American Radio In China

Interwar era efforts to expand US radio into China floundered in the face of flawed US policies and approaches. Situated at the intersection of media studies, technology studies, and US foreign relations, this study frames the ill-fated radio initiatives as symptomatic of an increasingly troubled US-East Asian relationship before the Pacific War.

Already a best seller in China! "Radio ChopstiX-An American DJ in China" is an amazing story from Rick O'Shea, an American who became the most famous foreigner radio DJ in China! Starting as a street painter in Canada, he followed a radio career in Florida and Hawaii, where he invented the most imaginative radio station ever- "Space Station KULA." Fate can lead you to unimagined places and experiences. Radio waves carried him to Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. China's national broadcaster, CCTV, said that he "changed radio history in China." Millions know who he is, but few know his story. And for the first time, he writes about his relationship with one of China's most famous writers, San Mao, whom he knew for ten years up to her tragic death in 1991.Radio ChopstiX is a creative radio story and more. Rick has experienced life in China from a much different and original perspective. He became a piece of modern China's history as a part of the bridge between China and the world; an "unofficial Ambassador to China!" (updated April 2013)

A deep dive into the Dixie Mission. “Aficionados of American political and diplomatic history may be pleasantly surprised at the riches in this book.” —American Historical Review Conventional wisdom informs us that “only Nixon could go to China.” In fact, in 1944, nearly thirty years before his historic trip, the American military established the first liaison and intelligence-gathering mission with the Chinese Communists in Yenan. Commonly referred to as the Dixie Mission, the detached military unit sent to Yenan was responsible for transmitting weather information, assisting the Communists in their rescue of downed American flyers, and laying the groundwork for an eventual rapprochement between the Communists and Nationalists, the two sides struggling in the ongoing Chinese Civil War. Following extensive use of archival sources and numerous interviews with the men who traveled and served in Yenan, Carolle Carter argues that while Dixie fulfilled its assignment, the members steered the mission in different directions from its original, albeit loosely described, intent. As the months and years passed, the Dixie Mission increasingly emphasized intelligence gathering over evaluating their Communist hosts’ contribution to the war effort against Japan. Some American politicians in the 1950s portrayed the participants in the Dixie Mission as too sympathetic to the Chinese Communists. But during the 1970s many looked back at these individuals as wise but ignored oracles who could have prevented the “loss of China.” Carter strips away these simplistic portrayals to reveal a diverse and dedicated collection of soldiers, diplomats, and technicians who had ongoing contact with the Chinese Communists longer than any other group during World War II, but who were destined to be a largely unused resource during the Cold War.

SCOTT (Copy 1): From the John Holmes Library Collection.