Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐!
It's a great opportunity to think about family and friends no matter if they are near or far from us. It's also a chance to reflect on China's space program, which has accomplished much and is planning a moon probe in 2018, a Mars probe in 2020, and to land a manned spacecraft on the moon by 2036. In 2013, China managed to land the Jade Rabbit 玉兔rover on the moon. It was carried into space with the Chang'e 嫦娥 lander. According to Chinese myth, Chang'e is the goddess of the moon and the Jade Rabbit is her pet.
Of course, the first human to walk on the moon did so in July 1969. Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 阿波罗11, stepped onto the moon's surface and declared that it was, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." (Armstrong is a USC alum.) According to a Phoenix 凤凰 report, the news wasn't carried by People's Daily, but was reported in Reference News 参考消息 and later reported more widely. China was in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. There had been border skirmishes with the Soviets and Lin Biao had been designated Chairman Mao Zedong's heir apparent.
In summer 1969, in addition to celebrating the moon landing, President Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger were working to establish communication with Beijing. In July 1969, Nixon visited Pakistan and told Pakistani President Yahya Khan that he wanted to find an accommodation with China and asked for his help in conveying this. Nixon also initiated his "Vietnamization" plan for the conflict there, beginning to draw down American forces from South Vietnam. Two years later, Kissinger made a secret trip to Beijing from Pakistan and the U.S. and China announced that Nixon would visit China.
Much has happened in space exploration and in the U.S.-China relationship since 1969. (You can read a 2008 report on US-China space cooperation.) We want to leave you with the picture our USC Chinese Student and Scholar Association sent out to celebrate the holiday. Maybe a Trojan won't deliver your moon cakes, but we do hope your mid-autumn festival is terrific
Featured Articles
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.