cover of episode I Was Locked In A Cave On My First Trip to China — with Orville Schell

I Was Locked In A Cave On My First Trip to China — with Orville Schell

2024/7/3
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谢尔讲述了他祖父在长沙的经历，以及这段经历如何影响了他对中国的兴趣。谢尔在哈佛大学学习期间，对中国产生了浓厚的兴趣，并开始学习中文。谢尔在台湾和印尼的经历，进一步加深了他对中国的了解，也让他对中国的政治和社会有了更深入的思考。谢尔认为，他对中国的兴趣并非预先注定，而是在偶然情况下产生的，并且这种兴趣与中国当时的不易接近性有关。谢尔还谈到了他的家庭背景，以及他的家庭如何影响了他的职业选择和对中国的看法。谢尔的母亲是一位具有社会责任感和行动力的女性，她对全球政治和社会问题非常关注，这对他产生了深远的影响。谢尔认为，费正清是他的榜样，并表达了他对当今大学缺乏这种学术共同体的遗憾。 主持人Leo引导谢尔讲述了他与中国相关的个人经历，从家庭背景到求学经历，再到在台湾、印尼和中国的见闻，以及这些经历如何塑造了他的世界观和对华视角。访谈中，Leo也穿插了一些问题，例如谢尔母亲对他的影响、他对中国改革开放的看法、以及他对中国政治和社会现状的思考等。

Deep Dive

Chapters
This chapter explores Orville Schell's family background, highlighting his grandfather's medical work in Changsha, his mother's activism, and the influence of his parents' network of friends, including those with deep connections to China. It sets the stage for Schell's lifelong engagement with China.
  • Orville Schell's grandfather was a doctor who worked in Changsha.
  • His mother was involved in various social and political causes.
  • The family had connections to prominent figures involved in US-China relations.

Shownotes Transcript

Welcome back!

My first piece) on Orville’s experience in the 80s had good reader reception, many thanks to your support! This piece focuses on Orville's story in the 60s and 70s working on China. Orville Schell is the Director of Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society.

In this one, you will hear about Orville’s grandfather who taught medicine in Changsha in late qing; his semi-activist mom; studying with John Fairbank at Harvard; drinking tea with Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei; locked in a cave by CCP officials on his first trip to China; and getting chased out of Indonesia by the Indonesian communists. It shines a light on a not-so-distant era. Not sure about you; I certainly hear many echoes with our time.

Enjoy!

Content

  • Changsha, Tahiti, and Taiwan

  • First trip to China and a wake-up call

  • Living in Taiwan, dreaming of Beijing

  • John Fairbank and Edgar Snow

  • ‘Ganyang America!’ (‘Crush America’ in Indonesian)

About us

The Peking Hotel podcast and newsletter are bilingual online publications that take you down memory lane of recent history in China and narrate China’s reality through the personal tales of China experts. We present subjective, opinionated, and coloured views of veterans in the field based on their first-hand experience and direct observations. The project grew out of Leo’s research at Hoover Institution where he collects long oral history of China experts living in America. The stories here are a reminder of what China used to be and what it is capable of becoming. 

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