From Buck to Bush: the Heritage of Understanding

In a recent speech at a literary event, former librarian of the British Library Frances Wood recollected how former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, during a visit to Britain in 2011, said he read Shakespeare in his younger years and wanted to pay homage to the Bard’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. Wood wondered why no British Prime Minister had requested to see the homes of the authors despite early exposure to Chinese classics such as Journey to the West or Dream of the Red Mansion.

That reminded me of President George H.W. Bush and Pearl S. Buck.

The senior Bush was among the favorite US presidents for the Chinese. As the second director at the US Liason Office in China after the normalization of US-China relations, Bush wandered around Beijing on a bike with his wife and had fried dough sticks and bean curd soup for breakfast like a Beijing resident. Later, as US president, he adopted a pragmatic and constructive approach to Sino-US relationship, actively engaging China in the world economy and politics. Without exaggeration, Bush Sr. contributed most to decades of goodwill between the two countries and the two peoples as a US president.

Although often criticized for a lack of vision, he did have a grand one. In the foreword to his China diaries, he wrote: “I love the Chinese people. One of my dreams for our world is that these two powerful giants will continue working toward a full partnership and friendship that will bring peace and prosperity to people everywhere.”

His dream has come true: Today, the relationship between China and the United States is the most important of all bilateral relationships in international politics.