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international considerations once again dominated Sino-American relations, but cultural relations this time occupied an important position. The administration saw clearly that cultural exchanges were a means towards a closer relationship. In the period 1979-1981, bilateral arts exchanges were numerous, showing the strong support of the administration for such projects. Carter personally, like Nixon, granted interviews with visiting Chinese artists and to China-bound American artists.
The framework of arts exchanges established by the Carter Administration had a far-reaching impact on the coming years. The impact was so strong that a substantial number of exchanges were still carried out when Sino-American relations were at a low ebb in the initial years of the Reagan Administration.
In the Reagan Administration, cultural relations with China were handled at a lower level of management, as compared with the Carter Administration. Furthermore, the "spirit of U.S. generosity, high expectations, and mutual understanding" that had informed relations during the Carter administration had yielded to narrow calculations of interest, revived ideological enmity, and mutual suspicion. Nevertheless, the function of cultural exchanges as a foreign policy instrument was essentially the same - supporting general policy objectives. As the anti-Soviet strategic theme in Sino-American relations became less urgent, the United States began to pursue long-term American interests more vigorously and arts exchanges with China became even more politicized than in the previous three administrations.
In the Reagan Administration, arts exchanges were made a channel to export to China American ideology and to consciously create a cultural imagery in China. To examine the nature of arts exchanges with China in the Reagan Administration, a good example might be an incident involving a show of modern American paintings from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
The art exhibition from the Boston Museum was an official exchange programme initiated to implement the accord reached in Beijing in 1979. Before the opening of the show, Chinese officials requested that 13 abstract paintings be deleted from the exhibition. The American side, headed by Charles Wick, Director of the USIA (then called the United States International Communication Agency (USICA)), responded
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international considerations once again dominated Sino-American relations, but cultural relations this time occupied an important position. The administration saw clearly that cultural exchanges were a means towards a closer relationship. In the period 1979-1981, bilateral arts exchanges were numerous, showing the strong support of the administration for such projects. Carter personally, like Nixon, granted interviews with visiting Chinese artists and to China-bound American artists.
The framework of arts exchanges established by the Carter Administration had a far-reaching impact on the coming years. The impact was so strong that a substantial number of exchanges were still carried out when Sino-American relations were at a low ebb in the initial years of the Reagan Administration.
In the Reagan Administration, cultural relations with China were handled at a lower level of management, as compared with the Carter Administration. Furthermore, the "spirit of U.S. generosity, high expectations, and mutual understanding that had informed relations during the Carter administration had yielded to narrow calculations of interest, revived ideological emnity, and mutual suspicion.**** Nevertheless, the function of cultural exchanges as a foreign policy instrument was essentially the same - supporting general policy objectives. As the anti- soviet strategic theme in Sino-American relations became less urgent, the United States began to pursue long term American interests more vigorously and arts exchanges with China became even more politicized than in the previous three administrations.
In the Reagan Administration, arts exchanges were made a channel to export to China American ideology and to consciously create a cultural imagery in China. To examine the nature of arts exchanges with China in the Reagan Administration, a good example might be an incident involving a show of modern American paintings from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
The art exhibition from the Boston Museum was an official exchange programme initiated to implement the accord reached in Beijing in 1979. Before the opening of the show, Chinese officials requested that 13 abstract paintings be deleted from the exhibition. The American side, headed by Charles Wick, Director of the USIA, (then called the United States International Communication Agency (USICA), responded
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