https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project daily 0.75 2021-10-15 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/at-the-kosciuszko-foundation-in-dc-in-conversation-with-julian-borger monthly 0.5 2021-10-15 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/at-the-kosciuszko-foundation-in-nyc monthly 0.5 2021-10-15 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/politics-and-prose-virtual-event-book-launch-for-from-warsaw-with-love monthly 0.5 2021-10-20 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/2016/2/4/professor-eugene-thompson-on-winter-sustenance-throughout-history-dbefx monthly 0.5 2016-02-05 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/2016/2/2/pumpkin-pie-bake-p3dpf monthly 0.5 2016-02-02 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/2016/12/1/coat-drive-gf9n7 monthly 0.5 2016-02-02 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/2016/3/12/cherry-blossom-festival-z5gyh monthly 0.5 2016-03-09 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/2016/2/2/kohlrabi-5-ways-h8bpx monthly 0.5 2016-03-09 https://www.johnpomfret.com/events-project/2016/2/2/turnip-harvest-hazkr monthly 0.5 2016-02-02 https://www.johnpomfret.com/home-project daily 1.0 2023-02-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625511279175-T4ISWPXBXE5592DH9MFF/pomfretjohn.jpg Home - Journalist, Author, Consultant https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625513222393-UFS6AM8Z52IGOD77O9XJ/From_Warsaw_With_Love.jpg Home - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.johnpomfret.com/books-1-books daily 0.75 2022-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626384511483-GCFACCBZZ1FQNA72U718/rockwell.png From Warsaw With Love - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626384384007-34HEDD4PB4WZVTYU9N81/IMG_0407.JPG From Warsaw With Love https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626384384348-SRQFH07XD033ZNVQ61U7/IMG_0408.JPG From Warsaw With Love https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626383708296-UA1DYPKT8RO2M2H2SWGS/From_Warsaw_With_Love+%281%29.jpg From Warsaw With Love This book is my first that focuses on something other than China. The seed was planted in 1995 when, as a correspondent for The Washington Post in Poland, I broke a strange story about Polish Intelligence officers spiriting six American officers, both military and intelligence, out of Iraq. Over the subsequent years, I always wanted to write a broader story of how that operation jump-started an incredibly close alliance between Washington and Warsaw. Events in Poland, including the woeful direction of the Polish government, gave me my chance in the early 2010s. That, and the declassification of numerous Polish government documents, really helped me tell the tale. https://www.johnpomfret.com/books-2-books daily 0.75 2022-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122191038-QK61Z3OPE00HWKRCXPZ4/gen+grant+in+china+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Many Americans don’t realize that the relationship predates by more than 100 years, Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China. Here is former US President Ulysses S. Grant with Chinese viceroy Li Hongzhang in 1879. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120755823-WRENEJDPAN40IGLW0FIH/anna+may+wong.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom There’s always been an American fascinations with the Chinese “other.” Here’s Anna May Wong, the first non-white film star in the United States, in 1924. Wong’s overt sensuality mesmerized (and scandalized) audiences in American and China. One of her most memorable lines: “I danced once before but there was trouble, men, knives….” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121506403-0SNAXS6RP37B6H121XY8/aviatrix+pilot+li+xiaqing+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom During World War II, China sold its story in the United States by dispatching attractive women as spokespeople for the government of Chiang Kaishek. Here’s “aviatrix” and pilot, Li Xiaqing, on a barnstorming tour of the USA in 1937-38. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120775486-65S1OSF6SJKNWA9UAOH3/cairo+conference.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom There’s always been high politics as well. Here’s FDR with Chiang Kaishek and Churchill in Cairo. One of FDR’s ambitions was to elevate China to parity with the UK and the USSR. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120849752-QSALBYPRXW0W6KL06T2F/AP+deng+and+cowboy+hat.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Americans have always been most comfortable with a China that seemed wiling to become like the US. Here’s Deng Xiaoping in 1979 visiting Texas. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120857469-ACEG4PZPAHPSKDFQ1C0G/AP+tank+man.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom America was revolted at the crackdown around Tiananmen Square in June 1989 not the least because so many Americans expected China to evolve in a different, “more American” direction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120851137-9DGPRFAMQ2V1239WVS6X/AP+pilot+and+email.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Americans were further shocked when China began to push back at the US and seek to dislodge the United States as the pre-eminent power in Asia. Here’s a 2001 photograph of Lt. Cmdr. Wang Wei, a Chinese pilot, who died in a dangerous maneuver that forced a US spy plane to land on Hainan Island in 2001. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122159789-Y6CLSBVS7GL4M4YL5CIZ/hongs+of+canton+m3793_painting_image-2+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom From the earliest days of the relationship, American business played an oversize role in fashioning America’s ties to China. Here’s the US trading headquarters outside of Canton in the early 1800s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122154724-USHQ198IJ4PLXP61F1LZ/houquaM23228HOUQUA1830+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Some Chinese businessmen, like Houqua in this @1820s portrait, cultivated special relationships with their American counterparts. Houqua was reputedly one of the richest men on the globe in the early 1800s. He invested some of his profits in building railroads in the United States. