2 Comments
Aug 20Liked by Karen Christensen

Good piece!

But for the record, Walz is not the first VP candidate with on-scene experience in China. George H. W. Bush was based in Beijing in 1974 and 1975, in the earliest days of the US-China rapprochement. Of course he then ran against Ronald Reagan for the 1980 GOP nomination, then served as Reagan's VP.

Just FWIW.

Expand full comment
author

Good point, and I will add correx to the piece. I imagine Bush, though, led a life there rather direct from a couple of Midwestern high school teachers taking students around to see the sights. I’m trying to get details on those trips - I’d love to know where they went, stayed, and ate. I didn’t go to China till 2001 and even though had some fairly rudimentary hotel and dining experiences. Not to mention the toilets at more remote spots.

Expand full comment