Center for US-China Arts Exchange records, 1956-2019, bulk 1977-2003

Summary Information

Abstract

This collection of records document the institutional history of the Center for US-China Arts Exchange, established in 1978. Under the directorship of professor and renowned composer Chou Wen-chung, the Center is a not-for-profit organization that connected arts professionals from the US and China through a spectrum of curated programs, conferences, and research trips. Bulk dated between 1977 and 2003, materials in this collection consist of correspondence, reports, photographs, printed materials, as well as audiovisual items. The collection serves as important material evidence that help to tell the recent history of cultural communications among individuals and organizations across the Pacific.

本檔案記錄了美中藝術交流中心的機構歷史。在著名作曲家周文中教授的領導下，成立與1978年的中心作為一非盈利組織，通過一系列的交流項目、會議和研学旅行，為中美兩國的藝術人士提供了一個寶貴的交流平台。檔案材料包括信件、報告、照片、印刷品以及視聽資料，主要集中與1977至2003年。中心檔案的內容涵蓋了大量中美藝術人士和機構的往來片段，與研究整個太平洋地區在20與21世紀的文化交流歷史有重要的學術價值。

At a Glance

Arrangement

Arrangement

Collection is arranged in 11 series according to subject and material type.

• Series I: Photographs, 1957-1991
• Series II: Printed Materials, 1977-1995
• Series III: Postcards, 1959-1960
• Series IV: Projects and Delegations, 1978-2010
• Series V: Affiliated Organizations and Individuals, 1975-1998
• Subseries V.1: U.S.-China Government Entities
• Subseries V.2: Chinese-American Organizations
• Subseries V.3: Chinese-American Individuals
• Subseries V.4: Chinese Study/Work Individuals in U.S.
• Subseries V.5: Cultural Organizations and Individuals, China
• Subseries V.6: Cultural Organizations and Individuals, Hong Kong
• Subseries V.7: Artist Files
• Subseries V.8: Country Files
• Series VI: Administrative, 1976-2010
• Subseries VI.1: Endowments and Proposal
• Subseries VI.2: Foundations
• Subseries VI.3: Advisory Council
• Subseries VI.4: Early Documents
• Subseries VI.5: Trip Reports, 1977-1996
• Subseries VI.6: Budgets and Financial Reports
• Subseries VI.7: Chou Wen-Chung File
• Series VII: Publicity, 1978-2000
• Subseries VII.1: General Press Materials, 1978-1997
• Subseries VII.2: Chinese Newspaper Clippings
• Series VIII: Correspondence, 1971-2019
• Subseries VIII.1: Artists and Organizations
• Subseries VIII.2: Chou Wen-Chung Music-Related Correspondences
• Subseries VIII.3: Universities and Conservatories
• Subseries VIII.4: Correspondence in Chinese
• Subseries VIII.5: General Correspondences and Notes
• Series IX: Pacific Music Festival Score Submissions, 1989-1991
• Series X: Business Cards
• Series XI: Audio Visual
• Subseries XI.1: Pacific Music Festival
• Subseries XI.2: Yunnan Project
• Subseries XI.3: Additional AV Materials
• Subseries XI.4: Commercial Music Records

Description

Scope and Contents

The Center for US-China Arts Exchange records document the activities of the Center's artistic and cultural exchange initiatives and projects primarily between 1977 and 2003. Established in 1978, the Center ran as a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the Columbia University under the directorship of professor and renowned composer Chou Wen-chung. Materials in this collection consists of correspondence, reports, photographs, printed materials, as well as audiovisual items. Organized in 11 series by subjects and material type, the collection illustrates multiple editions of delegation trips of musicians, dramatists, dancer and choreographers, writers, and visual artists between the US and China, as well as larger-scale projects such as the Pacific Music Festival and the Ford Minority Art Project/Yunnan Nationalities Cultures Project. The bulk of the collection, including administrative files, correspondences, publicity materials, and photographs, showcases the planning, execution, and documentation of the spectrum of programs. The collection also offers reports and photographs resulted from many research trips to both urban and rural regions of China as well as other parts of East and Southeast Asia. In addition, the audiovisual materials include portfolio cassettes submitted by composers from across the Asiatic region, recordings of conferences, discussion seminars, and interviews, as well as commercial music records.

美中藝術交流中心檔案收入了中心期間開展的各類藝術文化交流項目的活動資料，主要集中於1977至2003年。中心正式成立於1978年，是一個隸屬於哥倫比亞大學的非營利性組織，由著名作曲家周文中教授擔任主任。這批檔案包括通信、報告、照片、印刷品以及視聽資料，按主題和材料類型分為11個系列。其中材料涉及数位中美音樂、戲劇、舞蹈和編舞家、作家與視覺藝術家赴對方國的多次代表團旅行，以及如太平洋音樂節和福特民族藝術項目/雲南民族文化合作項目等更大規模的活動。檔案內的行政資料、通信、宣傳材料和照片展現了此類項目的規劃、執行和記錄。其他材料還包括赴中國各大城市及鄉村地區，以及東亞和東南亞其他國家的研學旅行的田野報告与攝影記錄。此外，視聽材料還包括泛太平洋地區的作曲家提交的作品磁帶，會議和訪談的錄音，以及商业黑膠唱片。

