By South China Morning Post | Created at 2026-07-19 14:11:53 | Updated at 2026-07-20 04:50:10
14 hours ago
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. Here, Meredith Chen looks at how tensions and shrinking academic exchange may be eroding America’s deep, experience-based understanding of China.
Many travelled to the country. Some went far beyond its major cities, reaching remote county towns and villages by train, bus and boat to conduct fieldwork.
They spent months, even years, knocking on doors, lingering over tea, combing through archives, and interviewing cadres and ordinary members of the public to build a deep understanding of a country undergoing extraordinary transformation.
This was the reform era. As China reopened and the two countries’ relationship normalised after prolonged Cold War estrangement, American scholars gained access to a society that had been closed to them for decades.
Many of those who entered China in those years would go on to become the backbone of American expertise on the country, shaping scholarship, training future generations and influencing how Washington dealt with Beijing.
As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, however, that intellectual tradition is under strain.
