It was the early morning of Dec 16, 1978, in China and late evening in Washington on the evening of Dec 15 when US President Jimmy Carter and Chinese Premier Hua Guofeng issued their historic joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States, which came into effect on Jan 1, 1979.

Only a few years earlier it would have been inconceivable that diplomatic relations would be established. This news caught not only the authorities in Taiwan by surprise, but also members of the US Congress. But in the end, no serious opposition within Congress ever materialized, and the global reaction was positive.

Equally surprising, a short time after the establishment of diplomatic relations, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and his wife, Zhuo Lin — accompanied by Leonard Woodcock, the US ambassador and former chief of the US Diplomatic Liaison Office in Beijing — landed in Washington on Jan 28, 1979, where Deng was hosted in Blair House across from the White House where only the most distinguished foreign guests are accommodated. Having emerged triumphantly from a third purge, Deng had become the paramount leader of China. He was the first leader of the People’s Republic of China ever to be an official guest of the US government.

Expectations for Deng’s trip were sky high. He had been named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” for 1978. His trip attracted the most public interest in any foreign leader’s visit since Nikita Khrushchev’s 1959 trip to the US with the media awash with stories about Deng’s remarkable comeback, his extraordinary political restoration, his decision to open to the West, his commitment to normalizing relations and his push for reform.

Prior to his trip, Woodstock asked Deng what he wanted to do during his visit, and he quickly responded that he wanted to see space exploration facilities. Thus, it was clear that Houston would be on the itinerary. Deng brought with him his principal interpreter, Ji Chaozhu, then foreign minister Huang Hua, and Li Shenzhi, head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of American Studies.

Deng had outmaneuvered the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, by arriving on an earlier date than had been previously announced. In early meetings on Jan 29, 1979, with Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Deng explained that he had begun to realize that it was not the US that presented the greatest threat to China, but the Soviet Union and that China needed a long period of peace to realize its modernization plans.

During negotiations, Deng pushed his plans to send many Chinese students to the US, with Carter asking that such students not be chosen for ideological reasons. Deng agreed that China would not use ideology as a primary basis for acceptance. Being a religious man, Carter also asked Deng to allow the distribution of bibles and the freedom of worship, and later Carter expressed satisfaction that China had made progress in both of these areas.

Deng also asked that he be allowed to meet with former president Richard Nixon, to which Carter agreed, inviting Nixon to a banquet for Deng. This resulted in the first return of Nixon to the White House since he had resigned and left in August 1974. After the banquet, Deng watched a performance at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, which was also broadcast live on national television. With the US Marine band playing Getting to Know You from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, the two leaders were introduced to the audience.

At a meeting with cabinet members on Jan 31, 1979, Deng prophetically predicted that if and when his country was granted Most Favored Nation status — which is actually the status granted to most nations — trade between the two countries would expand exponentially. In meetings with members of US Congress, concern was expressed about whether China would let Chinese people immigrate freely, as Congress four years earlier had enacted the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which required communist countries to allow freedom of immigration before Congress would grant those nations normal trading relations. When pressed on this issue, Deng cleverly ended concerns when he replied: “Oh, that’s easy! How many do you want? Ten million? Fifteen million?”

During the final meeting between the two leaders, Carter and Deng signed agreements on consular officials, trade, science and technology, and cultural exchanges.

After brief stops in Philadelphia and Atlanta, Deng arrived in Houston on Feb 2, 1979. During his visit, Deng traveled to the Johnson Space Center, where he was fascinated with the spacecraft and was able to maneuver a safe landing in a simulation vehicle and ride in a lunar rover.

Deng’s evening schedule on Feb 2 included a real Texas rodeo in a small town west of Houston. As a young Houstonian, I was driving on Interstate 10 at the time to the town of Simonton, which was known for its small rodeo. Interstate 10, often called the Katy Freeway, was known for heavy traffic, and yet to my amazement, while following Deng’s official procession, the entire freeway had been shut down and there wasn’t a single car on the freeway heading west.

As we took our seats at the rodeo, Deng entered in a western stagecoach, and after he and his aides were seated, Martha Josey, a well-known young champion barrel racer, entered the arena on her horse, Sonny Bit O’Both, to make history. Previously, Deng had told his personal physician to treat Martha’s sister, who had suffered an accident, and all the rodeo riders appreciated the act of kindness. Martha galloped up to the stands where Deng was seated and leaned over from her saddle to present Deng with a Stetson cowboy hat. Everyone cheered with delight as Deng placed the hat on his head, with photographers scrambling to take a photo. As that photo was taken, I instantly realized that it would become an iconic photo symbolizing all of the extraordinary developments that had occurred over a brief period of time. China had come full circle in embracing the West and establishing, under the leadership of Deng, full diplomatic relations with the US and ending 30 years of division and isolation with the industrialized world. The photo sent a strong signal that this diminutive but powerful and extraordinary man was not some unknown figurehead leader, but rather someone who was good humored and open to the West, and to whom we could all relate. Deng was also presented with a western duster coat, but did not put it on.

During his visit, Deng also wanted to focus on technology. He visited state-of-the-art oil drilling technology company Hughes Tool, as Deng clearly recognized that if China was to modernize, it would need the energy to fuel such a transformation. It was no surprise after his visit to Houston that following diplomatic relations, the first consulate general of the PRC was established not on the east or west coast, but in Houston.

In the years after the historic visit in 1979, the first 50 Chinese students arrived in the US. Tens of thousands have gone on to study stateside, principally pursuing degrees in the physical sciences, healthcare and engineering.

When Deng landed in Houston on Feb 2, 1979, he was accompanied only by congressman Mickey Leland, a black Democrat who held the seat in the Texas congressional district that originally was occupied by Barbara Jordan. Deng was greeted by mayor Jim McConn, who presented Deng with a pair of Texas cowboy spurs. Texas Republican Governor Bill Clements also briefly greeted Deng at the airport.

Prior to departing Houston the next day, Deng met with representatives of the US and foreign media for a conversation covering a multitude of topics. He also met with Houston resident and oilman George H.W. Bush, who previously had served as one of the first heads of the US Diplomatic Liaison Office in Beijing.

The Simonton rodeo arena eventually fell into disrepair and closed for good in 1997. But the story does not end there. All American visitors to Beijing ultimately make their way to Tian’anmen Square and face the Tian’anmen Gates to contemplate their visit to the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City. To the right is the National Museum of China and on the second floor is a room dedicated to the life of Deng. In the center of that room encased in a glass display case all by itself is the Stetson cowboy hat.

On a visit to the museum, I noted that a staff member had carefully pushed the crown of the hat down, flattening it into something far different from a cowboy hat. I told Ronnie Chan, my good friend and fellow chairman of the Asia Society who had significant ties in China and led an effort to restore one of the palaces in the Forbidden City, about the flattened Stetson. He obviously had an impact because the next time I visited the National Museum of China, the hat had been fully restored to its former glory.

The 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations should give us hope. Despite current tensions in U.S-China bilateral relations over trade and other issues, this most important relation in the world will not only survive, but will continue to grow.

Charles C. Foster is former chair of Asia Society Texas Center and founder of Foster LLP, Immigration Attorneys. The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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