When I was back in China visiting some of my relative I had seem tremendous improvement in their lifestyle and economic.However, Like any developing society the trade off I guess they had to work triple hard to maintain the lifestyle and not to mention those who are left behind causing such disparity between the have and have not.
Posted by ManilaB
When Sheila Platt, wife of former ambassador to the Philippines, Nicholas Platt was here for the annual board meeting of Community and Family Services International (CFSI) in early May, she brought me a copy of China Boys: How US Relations with the PRC Began and Grew, which has just been published by New Academia Publishing Company, written by her husband.
This is a fascinating personal and professional saga. In the early pages, it is a veritable primer of the foreign service, spelling out just what steps are required to create a distinguished diplomatic career, and become a recognized authority on one part of the world, which was, for Nick Platt, broadly Asia, and more specifically, China, from Nixon's historic visit in 1972 through to the present day. "China Boys" was the name President Nixon gave to the handful of men who played an important role in developing diplomatic relations between the United States and China.
For all of us who knew the Platts when they were in Manila, Ambassador Platt's generous inclusion of family life in the narrative, is rewarding: The excitement and occasional misfortunes the Platts and their young "three Tiger" sons - now grown and with distinguished careers, Oliver as an actor, Nick and Adam as New York-based writers - encountered in China. Nick Platt has a sharp eye for detail and character quirks, and a wicked sense of humor which makes the trials and tribulations of a young foreign service officer and his young family in China, delightful, often hilarious and sometimes heart-wrenching reading. The boys misadventures and accidents, the family outing that turned to tragedy when a young bicyclist crossed their path - an accident which was to alter Nicks career - Are all there, in vivid detail.
And for those of us who live in Asia, there is the insight into the rise of China and an analysis of what China is today, and where it is probably headed. The world's balance of influence, ambassador Platt observes, is shifting toward Asia. He sees the role of the United States as remaining strong and influential in Asia, "but we will have to share power with the rising nations of Asia."
For the history buff, there are fresh, anecdotal portraits of Nixon, Kissinger and the 1st US ambassador to China David Bruce; of Deng Xiaoping and Madam Mao and Chou enlai, of Mike Armacost (another of our former ambassadors to Manila) and Dick Holbrooke, of presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Warren Christopher. As foreign service officer moving up the ranks to distinguished diplomat, Ambassador Platt shows us the labyrinthine workings of the State Department, and the excruciating details of presidential visits, and later, as president of the Asia Society, the important role of introducing thousands of Americans to a better understanding of Asia, through cultural exchange. Ambassador Platt transformed the staid Asia Society during the 12 years he was president, bringing in leaders from Asia (including Cory Aquino) and adding an Asian library and Asian exports for members. During Platt's tenure, the Asia Society was jokingly referred to by colleagues in Washington as "The Best Embassy on Park Avenue."
China Boys is not yet available in bookstores in Manila but can be purchased through amazon.com.
China boy; a novel.
