A Compelling Journey from Peking to Washington

For more photos of Dr. Chi Wang with Chinese and American leaders, please click here.

(This lecture will be in English. To see a description in Chinese, please click here.)   

The Renwen Society presents a special lecture and book signing by Dr. Chi Wang on May 5, 2012, 3-5 pm. Dr. Wang will speak about his book, A Compelling Journey from Peking to Washington: Building a New Life in America. Wang’s father was a prominent Chinese government official and general in the Nationalist government. The book depicts Wang’s extraordinary childhood and experiences living through one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history, including the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and mainland China and the Chinese civil war.  

In 1949, Wang left China to study in the United States, traveling though mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong during the final days of the Chinese civil war. After graduation from college, however, his life took a very different turn. He could not return to China as planned due to the outbreak of the Korean War. Over twenty years would pass before he would again see his siblings and the rest of his family.  

In the United States, he started working on an archives project for the Library of Congress, which would lead to an unexpected career that spanned nearly half a century of helping the Library build up its Chinese collections. During Wang’s tenure as head of the Chinese section, the Chinese Collection grew from 300,000 to over a million volumes. As one of the largest centers for China studies outside Asia, it helped meet growing demand for information and materials on China from Americans.   

In 1969, Wang became a professor of history and U.S.-China relations at Georgetown University, where he still teaches today. During this time, he became part of a growing movement to help reestablish ties between China and America. In 1972, Wang was invited by the Chinese government to help arrange cultural exchanges between China and America. He became one of the first Americans allowed to visit China after Nixon’s historic trip to mainland China ended twenty-five years of isolation. On his trip to China, Wang successfully negotiated an exchange agreement between the Library of Congress and the National Library of Peking and subsequent agreements with major Chinese academic libraries. In 1995, he founded the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, and today is still working there on what has been a lifelong goal to bring China and America closer together. To see a more detailed bio of Dr. Wang, please click here.