ABSTRACT
The Role of American NGOs in China’s Modernization brings out of the shadows an important group of actors in contemporary US–China relations: nongovernmental organizations. Who are the individuals and organizations engaged in non-governmental (a.k.a. transnational) relations between the United States and China? What are their motivations? What have they accomplished? What roles have Chinese actors played? Has the informal diplomacy of exchanges been independent of, subordinate to, complementary to, or antagonistic to formal US diplomacy? Does Beijing’s seeming embrace of foreign and domestic NGOs mean that the Communist Party is relinquishing its monopoly on political power? What contributions have Chinese Americans with connections to both societies made to the exchange process? These are some of the questions that this book will attempt to answer. It will do so through an examination of three organizations that have been at the forefront of US–China non-governmental relations: the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies (a joint-venture university in China), the National Committee on United States–China Relations (a public education and exchange organization), and The 1990 Institute (a Chinese American-led think tank and social action organization). Collectively, they are representative of a large and growing body of China-focused American NGOs.
