ABSTRACT
The opera provides a compelling viewpoint of the divergent economic systems of the United States and China; in this area the leaders were able to find little common ground. The United States, maintaining a staunch disapproval of Chinese communism, sought to open up trade relations with China and open its doors to capitalism. As Melvin Small noted: “American businesspeople looked forward to penetrating the huge Chinese market, something they had hoped for ever since the Empress of China made the first voyage to Asia from the United States in 1784” (Small 1999, 124). The economic benefits of the trip for China, especially in terms of access to new food sources, also were significant. “U.S.–China Trade, which amounted to $5 million in 1971, grew to $930 million in 1974, four-fifths of which was exports, mostly agricultural, from the United States to China” (Small 1999, 125).
