chen Zhiqian transformed medical practice in urban and rural China by training midwives and village doctors.
Americans Raised in China
The children of missionaries often used their unique experiences to foster improved U.S.-China relations. Some harnessed their talents as writers and educators to bring a more vibrant image of China to a wide audience of American citizens. Authors, including Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck, wrote novels that served as a window into Chinese life and culture. Journalist Henry Luce launched high profile magazines, such as Time and Life, which helped to rally support in the United States for China’s fight against Japan.
Other missionary children used their background in China to help shape the broader U.S.-China relationship by joining the diplomatic service. John Leighton Stuart served as the last U.S. Ambassador to Beijing prior to 1949, and career diplomat John S. Service argued in favor of U.S. neutrality in China’s civil war and recognition of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) when it was established. Arthur Hummel, Jr. and James Lilley both became Ambassadors to China after normalization. The legacy of the missionaries far outlived the heyday of their activity.
By the 1920s, some Americans traveling to China used their first-hand knowledge to advocate on China’s behalf. Edgar Snow, for example, came to China in 1928 while on a journey around the world. After landing a position as a journalist in Shanghai, he remained in the country for the next 13 years, developing a reputation as one of the best reporters on events in China. In 1936, he became the first American to meet with Communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai at their remote mountain camp of Yan’an. In search of adventure, Helen Foster (later Helen Foster Snow) traveled to Shanghai in 1931 to work at the U.S. consulate and file reports for U.S. newspapers. Over the next decade, she took full advantage of her extraterritorial privileges as a foreigner to study and write about China, promote nationalistic causes that could lead to the restoration of Chinese sovereignty, and make her own journey to visit the Communists in 1937. Together with a number of other journalists and scholars, the Snows formed the core of a group that exerted a tremendous influence on U.S. perceptions of China.
Chinese Studies 
The study of China in the United States also took off during the 1930s. In the early 1930s, a young historian named John King Fairbank arrived in China, and spent five years studying Chinese, gathering materials, and learning from Chinese academics steeped in their own history, archaeology, and literature, many of whom had studied in the United States. After returning to teach at Harvard University in 1936, Fairbank spent most of his career creating and developing the field of Chinese history and working to improve relations between the two nations. At roughly the same time, a scholar named Laurence Sickman traveled to China to acquire art for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The knowledge he developed in China would serve as the basis for the study of Chinese art history in the United States.
Military developments drew Americans and Chinese closer together. United States support for China increased dramatically soon after the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). After Japan launched an all-out offensive in China in the summer of 1937, American popular opinion shifted overwhelmingly in China’s favor. Over the next few years, the U.S. Government extended aid to the Nationalist Government, first through credits for purchases and then through the Lend-Lease program. At the same time, it increased pressure on Japan, ultimately enacting an embargo after Japan expanded its military offensive into Southeast Asia.
Individual Americans also made important contributions to the Chinese war effort. When the Japanese Army rampaged through Nanjing in late 1937, a German businessman formed the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone to protect 200,000 Chinese citizens from the Japanese invaders. A group of American teachers, missionaries, and doctors—including Lewis Smythe, Miner Searle Bates, Wilhelmina “Minnie” Vautrin, Robert Wilson, and George Fitch—were crucial to this effort. In addition to providing food, medical care, and the protection afforded by their status as non-Chinese, they tried, with limited success, to raise international support for China by publicizing accounts and pictures of the Japanese assault on Nanjing.
While these Americans protected Chinese from the war, others launched a plan to help China fight it. In 1938, Helen Foster Snow, Edgar Snow, and a small group of other foreigners came up with a model for small Industrial Cooperatives (Indusco) that could be established with relative ease in remote areas, in order to produce supplies of crucial materials for the war effort. The Nationalist Government picked up on the plan immediately and provided initial funding for the project, and soon Communist leaders also adopted the idea. The organizers drew upon private donations from the United States and elsewhere to raise more funds, which were then funneled to individual cooperatives. Its spirit of cooperation and hard work even introduced a new term to the English language, “gung ho,” which was the Chinese name for the project.
American Combat Support 
American aid also appeared in the form of direct combat involvement. Claire Lee Chennault, a retired Army Air Corps pilot, went to China in 1937 and became one of Jiang Jieshi’s military advisers. Together with Chinese officials, he soon began lobbying the U.S. Government for military supplies and support for the Nationalists’ resistance. In 1940, he finally achieved his goal when President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave 100 fighter planes to China and allowed Chennault to recruit pilots from among the U.S. military ranks to fly the planes and train Chinese pilots.
