July 1, 1974. Not long after Mao met Nixon in 1972, I joined something called the “Edgar Snow Society,” in the hopes that identification with the communist China sympathizer and author of “Red Star Over China” might somehow land me a visa for the People’s Republic.  The ploy failed.   I had to wait to visit China.  In 1974, I found myself writing about China from the frustrating distance of Washington D.C. for the Far Eastern Economic Review

January 1979. What I remember most about meeting Deng Xiaoping in January 1979 at the Great Hall of the People was NOT the lengthy session during which the new relationship with the United States was hailed and warnings of the dangers of “Soviet Hegemony” voiced.   Rather it was the spittoon that was placed strategically and yet discreetly next to the “paramount leader’s” chair.

February 1979. It was very much like an American Presidential state visit.   For the first time a press plane packed with reporters followed a Chinese leader across America, chronicling his every move: from a White House cabinet meeting to a Texas rodeo.