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122122035-LDU7J9NA32KN74VTH0MW/WarrenDelano_1862+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Prominent Americans made fortunes in China. Here’s Frederic Delano, the grandfather of FDR. He profited considerably from the opium trade. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122199945-00AO2R4PC9SEGQCT0R5H/CV+Starr+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom The idea of the China market transfixed Americans, such as CV Starr, who sold insurance to Chinese in the 1900s. Here’s Starr with a Chinese client in the early 1900s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120863495-4HQ074O5632TC28EABO7/APzuckerberg.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom That obsession has continued to this day. The obsequious look in Mark Zuckerberg’s face as he glad-hands China’s Communist Party boss, Xi Jinping, at the White House in 2015, speaks volumes. Facebook is still banned in China. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626382499653-6PDN0FPVC3NSAWE8CUMG/workingmen%2527s%2Bparty%2Bcopy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Racism and xenophobia have also colored the relationship. This is a document from the California Workingmen’s Party in the mid-1800s. The American working class has always feared Chinese labor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626382652236-G05FI971ZWI4TAESD6AP/heathen%2Bchinee%2Bmusic%2Bcopy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Poems, such as “The Heathen China,” published in 1870, summed up the contradictory way Anglo-Americans viewed the Chinese. The Chinese immigrant was both an object of derision but also a wily competitor. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121461777-0569JHONK48M6RZ6CPNJ/natl+review+cover+from+yale+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Racist stereotypes in the United States still persist. This cover of The National Review comes from March 1997. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626382689124-JHPYA6WXC9X5YK1Y0GH1/reifsnyder%2Bsurgery%2Bcopy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Another powerful view of China in America is that of a weak or sick country in need of an American cure. Here an American doctor in an 1887 woodblock print removes a tumor from the womb of a Chinese patient. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121504172-X3OQEP7TC128N3AFR00A/bloody+saturday+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Here’s a poster appealing for American support for China’s fight against Japan during World War II, depicting China as a helpless baby. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121506273-UIC61H2WBGP8CF2QMEZK/chinese+poster+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom For its part, China’s government also encouraged anti-American xenophobia among its people. Here’s a poster during the Korean War from just after China’s 1949 Communist revolution associating the US with Nazi Germany. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121471494-O86CEMDX4N4WVMISUSTX/Kennedy+chinese+newspaper+cartoon+copy+2.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom This cartoon, which appeared in the Communist Party’s Worker’s Daily, celebrates the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Celebrating American failure was a central aspect of Communist Chinese ideology. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121487908-PO582ZNXUR2H1AX7SME5/Jim_Sasser-Ambassador-800ppi+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Xenophobic and powerfully anti-American tropes have endured in China. On May 7, 1999, US forces reportedly accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The Chinese government encouraged anti-American demonstrations as a way to continue its battle against Western liberal ideas. Here’s then US Ambassador to China Jim Sasser looking at the destruction caused by the demonstration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122104296-2KA0ED60J6CTXKJQ8VM3/yung+wing+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom An American education was long viewed as a way to pull China into the modern world. Here’s Yung Wing, the first Chinese to be educated at Yale—in the 1850s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122113601-C29XB2CARJZVTCYVP204/youngjohnallen+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom American missionaries were at the forefront of the campaign to modernize China. Here’s Southern Methodist missionary Young John Allen who started the most influential newspaper in China in the 1880s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626122191834-VYRPUWLBJ8OT1Q1R9AO1/Drs-Mary-Stone-and-Ida-Kahn+copy.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom Medical missionaries Ida Kahn and Mary Stone brought Western medicine to China and also battled their Western missionary counterparts to treat their Chinese colleagues equitably. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120861116-CINEN7PWPOYJ7YQ7JBUY/AP_bruce+and+jabbar.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom In addition to beauty, business and racist tropes, Americans have from time to time thought of aspects of Chinese culture as extremely cool. Here’s Bruce Lee practicing kung-fu with one of his famous students—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626120801721-04XB87YBDUK84JN69PLP/gary+locke.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom American mores also fascinated the Chinese. This 2011 photograph of then US Ambassador to China Gary Locke touched off a huge controversy in China because Locke was buying his own coffee and toting his own book bag. This would never happen in China, said many Chinese, given the hierarchical nature of Chinese officialdom. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1626121539627-N1K6O96SZEYQ41U03009/robert+and+mabel+williams.