The American Volunteer Group, more popularly known as the Flying Tigers, began operations in late 1941, and had dramatic success against the more numerous Japanese planes. Based in Yunnan Province, they helped to keep the Burma Road open until 1942, so that supplies could continue to come in overland. The Flying Tigers also served as effective ambassadors for the United States, drawing the admiration of many Chinese for their aid in the fight against Japan. For example, soon after the war ended, the village of Xiangyun, in central Yunnan, erected a memorial honoring Lieutenant Robert Mooney, a pilot, who had been fatally wounded while driving off a squadron of Japanese planes, before crash landing just outside of town. Later destroyed during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–76), the monument was rebuilt in the early 1990s.
Collaboration between the United States and China reached its zenith after Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The United States no longer had to limit its assistance to China and immediately engaged in a formal alliance to fight the common enemy. President Roosevelt sent General Joseph Stilwell, who had completed several tours of duty in China after World War I, to the wartime capital of Chongqing (Chungking) to serve as a military adviser to the Chinese Government and as the leader of United States forces in the region. Roosevelt funneled as much aid as possible to China to support the anti-Japanese resistance. Chennault was promoted to the rank of General, and the Flying Tigers were reorganized as part of the formal U.S. forces in China. Roosevelt also took the symbolic step of making China one of the Big Four allied powers of World War II and one of the ABCD powers (American, British, Chinese, Dutch) fighting Japan in Asia. In addition, in 1943, the United States abolished its exclusionary immigration laws and joined with Britain in ending extraterritoriality, and in recognizing China’s future sovereignty over Taiwan and Manchuria once Japan was defeated. The combination of U.S. supplies and training and Chinese military forces proved effective in keeping Japan tied down in China for years, while the United States pressed the battle by air and sea.
Tensions in Chongqing peaked in 1944. The Nationalist forces were in disarray and were often bitterly resented by the local populace wherever they went. The
Government was internally divided, with sharp criticism coming from many quarters, including General Stilwell. Roosevelt tried to convince Jiang to put Stilwell in charge of all Chinese forces, but this provoked a bitter reaction, which ultimately led to Stilwell’s recall and his replacement by General Albert Wedemeyer. Although Roosevelt bowed to Jiang’s wishes in this case, the United States had already decided to explore relations with the Communists.
In the summer of 1944, the United States sent a small group of observers, “the Dixie Mission,” under the leadership of diplomat John S. Service, to Yan’an. Over several months, this group became favorably impressed with the discipline and organization of the Communist leadership and forces, and drew up several proposals for providing direct aid to the Communists. Jiang vehemently opposed such actions. Wedemeyer and Patrick Hurley, the new U.S. Ambassador, obliged Jiang and abandoned the plans.
Relations between China and the United States improved during the waning stages of World War II. Americans and Chinese could point to numerous examples of joint action in the course of waging the war, because the United States had been China’s strongest international ally throughout the long conflict. Perhaps most important, the American and Chinese people came out of the war with better opinions of each other than they had at the start. Like the monument to a lone American pilot that still stands in rural Yunnan Province, these opinions would outlast the bitter disputes of the next few decades.
A Gradual Thaw and Nixon’s “Opening to China”
During the late1950s and early 1960s, a few isolated voices began to call for a reassessment of U.S. policy toward China. In May 1959, California Senator Clair Engle called for a more conciliatory approach to the People’s Republic of China, while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked scholars to formulate alternative approaches to current U.S. policy. In December 1965, the Department of State’s modification of its China travel ban signaled the first, very small thaw in attitudes toward China.
However, only after Richard M. Nixon took office in 1969 did the United States and the PRC start decisively down the path towards formal relations. From the start of his administration, President Nixon privately signaled his willingness to change American policy toward China and begin a dialogue with Beijing. To do so, he enlisted the leaders of both France and Pakistan as intermediaries. In February 1971, Nixon referred to China as the People’s Republic of China for the first time, and in March the Department of State removed all restrictions on the use of U.S. passports for travel to China.
