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The interest of the Chinese in American culture was surprising. For example, between 1979 and 1986, 13 American plays were produced by Chinese theatres, including Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The production of Death of a Salesman was not, in fact, an American event because all the people involved directly in the staging were Chinese, except for Arthur Miller who directed the play, and it was a production of the Beijing People's Art Theatre. Nonetheless, it was seen as a symbol of Sino-American affinity and cooperation. The opening night performance in Beijing was attended by the American ambassador to China, and David Rockefeller, Jr. In the Chinese press, the production of the play was hailed as "the most significant cultural event in China since the Cultural Revolution".38 This interest in American cultural events in China actually upgraded the intensity of American cultural presence.
On the other hand, the American involvement in China's arts education was massive and intensive. In 1985, for instance, the number of Americans teaching in Chinese arts institutions roughly equaled the total of artists from all other countries serving in similar capacities. In sum, the eight years between 1979 and 1986 saw an influx of American culture nurtured by as well as resulting from the disproportionate interest of the Chinese in the United States and its culture.
At the beginning of the process of diplomatic normalization and in the two years following it, China's external relations were almost monopolized by developing the American linkage. The much-publicized visit of Deng Xiaoping to the United States, the signing of dozens of agreements between the two governments, the massive arrival of Chinese students on American campuses, the exchanges of delegations, and the encouragement of non-governmental contacts by the governments and so on, all helped make the impression on the Chinese that the United States was the best in everything and the American linkage was the only relationship to be valued. In the first two years following normalization, an average of 100 Chinese delegations visited the United States monthly." Furthermore, the use of arts exchanges to consolidate the general relationship and to win U.S. economic and technological cooperation made arts exchanges a handmaiden of politics.
In specific terms, when a major American cultural event took place in China, it was praised all around for political reasons, while the necessary objective evaluations of the quality and the artists involved were rarely or sometimes never provided. The flaws in the BSO's