Ji Chaozhu
Encyclopedia
Ji Chaozhu is a retired diplomat who held a number of important positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
(PRC), most notably as English interpreter for Chairman Mao Zedong
and Premier Zhou Enlai
; later as ambassador to the Court of St. James's
(United Kingdom); and lastly as an undersecretary general of the United Nations, a post from which he retired in 1996. He played a central role in the talks leading up to and during President Richard M. Nixon's historic visit to China (1972 Nixon visit to China
). His memoir, "The Man on Mao's Right", was published in July, 2008, by Random House
.
Province, Ji and his family fled their home in Taiyuan
, the provincial capital, in 1937, ahead of the advancing armies of Imperial Japan. Ji's eldest brother, Ji Chaoding :, was a noted economist who'd earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University
. He held a high position in the Nationalist (Kuomintang
) government of Chiang Kaishek, but was secretly supporting and spying for the rival Communist insurgency led by Zhou and Mao.
At the urging of Zhou, Ji's family emigrated to New York City where they arrived in 1939 when Ji was nine years old. Ji attended the left-wing City and Country School in Greenwich Village
, earned his high school diploma from Horace Mann-Lincoln High School (now known as Horace Mann School
) and attended Camp Rising Sun
in 1944. He was a sophomore at Harvard University
in 1950 when the Korean War
broke out, pitting his native homeland against the country that had nurtured, educated, and embraced him for 12 years.
in Beijing
for a year, and then was assigned to use his flawless English to record the negotiations in Panmunjom that would eventually bring an end to the Korean War. After two years in Korea, he returned to Beijing where he was recruited to become Zhou's English interpreter, accompanying the Premier to the Geneva Conference (1954)
, and on Zhou's many other international trips. For most of the next two decades, he was a close aide to Zhou, and a frequent interpreter for Mao, often appearing on Mao's right on the reviewing stand at Tiananmen Square
during public celebrations when English-speaking dignitaries were present. He holds the distinction of having been interpreter for Mao Zedong's last two official visits with English-speaking dignitaries, in 1976, months before the chairman's death.
made his now-famous secret visit to Beijing in 1971 to pave the way for the Nixon visit. Zhou Enlai chose Ji to lead the first diplomatic mission to the U.S. in 1973, to establish the People's Republic's first liaison office in Washington, and he was assigned to the PRC's U.S. embassy staff after full diplomatic relations were established. He served as interpreter for Mao's ultimate successor, Deng Xiaoping
, during Deng's historic visit to the U.S. in 1979. The New York Times noted at the time that from the Nixon visit to China through Deng's visit to the U.S., Ji was the only person on either side capable of interpreting from English to Chinese. The newspaper dubbed him "The Indispensable Mr. Chi." Ji was held in such high regard by U.S. diplomats that Alexander Haig
, as Secretary of State under newly-elected President Ronald Reagan
, in 1981 requested that the PRC send Ji to meet with Reagan to try to defuse tensions over Reagan's plan to sell sophisticated weapons to the rival Taiwan
regime. Ji has had occasion to meet with every U.S. president from Nixon to Clinton.
. Her father and three brothers were stranded and could not return to the mainland, and her mother was in Beijing and could not leave. Ji was able to join the Chinese Communist Party in spite of his overseas connections, but Wang could not. They have two sons: Xiaotan lives in Beijing with his wife and a daughter, and Xiao-bin lives in the U.S., where he had attended high school and college while Ji was working in China's Washington embassy, and Wang was working at the United Nations. Ji Chaozhu and Wang Xiangtong now divide their time between Beijing and the island of Hainan
.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(PRC), most notably as English interpreter for Chairman Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
and Premier Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
; later as ambassador to the Court of St. James's
Court of St. James's
The Court of St James's is the royal court of the United Kingdom. It previously had the same function in the Kingdom of England and in the Kingdom of Great Britain .-Overview:...
(United Kingdom); and lastly as an undersecretary general of the United Nations, a post from which he retired in 1996. He played a central role in the talks leading up to and during President Richard M. Nixon's historic visit to China (1972 Nixon visit to China
1972 Nixon visit to China
U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China was an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. It marked the first time a U.S. president had visited the PRC, who at that time considered the U.S. one...
). His memoir, "The Man on Mao's Right", was published in July, 2008, by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
.
Early Years in U.S.