Ping Pong Diplomacy
In the spring of 1971, the United States Table Tennis Association team was one of a number of competitors participating at an international competition in Japan. An American player named Glenn Cowan missed the team bus and ended up riding on the PRC team bus. One of China’s top players, Zhuang Zedong, gave Cowan a silkscreen of the Hangzhou Mountains. A few days later Cowan presented Zhuang with a T-shirt with a red, white, and blue peace symbol. On April 6, 1971, the Chinese asked their startled American counterparts to visit China. More policy changes followed. On April 14, the United States allowed France to ship vehicles with American-made engines to China, breaking the long-time trade embargo. In April, Premier Zhou En-lai replied to a December 1970 message from President Nixon, paving the way for more intense bilateral exchanges.
Diplomatic backchannel communications culminated in National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s secret visit to Beijing in July 1971. Kissinger prepared the way for President Nixon’s historic trip to China in February 1972, dubbed by Nixon as “the week that changed the world.” Nixon and Mao agreed on the Shanghai Communiqué, a statement of broad principles rather than a plan for action, and an agreement to begin the process of reestablishing diplomatic ties. In 1973, both governments set up Liaison Offices in the other’s capital.
After a prolonged series of talks, the two sides agreed to normalize relations on January 1, 1979, during the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Under the terms of this agreement, the United States recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China, “acknowledged the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China,” and stated that it would maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan. In February 1979, Deng Xiaopeng became the first leader of the PRC to make an official visit to the United States.
Normalization did not mean the end of all disputes; rather, it brought with it a new emphasis on using diplomacy to deal with those disagreements that had previously been handled with generally antagonistic unilateral statements. In fact, these diplomatic channels both kept U.S.-China relations moving forward, and guided the two nations towards areas of growing common interest.
The first contact between the PRC and a major American corporation took place even before President Nixon’s visit to Beijing. In January 1972, the Chinese contacted RCA to install a satellite communication earth station in preparation for the visit. Americans quickly realized the potential of U.S.-China trade, and the National Council for U.S.-China Trade was established in Washington in 1973.
Even though diplomatic contact had been restored and the potential for profit was huge, American businessmen had little idea how to actually restart trade relations, since admission to the twice yearly Canton Trade Fair was by invitation only. In the spring of 1972, 21,000 international business people—including 20 from the United States— converged on Canton. During the early years, the Americans sold more goods to China than they bought, since China produced few export products. However, that began to change in September 1975, when a delegation from one of China’s foreign trade corporations visited the United States to get a better idea of the kind of products that Americans would buy.
As trade grew from $5 million in 1972 to $142 million in 1978, individual Chinese and Americans began to come in contact with each other. During the mid-1970s, about 400 Chinese came to the United States for technical training, and some Americans also were living in China. From 1974 to 1978, for example, Pullman- Kellogg installed eight ammonia fertilizer plants in China, with 140 American workers on-site.
The process of reform and opening initiated by Deng Xiaoping, the de facto leader of China at that time, was the single most important factor in pushing trade to the forefront. In their plans, Deng and other reformers emphasized the acquisition of Western technology to modernize China’s defense and its industrial, and consumer production capabilities. As China developed exchange programs with the United States, it placed the highest priority on such activities as sending Chinese doctors and scientists to the United States for study and training and bringing U.S. engineers to China as advisers.
To promote trade and foreign investment in the PRC, the Chinese established Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and joint ventures. These SEZs, and a larger number of open coastal cities with similar rules, in some way resembled the treaty ports of the 1920s and 1930s, where foreign-owned factories employed Chinese workers.
The joint venture, with majority Chinese interest, became the standard model for any foreign company wishing to set up production in China, in the SEZs or elsewhere. The foreign side of the joint venture provided the capital, technology, and export distribution, while the Chinese side made all of the legal and logistical arrangements necessary to open and staff the factories. As in the 19th century Canton system, the new Chinese companies were often run by government officials who took responsibility for their foreign partners.
After a 40-year hiatus in commercial relations, the two sides hurried to make up for lost time. American companies rushed to create joint ventures in far greater numbers than had gone to China in the early 20th century. Giants such as Coca-Cola and General Motors, hundreds of small companies, and even individual entrepreneurs, all wanted to establish a foothold in China. By 1986, more than 300 U.S. companies had signed contracts in China, valued at more than $2.5 billion, and countless others had made the attempt.
