A Cold War Ambassador

This article investigates the complex landscape of Asian American memoirist and ceramicist Jade Snow Wong’s Asia speaking tour in 1953. Her hybrid identity, in her union of Americanization with Chinese culturalism, proved ideal for the State Department to select her as a cultural ambassador to Asia. Indeed, Wong was the first American of Chinese descent to be sent on such a tour. Through evaluating archival manuscripts generated by Wong and various news media in Asia, such as her speeches, Asian newspaper reports in Mandarin and English, personal epistles, and photographs, I uncovered sources revealing mixed receptions from her Asian audiences as well as her own contemplation of her mission to Asia. Although her speaking tour aimed to elevate the image of America among the diasporic Chinese community as she advocated for Americanism to fit the ideology of the Cold War era, she believed that one must not judge people merely by their political system divisions. While Asian audiences appreciated her talks and respected her achievements, they viewed Wong’s triumph as attesting to individual effort instead of attesting to the superiority of U.S. democracy.