20. Building Bridges Between the U.S. and China, One Book at a Time: Dori Jones Yang

The World Wise Podcast

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20. Building Bridges Between the U.S. and China, One Book at a Time: Dori Jones Yang

Rajika Bhandari

Aug 02, 2022

One of the most profound ways in which we learn about different cultures and countries is through books. This episode focuses on bridging divides and fostering understanding between the U.S. and China through journalism and books. Today's guest, Dori Jones Yang, has spent her life and career immersed in understanding China and interpreting the country, its culture, and its politics for a U.S. audience through her work as a former foreign correspondent for Business Week and as an author. Her latest book, When the Red Gates Opened: A Memoir of China’s Reawakening, is a fascinating and deeply personal book about the China of the eighties and beyond and of ultimately building bridges.

Episode Themes:

Dori's journey from the American heartland to China and becoming the first female reporter for Business Week in China, and how the Princeton in Asia program and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins played a key role.
What it felt like for Dori to arrive in China in the eighties as the youngest of Business Week's foreign correspondents and at an exciting time when the country was beginning to open up to the world, and Washington and Beijing had just established diplomatic relations.
Dori's experience of being at Tiananmen Square when the protests happened, which she also writes about in her book.
As an author of books for adults and younger readers, Dori has consistently shared the message of cross-cultural understanding and people-to-people exchanges. She reflects on writing about China for a younger audience and why we need more diverse and multicultural children's literature in the U.S. today.
Dori's memoir is also about the journey of her relationship and marriage to a Chinese man. She shares her thoughts on the recent hate crimes and xenophobia against Asian Americans in the U.S.
Dori and I discuss the similarities between our books, which are both memoirs anchored in a personal journey, but that also include analysis and history. We also share reflections on what was hardest about writing our books.