Nixon in China: The Visit that Changed the World

UC San Diego's 21st Century China Program invites you to attend San Diego Opera's Community Conversation, a roundtable discussion of John Adams' "Nixon in China," featuring Susan Shirk and Dr. Nicolas Reveles.

Susan Shirk, Ph.D., Chair, 21st Century China Program, UCSD
Dr. Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Community Engagement, San Diego Opera
Musical Guest: Soprano, Jennifer Wu

John Adams’ opera Nixon in China premiered in 1987, a scant fifteen years after the historic visit of President Richard Nixon to Beijing in 1972. In aesthetic terms, it was an unusual move to base an opera on a ‘current’ event, especially an event dealing with powerful individuals who were still very much alive at the time of the premiere. In this conversation with Susan Shirk, a highly respected China scholar and former State Department official who first visited China and met Premier Zhou Enlai in 1971 just when Henry Kissinger was in Beijing to prepare the Nixon visit, we’ll learn about that historic visit and its legacy for U.S.-China relations. This will be a fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ peek into one of the most significant world-political events of our time.
   
Susan Shirk, PhD, is the Ho Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific Relations and chair of the 21st Century China program at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD. She served in the Clinton administration from 1997-2000 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, with responsibility for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia. She is an author of many books and articles on China including Changing Media, Changing China and China: Fragile Superpower. She frequently comments on China on PBS Newshour and other media.