Nixon in China

Richard M. Nixon, circa 1969-1974.
Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present

On February 21, 1972, Richard M. Nixon arrived in China for an eight-day official visit. He was the first U.S. president to visit the People's Republic of China since its inception in 1949.

The meeting between Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai resulted in a pledge to expand cultural contacts between the two nations and plans to establish a permanent U.S. trade mission in China. In addition, the U.S. agreed to a gradual withdrawal of its troops from the island of Taiwan.

The United States began to take an active interest in establishing political and economic ties with China in the nineteenth century. After Japan attempted to invade China in 1894-1895, Russia, France, Germany, and Great Britain sought to protect their interests in China by carving the nation into spheres of influence. The U.S., an important power in the Pacific as a consequence of its victory, in 1898, in the Spanish-American War, attempted to prevent this division with the formulation, in 1899 and 1900, of what came to be known as the Open Door Policy. This policy proposed to ensure all nations equal trading privileges in China and to protect Chinese sovereignty.

Gateway Leading toward the Emperor's Palace, Peking, William Henry Jackson, photographer, September 1895.
Around the World in the 1890s, 1894-1896

For an overview of Sino-American Relations, as well as information about many other aspects of Chinese history, see the China Country Study, part of a continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress.

In 1895, the World's Transportation Commission, a private venture organized by American businessman Joseph Gladding Pangborn, visited China to gather information about the country's transportation systems and to promote U.S. trade. The American Memory collection Around the World in the 1890s, 1894-1896 contains over 90 photographs of China taken by Commission photographer William Henry Jackson. To see these images, search across the collection on China, or select "China" from the Trip Itinerary.

In the mid-1800s, large numbers of Chinese came to the U.S. to build the transcontinental railroad and to work in the gold fields. Search on Chinese in American Life Histories, 1836-1940 and California As I Saw It: First Person Narratives, 1849-1900 to learn more about the lives of these workers. Also, be sure to read the Today in History feature for September 2, and see the William Henry Jackson photographs of Chinese-Americans, located in Touring Turn-of-the-Century America, 1880-1920.