Screening of Assignment: China - End of an Era

Join the USC U.S.-China Institute for a screening of the most recent installment of the Assignment: China series. This screening will be followed by a discussion with Mike Chinoy, writer and reporter for the series.

Join the USC U.S.-China Institute for a screening of the most recent installment of the Assignment: China series. This screening will be followed by a discussion with Mike Chinoy, writer and reporter for the series.

End of an Era

The early and mid-1970s were a time of intense political drama in China. As Chairman Mao's health deteriorated, the struggle between the radical "Gang of Four" led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing, and pragmatists like Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping was reaching a climax. For American correspondents, it was a huge – and hugely challenging  - story.  How this critical period was covered by the U.S. media is the subject of "End of an Era."

Following President Nixon's visit in 1972, China began to permit somewhat greater, but still strictly controlled, access by U.S. reporters. In 1973, the three American TV networks - CBS, ABC, and NBC- were each allowed to send crews for extended periods to do documentaries. Correspondents were also able to accompany Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Ford on trips to Beijing. But for the most part, China remained off-limits to American reporters. As the People's Republic faced an intensified power struggle and a dramatic and dangerous leadership transition, the task of covering developments largely fell to a colorful group of "China-Watchers" in Hong Kong. Sitting on the outside, they struggled to keep up with the rapidly changing, and often mystifying, developments that would shape the future of China.

“End of an Era” is one episode in “Assignment China”, a multi-part documentary film series on the history of American correspondents in China being produced by USC's U.S.-China Institute. The lead reporter is Mike Chinoy, a Senior Fellow at the Institute and former CNN Beijing bureau chief and Senior Asia Correspondent.  The film features interviews with journalists who covered China during those years, including such well-known correspondents as Robert Elegant, Joseph Lelyveld, Orville Schell, Fox Butterfield, Steve Bell,  Henry Bradsher, Ted Koppel, Bruce Dunning, and Tom Brokaw,  It also includes interviews with diplomats who handled Chinese affairs, and contains rare archival footage of Hong Kong and China from that time.

Described by former U.S. ambassador to China Winston Lord as an “essential and invaluable” resource for understanding the role the U.S. media has played in shaping American and international perceptions of the country, “Assignment China”, in the words of former “Washington Post” Beijing correspondent Keith Richburg is “a must-see for anyone interested in China, the media, or both.” 

Mike Chinoy, the distinguished former CNN Asia correspondent and USC U.S.-China Institute Senior Fellow, is the writer and reporter for the series. He is assisted by USCI Multimedia Editor Craig Stubing and USCI students, who handle much of the research, transcription, videography, and editing. Clayton Dube conceived of the Assignment: China project and supervises it. 

Mike Chinoy is a senior fellow at the US-China Institute at the University of Southern California and the creator of the Assignment China documentary film series. Chinoy spent 24 years as a foreign correspondent for CNN, including eight years as the network’s first bureau chief in Beijing. He began his career working for CBS News and NBC News in Hong Kong in the 1970s. Chinoy has received numerous awards for his journalism, including the Emmy, Peabody, and Dupont awards for his coverage of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident and a Dupont award for his coverage of the tsunami. He holds a BA from Yale University and an MS from Columbia University.