The son of a wealthy landlord, lawyer, and provincial official in ShanxiShanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
Province, Ji and his family fled their home in Taiyuan
Taiyuan
Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in North China. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 4,201,591 inhabitants on 6959 km² whom 3,212,500 are urban on 1,460 km². The name of the city literally means "Great Plains", referring to the location where the Fen River...
, the provincial capital, in 1937, ahead of the advancing armies of Imperial Japan. Ji's eldest brother, Ji Chaoding :, was a noted economist who'd earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He held a high position in the Nationalist (Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
) government of Chiang Kaishek, but was secretly supporting and spying for the rival Communist insurgency led by Zhou and Mao.
At the urging of Zhou, Ji's family emigrated to New York City where they arrived in 1939 when Ji was nine years old. Ji attended the left-wing City and Country School in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
, earned his high school diploma from Horace Mann-Lincoln High School (now known as Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School
Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...
) and attended Camp Rising Sun
Camp Rising Sun
Camp Rising Sun is an invitation-only, international, full-scholarship, leadership summer program for students aged 14–16. Operated by the Louis August Jonas Foundation , a non-profit organization, the program lasts for seven weeks...
in 1944. He was a sophomore at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1950 when the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
broke out, pitting his native homeland against the country that had nurtured, educated, and embraced him for 12 years.
Return to China
With hundreds of other native Chinese Communist students who no longer felt welcome in the developing Cold War political atmosphere, he quit Harvard and returned to the newly-formed People's Republic, studied chemistry at Tsinghua UniversityTsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
for a year, and then was assigned to use his flawless English to record the negotiations in Panmunjom that would eventually bring an end to the Korean War. After two years in Korea, he returned to Beijing where he was recruited to become Zhou's English interpreter, accompanying the Premier to the Geneva Conference (1954)
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
, and on Zhou's many other international trips. For most of the next two decades, he was a close aide to Zhou, and a frequent interpreter for Mao, often appearing on Mao's right on the reviewing stand at Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
during public celebrations when English-speaking dignitaries were present. He holds the distinction of having been interpreter for Mao Zedong's last two official visits with English-speaking dignitaries, in 1976, months before the chairman's death.
Role in Chinese-U.S. Relations
During his long career, his intimate knowledge of American culture made him a valuable member of the Chinese diplomatic corps, especially when Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
made his now-famous secret visit to Beijing in 1971 to pave the way for the Nixon visit. Zhou Enlai chose Ji to lead the first diplomatic mission to the U.S. in 1973, to establish the People's Republic's first liaison office in Washington, and he was assigned to the PRC's U.S. embassy staff after full diplomatic relations were established. He served as interpreter for Mao's ultimate successor, Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
, during Deng's historic visit to the U.S. in 1979. The New York Times noted at the time that from the Nixon visit to China through Deng's visit to the U.S., Ji was the only person on either side capable of interpreting from English to Chinese. The newspaper dubbed him "The Indispensable Mr. Chi." Ji was held in such high regard by U.S. diplomats that Alexander Haig
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, as Secretary of State under newly-elected President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, in 1981 requested that the PRC send Ji to meet with Reagan to try to defuse tensions over Reagan's plan to sell sophisticated weapons to the rival Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
regime. Ji has had occasion to meet with every U.S. president from Nixon to Clinton.
Family and Political Life
In 1956, Ji married Wang Xiangtong, an English translator working for the International Red Cross. Both Ji and Wang experienced periodic political problems during the many purges and other upheavals that marked the Mao years. In spite of his close association with Zhou and Mao, Ji was considered suspect because he had been educated in the U.S., and an older brother had stayed behind when Ji returned to China. Wang, his wife, had a similar problem in that her father and mother had become separated at the end of the civil war when the Communists took control and the Nationalists fled across the Taiwan Straits to the island then known as FormosaFormosa
Formosa or Ilha Formosa is a Portuguese historical name for Taiwan , literally meaning, "Beautiful Island". The term may also refer to:-Places:* Formosa Strait, another name for the Taiwan Strait...
. Her father and three brothers were stranded and could not return to the mainland, and her mother was in Beijing and could not leave. Ji was able to join the Chinese Communist Party in spite of his overseas connections, but Wang could not. They have two sons: Xiaotan lives in Beijing with his wife and a daughter, and Xiao-bin lives in the U.S., where he had attended high school and college while Ji was working in China's Washington embassy, and Wang was working at the United Nations. Ji Chaozhu and Wang Xiangtong now divide their time between Beijing and the island of Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
.