For one 11-year-old American boy, Richard Nixon's trip to China changed almost everything.
. In 1979, Ted Anthony was part of the earliest wave of American families to come to Beijing after relations were established thanks to the 1972 meeting between Nixon and Mao Zedong. Now an Associated Press journalist, he says his presence in China at a pivotal moment in its history resonates with him today.
When China opened to Americans, young people hurried there to teach English. But other than being native speakers, few had language-teaching qualifications. So to teach its teachers to teach English after years of isolation, the Chinese Education Ministry recruited language teachers like my parents, linguists at the University of Pittsburgh.
The next week we all gathered around a tiny screen. The credits rolled. It was “The Man From Atlantis,” a forgettable sci-fi show starring Patrick Duffy, later of “Dallas." It's hard to convey today, in our on-demand world, how thrilled we handful of American kids were at the rare connection to home.
I picture old men on street corners selling roasted sunflower seeds out of burlap sacks — snacks that tasted vaguely like the burning coal whose scent filled the winter air. I picture young women selling penny popsicles from icebox pushcarts. I picture my school, where kids from divergent cultures — Burma, Bangladesh, Uganda, Rhodesia, even North Korea — were being taught music and math and art in Chinese and could interact and play only if we learned the language. We did, and fast.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Fifty years after Nixon's historic visit to China, questions hang over the US-China futureWhen US President Richard Nixon walked down the red-carpeted stairs from Air Force One to shake hands with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on a cold day in Beijing on February 21, 1972, it was hailed by many as a world-changing gesture.
Read more »
50 Years After Nixon Visit, US-China Ties as Fraught as EverAt the height of the Cold War, U.S. President Richard Nixon flew into communist China’s center of power for a visit that, over time, would transform U.S.-China relations and China’s position in the world
Read more »
Asteroids, Hubble rival, and Moon base: China sets out space agendaChina's space agenda for the next five years includes two lunar missions and a robotic craft to explore an asteroid
Read more »