In 1975, when future president George H.W. Bush was stymied in his efforts to meet future PRC leader Deng Xiaoping, the National Committee played matchmaker. Bush, head of the U.S. Liaison Office, joined our delegation of civic leaders in a meeting with Deng, then first vice premier.
Tragedies can create opportunities. In response to the chill in U.S.-China relations that followed the U.S.'s 1999 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, the Committee began conceptualizing next generation programming as an investment into better future bilateral communications. Within the next few years, we launched the Public Intellectuals Program, Young Leaders Forum, Foreign Policy […]
Providing participants an up-close perspective on life inside an American home and the opportunity to form close friendships with their hosts, local homestays have long been a feature of Committee itineraries for Chinese delegations visiting the United States. Although visitors often express trepidation ahead of time, afterwards they regularly cite their homestays as highlights of […]
Chinese president Xi Jinping and his father Xi Zhongxun are just one of several notable father/son duos who have participated in our programs. As Guangdong's governor, the senior Xi led a 1980 provincial leaders delegation to the United States that the Committee arranged. Thirty-two years later the junior Xi, then vice president, was the guest of honor at […]
The National Committee's granddaddy project of them all, the April 1972 visit of the Chinese Table Tennis Team to the United States, not only made history by turning "Ping Pong Diplomacy" into a household expression, but changed the NCUSCR's trajectory from its former focus on public education to becoming the premier organization capable of arranging […]