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom During the 1960s, China’s Communists attempted to cultivate relations with leftist activists in the United States. Here’s Robert Williams, an African-American radical, being feted in Beijing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625541300483-9WOWYUDS8HEZRS1Y9OS0/BeautifulCountryMiddleKingdom-FINAL.jpg The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.johnpomfret.com/books-3-books daily 0.75 2022-05-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792722935-SE95DHWNZGV93RKRLUBE/Pages+from+chinese+lessons.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792739411-RFST2ZTY5ZTIZYRXFID1/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-2.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792752610-MBE207BGNG97J1HB3CWP/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-3.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792765176-0FRJF07XJZZWDNVK4AQJ/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-4.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792782047-APRWRMKLK1ABSODPOQZO/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-5.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792795197-QFDXPU3PCI6UAMP36SND/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-6.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792810298-ADTTHGOSP0FX57LM054D/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-7.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792822491-BNJQYWQZGE6ECCXDPTAA/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-8.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792834605-1WWXHH4JRNMAGSNK5Z8X/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-9.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792863899-HABGLOY0IKLUY4RD54MR/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-10.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792875824-0OIDFQR9O2K8SLF04CUG/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-11.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792887065-0PF0KEI55DJ6C9ANC350/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-12.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792900416-WM64Z2QVKEOE93PZN53A/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-13.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625792914344-GW2HYAYOOA5D9Z40T5X9/Pages+from+chinese+lessons-14.jpg Chinese Lessons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625762681111-M8WO7HE2KN4XF2HHNPPB/ChineseLessons.jpg Chinese Lessons - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625794799871-X2DNM3VN665KA5RQO6CK/Pomfret1.jpg Chinese Lessons Six of my roomates and me https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625794872529-XSTWXF1UBCAWAKP93YK2/Pomfret2.jpg Chinese Lessons A group of history majors, class of 1982, Nanjing University. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625763808373-CQT5ZWU1J0W93SDGP9W8/du+mengxi+with+husband+tom+zhou+and+two+of+three+children+20.JPG Chinese Lessons Du Mengxi and her family. Her faith in Christianity made her the envy of her classmates, many of whom found themselves without beliefs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764013681-J288MC55CMI03RK1VVNI/guan+yongxing%27s+surprise+birthday+party+at+nanda+1979.JPG Chinese Lessons Little Guan’s surprise birthday party in 1979 with Western and Chinese classmates at Nanjing U. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764032981-ASMKDAAFXZ8MEUEH70Z4/guan+yongxing+with+son+ding+xing+2004.JPG Chinese Lessons Little Guan with her son, Ding Xing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625866817309-BOBD102IL56K69OEXGHH/song+liming+with+antonella+ceccagno+left+and+wang+honglin+ab+copy.jpg Chinese Lessons Song Liming with Antonella and other classmates @1980 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764155788-JY4ZJJKFP2U1V6YTHR3Q/song+liming+rome-2004.JPG Chinese Lessons Song Liming in Rome. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764370891-YPO14WX2Y7SU76090AXK/zhoulc.jpg Chinese Lessons A page from “Book Idiot” Zhou’s collection of photos of himself in the 1970s during the Cultural Revolution. Since the publication of Chinese Lessons, he’s immigrated to the United States https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764503108-OW5QHCCYQ5DHHOO3N1CN/zhou+lianchun+burning+paper+money+on+his+parents+graves++%284%29.JPG Chinese Lessons “Book Idiot” Zhou burns paper money for his deceased parents in 2003. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764628016-BJIMMYM50QCGICTMOS0A/zhou+lianchun+with+parents+and+elder+sister+in+dongtai+c+%281%29.jpg Chinese Lessons “Book Idiot” Zhou with his mother and father before the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, he was forced to criticize his mother during a “struggle” session. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625764706735-A8TYMCIV9JIM8OTU622U/wuxiaoqing2.JPG Chinese Lessons Wu Xiaoqing stands before a field at Nanjing Teacher’s College where his parents were attacked and ultimately murdered by Red Guards on August 3, 1966. Their killings were the first of the Cultural Revolution. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625770343571-L2XDG0ULHRAVUS3QYW6E/wu+tianshi+circa+1955+copy.jpg Chinese Lessons Wu Xiaoqing’s father, Wu Tianshi, speaking in front of a portrait of Chairman Mao @1955. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625770500606-SIM0VUJZPDK5NQK9VAS1/wu+xiaoqing%27s+mother+li+jingyi+circa+1960+copy.jpg Chinese Lessons Wu Xiaoqing’s mother, Li Jinyi, @1960. She was murdered by Red Guards six years later. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625794817377-MKAM2VTL36TI3BLKCEAJ/Pomfret+5.jpg Chinese Lessons My press pass, which was revoked after I was expelled following June 4, 1989 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d26689bd154b80001370848/1625794838279-YCE8MUS2IASR1VLVBQSU/Pomfret12.jpg Chinese Lessons Covering the student-led protests in May 1989, with Wang Dan and Wu’er Kaixi, student leaders, center and right. https://www.johnpomfret.com/my-story-project daily 0.75 2023-02-11 https://www.johnpomfret.com/contact daily 0.75 2021-07-15 https://www.johnpomfret.com/all-styles daily 0.75 2025-05-06