MFN and the WTO
Although bilateral trade expanded dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, commercial relations did not always run smoothly. A major irritant was Congress’s annual debate on renewal of Most Favored Nation (MFN) status for China. First extended by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, difficulties continued until President Bill Clinton embarked on a policy of engagement in the mid-1990s. For China, the most significant trade issue in the 1990s was gaining admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Admission held numerous economic advantages, along with the symbolic value of being included in the world’s largest trading organization. China received Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR—previously MFN status) from the U.S. Congress in May 2000, and entered the WTO the following year.
During the second half of the 20th century, the number of Chinese immigrants to the United States grew rapidly. Chinese-Americans made important contributions to academics and research after World War II. Many of the scholars who became prominent in the field of China studies were themselves from China, and advances in Chinese language study were to a large degree dependent upon native speakers who became teachers. In the sciences, the effect was quite dramatic. Six Chinese who worked in the United States received Nobel Prizes in either physics or chemistry, from T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang in 1957 to Daniel C. Tsui in 1998. These award winners, and many others, also contributed to the development of scientific studies in China, both through developing ties to scientists in China and, in some cases, through taking positions at educational institutions in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Chinese-American Politicians
Several Chinese-Americans entered into U.S. national politics at the highest levels. In 1959, Hiram Leong Fong became the first Chinese-American—in fact, the first Asian-American—to serve in the U.S. Congress, when he was elected as a Senator from Hawaii. In 1964, Fong also sought the Republican nomination for President. David Wu became the first Chinese-American to serve in the House of Representatives, when he won the seat for the First Congressional District of Oregon. In 2001, Elaine Chao became the first Chinese- American to hold a cabinet level post in the U.S. Government, when President George W. Bush appointed her as Secretary of Labor.
Gary Locke became the first Chinese-American Governor in U.S. history in 1997, when he was inaugurated in the State of Washington. Locke’s story was a typical immigrant story. His grandfather had arrived during the 19th century and worked as a servant. His father, a World War II veteran, owned a small grocery store. While serving as governor, Locke said of his family’s experience: “My grandfather came to this country from China nearly a century ago and worked as a servant. Now, I serve as governor just one mile from where my grandfather worked. It took our family a hundred years to travel that mile—it was a voyage we could only make in America.” Gary Locke went on to serve as the United States Secretary of Commerce and as the United States Ambassador to China, both in the Obama Administration.
Economic Contributions
Chinese immigrants have also made significant contributions to the U.S. economy and to technological advances. For example, An Wang, a young electrical engineer, came from Shanghai in 1945 to work on a doctoral degree at Harvard University, where he became involved in research on some of the first electronic computers and developed one of the earliest types of core memory. In June 1951, Dr. Wang founded Wang Laboratories, where he continued research on computer technologies. By the mid-1970s, the company he formed with a classmate from China had become a pioneer in designing and selling personal computers. Building upon Wang’s efforts in developing computer hardware, in the 1990s a Taiwan-born engineering graduate student at Stanford University named Jerry Yang joined with a classmate to develop an online directory to the growing World Wide Web. When their service proved to be incredibly popular, the two redesigned their guide into one of the first Internet search engines, called it Yahoo!, and founded their company of the same name in April 1995. This company led the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, and the massive expansion of the Internet as a primary medium for global communication. Jerry Yang then used Yahoo! to help spread Internet usage in China, making him part of a growing group of Chinese Americans who have promoted trans-Pacific commercial ties.
Chinese-American Cultural Icons 
Today, Chinese-Americans are familiar faces in all aspects of American culture and society, whether they were born in China or the United States. Authors such as Iris Chang and Maxine Hong Kingston are well-known for both fiction and non-fiction works. Amy Tan’s book, The Joy Luck Club, spent eight months on the New York Times best-seller list and became a successful motion picture. Tan also wrote Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat, which became a highly successful children’s cartoon.
Television anchorwomen Julie Chen and Connie Chung are known to millions of viewers, while television chef Martin Yan also has written more than two dozen cookbooks. Noted architect I.M. Pei designed the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Chinese-Americans are well represented in the fashion industry by Vivienne Tam and Vera Wang. But it is in the field of sports that Chinese-Americans have emerged in force, with world champion tennis player Michael Chang, gold medal Olympic gymnast (1996) Amy Chow, world champion figure skater Michelle Kwan, and the National Basketball Association’s first international number one draft pick, Yao Ming.