Governance, Diversity, and China Since the 1950s: An Interview with George P. Shultz

Abstract

In this thought-provoking interview, former Secretary Shultz shares his thoughts and experiences on many issues cornering crucial moments in Sino-American relations since the 1950s. His stories about his Chinese and Soviet counterparts, as well as Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang, Mikhail Gorbachev etc., sketch a wonderful picture of international politics, economics and military affairs and on relations between China, America and the Soviet Union before the end of the Cold War.

• George P. Shultz
• Ronald Reagan
• Deng Xiaoping
• Zhao Ziyang
• Sino-American relations

I would like to thank Susan Schendel and Judy Leep of the Office of The Honorable George P. Shultz for their assistance in preparing the manuscript.

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Notes on contributors

Peidong Sun

Peidong Sun (孙沛东) is Professor of History in the Department of History at Fudan University, visiting scholar of Harvard-Yenching Institute for the academic year 2016–17, the Edward Teller National Fellow, and a W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow for the year 2017–18 at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. She is the author of Fashion and Politics: Clothes Fashion in Everyday Life of Guangdong Province During the Cultural Revolution (Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2013), Who Will Marry My Daughter? Parental Matchmaking Corner in Shanghai's People Square (Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press, 2012; 2013) and co-editor of Red Shadows: Memories and Legacies of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2016). She is working on her third book project, tentatively titled “Underground Reading: The Secret Education of the Educated Youth Generation in China’s Cultural Revolution.” Her main areas of research are historical sociology, cultural sociology, and social history during the twentieth century.