At the Dawn of the New China: An American Diplomat's Eyewitness Account [Paperback]

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2005

The year 1979 marked turning points in both contemporary Chinese history and Sino-American relations. Deng Xiaoping initiated market reforms and an opening to the global economy which would transform China, with Guangzhou (Canton) at the forefront. Washington and Beijing’s mutual diplomatic recognition triggered an across-the-board expansion of relations between the United States and China.

When Vice President Walter Mondale traveled to Canton for the formal opening of a new consulate there, career diplomat Richard Williams took office as the first U.S. consul general in mainland China in 30 years, tasked with projecting an American presence, cultivating local contacts, reporting on southern Chinese political and economic developments, promoting U.S. business interests, and issuing visas. Williams’s Chinese wife, having left the country 30 years earlier as the Communist government assumed power, was emotionally reunited with brothers and sisters still recovering from Cultural Revolution travails. His son and daughter encountered problems and found adventure as the only foreign teen-agers in Canton.

Told with insight, humor, and pathos, At the Dawn of the New China is Ambassador Williams’s account of the eventful two years he and his family and colleagues spent in Canton and on extensive travels elsewhere in China. He has expanded his detailed journal with declassified official cables, newspaper accounts, and other materials to provide a vivid and compelling human picture of a China on the brink of great change.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Williams served over three decades as a career U.S. diplomat and opened the first American consulate in mainland China since the 1940s. He also served as the first U.S. ambassador to Mongolia and as consul general in Hong Kong. Williams was director of Chinese affairs at the U.S. State Department during the Tiananmen crisis.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: EastBridge (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891936751
• ISBN-13: 978-1891936753
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,108,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A touching memoir with rich historical insight, March 19, 2007

By 

Mark Skoultchi (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: At the Dawn of the New China: An American Diplomat's Eyewitness Account (Paperback)

Richard Williams's story is unique and multidimensional. His work in setting up a new American diplomatic mission, his Chinese wife reuniting with brothers and sisters just emerging from the ravages of the Cultural Revolution, and his kids' experiences as the only foreign teenagers in the city all lead him into areas of Chinese society and life seldom accessible to foreigners. The result is a memoir of unparalleled richness.

And it goes way beyond that. By including declassified diplomatic cables and newspaper accounts, Williams situates his personal experiences in the wider perspective of what was happening with China globally and Sino-American relations in particular. He combines a touching family saga with an in-depth portrait of a China on the brink of historic change.

5.0 out of 5 stars Diplomacy, work, humor, and adventure in this fine memoir, February 27, 2009

By 

Donald M. Bishop (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: At the Dawn of the New China: An American Diplomat's Eyewitness Account (Paperback)

This is Richard Williams' fascinating and wryly humorous account of two years as the U.S. Consul General in the Chinese city of Guangzhou (formerly called "Canton") from 1979 to 1981. His was the first American consulate to re-open in China after formal diplomatic relations with the PRC were established in 1979.

Readers interested in the development of U.S.-China relations will be fascinated -- and entertained -- by this book. Large strategic and foreign policy considerations moved China and the United States to establish relations. It was left to Foreign Service Officers such as Richard Williams and his team to make it all work -- first by setting up a new Foreign Service post, then by issuing visas, establishing commercial relations, traveling through China to report on local conditions, introducing the Big Mac, and escorting the first waves of American visitors.

Americans who know the more open China of the twenty-first century will, in this book, encounter the China making its first hesitant steps toward modernization and reform. The difficulties confronted by early official travelers, the lingering suspicion of America, the obfuscation of officials high and low, and the choices made by Foreign Service families before there were international schools are all described. Williams' wife Jane had left Tianjin as a girl; her reunions with family members in the PRC add poignant touches to the book.

This is a fine book for any young person thinking about a Foreign Service career. Although almost three decades have passed since Richard Williams and his family opened the post in Guangzhou, "At the Dawn of the New China" captures much of the enduring qualities of Foreign Service life.

-30-

5.0 out of 5 stars The life of an American diplomat and his family, January 14, 2008

By 

Anita L (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: At the Dawn of the New China: An American Diplomat's Eyewitness Account (Paperback)

Just as the title says, At the Dawn of the New China gives us a

benchmark perspective on the amazing transformation that's taking

place in China. And it's the first book I've come across that

actually helps me solve the mystery of just what it is our diplomats

are trying to do for us out there in the trenches.

I myself was the child of an expat living in Asia around the same time and the book brought me back to my childhood and memories of growing up in a foreign land.