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A pathbreaking study of the Chinese foreign service

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Dawning of New Diplomacy

A Revolutionary Institution-Builder: Zhang Wentian

Reaching Out to the World

Learning the Craft: Zeng Tao, Liu Chun, and Xiong Xianghui

The Cultural Revolution and its aftermath

Old Faces, New Roles: Fu Hao and Ding Xuesong

The Reform Years

A New World Order? Guan Zihuai and Huang Zhiliang

Conclusion

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Xiaohong Liu brings 12 years of personal experience in the Chinese Foreign Service to this path-breaking study. Drawing on her own direct observations, interviews, and newly available Chinese sources, she examines four generations of Chinese ambassadors, who served from 1949 to 1994. She charts the evolution of the Chinese diplomatic corps from its early military orientation to the emergence of career professionals and assesses the impact of various ambassadors on Chinese foreign policy.

Reviews

"Chinese Ambassadors brings to bear a thorough reading of memoirs, histories, and documentary materials on previously sensitive aspects of PRC foreign relations and politics." - H. Lyman Miller, author of Science and Dissent in Post-Mao China: The Politics of Knowledge "The author has culled an extraordinarily large number of memoirs of Chinese diplomats that have not been used much, if at all, in English-language scholarship to date. She provides fascinating insights into the workings of the Chinese Foreign Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." - David Bachman, Chair of the China Studies Program, University of Washington