On February 21, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon started a week-long official visit to China, the first by an American leader to the People's Republic. Nixon later called it "the week that changed the world." At the end of his trip the two countries released the Joint Communiqué of the United States of America and the People's Republic of China (also known as Shanghai Communiqué), in which both expressed a desire to normalize relations and stressed common ground on several key issues. The frosty ties between two of the world's biggest countries began to thaw. On December 16, 1978, China and the U.S. signed the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, officially recognizing each other and establishing diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. On March 1 the same year they exchanged ambassadors and embassies, and Sino-U.S. relationships entered a new epoch.

    This year marks the 30th anniversary of this historic event. The Beijing Youth Daily and the U.S. Embassy in China recently co-sponsored a writing contest on the changes in Chinese people's lives since China and the U.S. opened their doors to each other. More than 200 essays were submitted, and 10 received awards. With approval of the Beijing Youth Daily and the authors, China Today has selected six of the winning essays, and will publish them from July to December.

Mao Zedong meets U.S. President Nixon in Zhongnanhai.

Belated "Thanks"

By WANG JINGQIU

    SOMETIMES memory is painful since it often reminds me that I'm getting old. However, I always fondly recall one incident that happened when I was a young school student.

    It was a cold afternoon in February 1972. President Nixon, the first U.S. president to come to the People's Republic of China, was paying a visit to the kindergarten of Beijing No. 3 Cotton Textile Mill. I was playing outside the kindergarten with my friends when several black cars stopped in front of the gate. For political reasons, the adults dared not surround the car and stare, as they knew the U.S. president was inside. But we children were extremely curious and ventured over to see the Americans. A person who looked like a government cadre in a blue Mao suit asked us to line up, telling the children whose clothes were full of patches to stand at the back.

    Soon the American visitors came out of the kindergarten, but they didn't get in the cars immediately. Instead, one of them, a man with blue eyes and a long sharp nose, walked toward us with a friendly smile. He said "Hello" in not-so-fluent Chinese, and handed out sweets. Seeing that none of children dared accept his candies, the man held my hands, which were numb with cold, and gave me a candy. He then did the same with the other children. Before he got in the car, he smiled at us again and waved. I was at a loss as to what to do, and only felt warmth in my hands and cologne in the air. When it was too late I realized I should have said "thank you" to the man.