Richard Akwei
Chargé d’affaires of the Ghanaian Embassy in Beijing during Bush’s tenure at the United States Liaison Office. Akwei also became one of the Bushes’ most frequent tennis partners.
David K. E. Bruce
One of the most esteemed and honored diplomats in American history. Bruce is the only American envoy to have served as ambassador to the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany. He opened the United States Liaison Office in Beijing in 1973, and he was posted to NATO as Washington’s ambassador once President Gerald Ford selected Bush for the China post.
John Burns
Noted journalist later awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Burns reported for Toronto’s Globe and Mail from China between 1971 and 1975, before leaving Beijing to begin a long career at the New York Times. He was a frequent companion to Bush during the period of the China Diary.
Barbara Bush
Wife of George H. W. Bush. Barbara Bush accompanied her husband to China in October 1974, although she returned to the United States more frequently than he during their stay at the United States Liaison Office.
George H. W. Bush
Forty-first president of the United States and author of the China Diary. During the period 1974–75, Bush was head of the United States Liaison Office in Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
General secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1956 to 1966, chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1981 to 1989, and one of the most influential leaders in modern Chinese history. Deng had only recently returned from political exile when Bush arrived in Beijing. He ushered in the wave of economic liberalization that followed Mao’s death. It was Deng with whom Bush attempted to communicate during and immediately following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Stephen Fitzgerald
Australian ambassador to China during Bush’s tenure and one of Bush’s frequent social companions. Fitzgerald was a noted sinologist before entering his country’s diplomatic service.
Gerald Ford
Thirty-eighth president of the United States, who assumed office upon Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974. It was Ford who offered Bush the ambassadorship to either London or Paris, and who consented when Bush declared (much to Ford’s surprise) that he would rather be stationed in Beijing. Ford subsequently named Bush head of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1975.
Bryce Harland
New Zealand’s ambassador to China during Bush’s time in Beijing. Harland also became a frequent companion (and sometimes confidant) of Bush during their frequent meetings on Beijing’s social circuit.
John Holdridge
Noted Chinese linguist and diplomat. Holdridge served as deputy chief of mission for the United States Liaison Office in Beijing from its opening in 1973 until his appointment as U.S. ambassador to Singapore in 1975, subsequently serving as assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs in 1981 and as ambassador to Indonesia in 1982.
Noted Chinese diplomat. Huang served as Beijing’s first ambassador to Canada and then the United Nations. He returned to China in 1976 to serve as his country’s foreign minister.
Huang Zhen
A veteran of the Long March and head of the Chinese Liaison Office in Washington during Bush’s tenure in China. Huang was in this sense Bush’s direct counterpart in the United States, having served in that role since Bruce’s posting to China in 1973.
Henry Kissinger
National security adviser and secretary of state to Presidents Nixon and Ford. Kissinger held these two posts during Bush’s tenure in China. He retained only his State Department position following the 1975 shake-up of Ford’s national security team that saw Bush selected as head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
James Lilley
United States Liaison Office employee in 1974, who worked undercover for the Central Intelligence Agency (a fact the Chinese already knew). Lilley returned to Washington after an American journalist blew his cover, and his subsequent employment by the State Department culminated in 1989 with his appointment as ambassador to Beijing.
Winston Lord
Henry Kissinger’s principal assistant while the latter was national security adviser, before moving with Kissinger to the State Department, where he headed the Policy Planning Staff. He subsequently served as ambassador to China from 1985 to 1989.
Neil Mallon
Longtime family friend and mentor to George H. W. Bush. Mallon visited the Bushes in Beijing in the spring of 1975.
Chinese Communist leader and later leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
Brunson McKinley
One of Bush’s principal USLO advisers in 1974, McKinley left Beijing in 1975 for another Foreign Service post, eventually serving as Washington’s ambassador to Haiti and as the State Department’s humanitarian coordinator for Bosnia following the Cold War.
Richard Nixon
Thirty-seventh president of the United States, frequent mentor to Bush, and primary player in the Sino-American rapprochement of the early 1970s. His resignation in 1974 started the chain of events that culminated in Bush’s appointment to the United States Liaison Office.
Qiao Guanhua
Vice minister of foreign affairs when Bush arrived in Beijing in 1974, Qiao was soon elevated to foreign minister, a position he held until 1976.
S. Dillon Ripley
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1964 to 1984. Ripley visited Bush at the United States Liaison Office and was a frequent correspondent throughout Bush’s time in China.
Brent Scowcroft
Deputy national security adviser to Henry Kissinger in 1974 when Bush was named to the United States Liaison Office. Scowcroft later served both Presidents Ford and George H. W. Bush as national security adviser. His friendship with Bush blossomed during these early years, and he served as a key communications channel for Bush’s messages to Ford.
Norodom Sihanouk
Cambodian leader, exiled to China by the time Bush arrived in Beijing. The two never met during the time of Bush’s China Diary, although Sihanouk’s presence in the city made Cambodian affairs an omnipresent issue for the United States Liaison Office.
Wensheng “Nancy” Tang
English-language interpreter for Mao Zedong on foreign affairs during the mid-1970s. The American-born Tang was also a frequent Chinese attendee at meetings with Bush and on the diplomatic community’s social circuit.
Wang Hairong
Head of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during Kissinger’s and Nixon’s initial visits to China, and by the time of Bush’s arrival vice minister of foreign affairs in charge of protocol. Wang was also a grandniece of Mao’s, a fact that gave her particular political power until his death.
Sir Edward Youde
British ambassador to China during Bush’s time in Beijing, and one of his closest confidants and mentors during those months.
Zhou Enlai
Premier of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976, and one of the most influential of all Chinese Communist leaders. Zhou served as foreign minister from 1949 to 1958, though he retained great influence over foreign affairs throughout his life. He suffered from cancer throughout much of Bush’s time in Beijing, making his appearances rare but particularly valued by the Americans.