The current China/US tariff/trade talks made me think about how fast the last 53 years has gone by.   President Nixon and China Premier Chou En-lai signed the Shanghai Communique February 28, 1972. This agreement opened China for trade but only partly. This was the first discussion between China and the US since Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communists party took over control of China in 1949.   A friend of mine then Congressman Paul Findley was on the US House of Representative Foreign Affairs Committee and had been advocating for more open dialog with China. Paul’s friendship with George H Bush and the John Deere Company’s leadership support of Ping-pong diplomacy gave me a good seat to observe what was going on with the People republic of China.

If you have read my book “Your Food- My Adventure” you know I was honored to be part of the first group of agriculture leaders in 1978 to visit China in almost 40 years.  The trip was not until 6 years after the Shanghai Communique was signed. President Carter did not sign additional agreements establishing full diplomatic relations with People Republic of China until 1979.  George H Bush was the first US liaison officer to China and helped Paul Findley put the trip together.

I believe and I think most will agree China signed the Communique in 1972 and full diplomatic relations in 1979 because China needed food to feed its people.  Most on this historic trip went on to serve in very high position. Two became US Secretaries of Agriculture and one became President of John Deere. What was I going to do?  Somewhere in our meetings in China the idea of having Chinese farmers visit US farms was discussed.  In the summer of 1978 I had discussions with California Farm Bureau and their farmer to farmer program about bringing Chinese men to the US to work on US farms.

The Chinese government liked the idea where all expenses would be paid by the US host farmer through the California Farm Bureau. I was told over 10,000 applied 100 were selected and trained for a year and 50 were selected to come to the US farms. The idea was one per state but that never happened. Most were assigned farms here in the Midwest.

April 1, 1980 a 35 year old math teacher/ farmer arrived at our farm as did 48 other men arrived on US farms.  Their training was very good all spoke good English and knew our basic life style.  He worked on our farm, and ate lunch with us every day for a year. He shared an apartment in town with a man that was working for The Illinois Environmental Agency and would stay there in the apartment part time. This year long exposer to this individual and the other 48 gave me a much better understanding of Chinese culture and life style.

An example I like to use is:  WE went to a feed store one day my Chinese visitor/worker was with me and picked up a soda and drank it.  As we got ready to leave I asked him if he had paid for it and he said “no one told me I had to pay. ” He was very quick to pay then.   A week later back at the same feed store and he picked up a candy bar and ate it.  Again I ask him if he paid for it and he said” no one told me I had to pay”. He again was very willing to pay.   These things happened throughout the year. He did not relate one to the other like most of us in the western world.  I think it is from centuries of central control in the family, in the different diocese and now communist control.

 

This experience and watching the news and relations with China over the last 50 plus years I have come to believe we have to be very firm and clear in our positions on every issue.  Talk to China not about China.

 

Next week I hope to visit about the other thing I was involved with that changed the world.