The U.S.-China Symposium at Drake University will take place Nov. 17 in Olmsted.

John Pomfret is an award-winning journalist and author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present. He will deliver a lecture on U.S.-China relations at the symposium. This event is free and open to the public. Register at drake.edu/branstad. 

The symposium will be hosted by Ambassador-in-Residence Terry Branstad, former U.S. Ambassador to China and Governor of Iowa. This annual event will convene experienced professionals, academics, and other experts to speak on various topics related to China and U.S.-China relations.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome John Pomfret to Drake for the inaugural U.S.-China Symposium,” said Ambassador Branstad. “John brings extensive experience and knowledge of the relationship between the United States and China, and his book The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom provides the most complete overview of the history between our nations and was considered required reading for all of the diplomats stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. I look forward to his engagement with the Drake community this fall.”

In addition to speaking at the symposium, Pomfret will join the Ambassador Branstad’s Fall 2022 book club discussion on Nov. 17 at 11:30 am. Participants will read The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom. All Drake students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to participate. Books will be provided at no cost to the first ten students to register.

To register for the book club, please email ambassador@drake.edu.

About John Pomfret

Raised in New York City and educated at Stanford and Nanjing Universities, John Pomfret is an award-winning journalist who worked with The Washington Post for decades.

Pomfret was a foreign correspondent for twenty years, including seven years covering China – in the late 1980s during the Tiananmen Square protests, then from 1997 until the end of 2003 as the bureau chief for The Washington Post in Beijing.

Pomfret is the author of the best-selling Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China (1996). His book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present (2016) was awarded the 2017 Arthur Ross Award by the Council on Foreign Relations.

— Hannah Sappenfield, Global Engagement