• Series I: Photographs, 1957-1991

  Series I comprises primarily 35mm negatives and photographic prints of various dimensions, dating between 1957 and 1991. The bulk of the 35mm slides were taken during multiple trips to institutions, conservatories, monuments and renowned sites in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and the Yunnan Province in the years prior to and immediately after the Center's establishment (circa 1972-1981). In addition, a small grouping of 35mm slides on traditional Chinese arts were possibly used by Dr. Chou Wen-chung for his classes at Columbia University. Photographic prints dating from the 1980s are organized chronologically according to projects and delegations, or artist names. Included in the photographs are individual and group portraits, event or trip documentation. Major groupings consist of multiple China trips in the mid- to late-1980s, including the Fact-finding Delegation trip in 1987, and the Yunnan Project in the 1990s.

• Series II: Printed Materials, 1977-1995

  Series II comprises selected issues of the Center newsletters in English and Chinese (1981-1995), and publications on folk music in China and culture of minorities in the Yunnan Province.

• Series III: Postcards, 1959-1960

  Series III comprises albums of postcards on the subject of Chinese music instruments.

• Series IV: Projects and Delegations, 1978-2010

  Series IV, organized chronologically by project, comprise correspondence, meeting notes, itineraries, reports, programs, press releases, etc. – files that record the initiation, planning, execution, and documentation of the wide variety of programs the Center organized, primarily dating between 1978 and 2002. Selected early programs include American Film Delegation, the meeting and exchange among dramatists Cao Yu/曹禺, Ying Ruocheng/英若诚 and Arthur Miller, the multiple editions of the Music and Arts Education Delegation (1980-1988, partially funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund), Isaac Stern's trip to China, and delegations of Chinese dramatists, musicians, dancers, writers, and visual artists to the US. Also covered by the materials are visits to the US by Chinese arts professionals such as Jin Weinuo/金维诺, Chen Gang/陈钢,Li Keyu/李克瑜, Mao Yuan/茅沅, Chen Xieyang/陈燮阳, Yuan Yunsheng/袁运生, Wu Wenguang/吴文光, Luo Jingjing/罗京京, Yin Falu/阴法鲁, Zhang Zhizhong/张致中, Chen Yifei/陈逸飞, Meng Guang,孟光, Shen Roujian/沈柔坚, Zhu Zeping/朱则平, Yu Runyang/于润洋, Wu Tianming/吴天明, and Qu Xiaosong/瞿小松. Due to composer Chou Wen-chung's directorship, the Center naturally participated in leading several music-centered projects such as the Taiwan project (1988-1989), and the Pacific Music Festival and the Pacific Composers Conference (PMF/PCC, 1989-1991), for which materials in this series offer important details. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the Center also led interdisciplinary, cultural studies programs, including Cities East and West, A Comparative Study: Innovation and Tradition (1984-1997), and the Ford Minority Art Project/Yunnan Nationalities Cultures Project (circa 1991-2002).

• Series V: Affiliated Organizations and Individuals, 1975-1998

  Series V comprise letters, correspondence, meeting notes, and other administrative files between the Center and various organizations and individuals in East Asia and the US.

• Series VI: Administrative, 1976-2010

  Series VI comprise proposals, grant-related correspondence and reports from/submitted to foundations including the Ford and the Rockefeller, notes from board meetings and communications with individual board members, and additional administrative files. Subseries 5 consists of notes, reports, trip books resulted from research trips to China and other regions of East and Southeast Asia by Chou Wen-chung, Sarah L. Rhodes, and other Center staff members. Subseries 7 comprise Chou-related materials such as correspondences, interview documentation, drafts of speeches and articles by Chou.

• Series VII: Publicity, 1978-2000

  Series VII comprise articles, news clippings, programs and additional publicity materials created primarily between 1978 and 1995, in English and Chinese. The publishing sources range from Columbia University Record, to local and regional newspapers, to magazines and journals, and to internationally known news sources. Subseries 2 Overseas Chinese Daily News/華僑日報 (1980-1983) and Renmin Ribao/人民日報 (1979-1983), which included clippings on the broad Chinese and Chinese American cultural and arts scenes, and a small selection of these clippings touch on Center events and programs.

• Series VIII: Correspondence, 1971-2019

  Series VIII comprise letter and correspondences with artists, organizations, universities, conservatories primarily in East Asia and the US.

• Series IX: Pacific Music Festival Score Submissions, 1989-1991

  Series IX comprise sheet music scores and application forms submitted by young composers from across the Asia-Pacific region to the Pacific Music Festival/Pacific Composers Conference (1989-1991). Arranged by country/region and alphabetically.

• Series X: Business Cards

  Series X comprise groupings of business cards collected from primarily China and the US.

• Series XI: Audio Visual

  Series XI comprise audiovisual materials arranged by project and media format. Subseries 1 consists of audiocassettes submitted by composers to the Pacific Music Festival/Pacific Composers Conference (corresponding with Series IX) as well as recordings of seminars, discussion sessions, presentations, and concerts. Subseries 2 includes audio recordings of meetings and video recordings of trips, local performances, and documentary films. Subseries 3 comprise miscellaneous audio/video recordings of trips, events, and interviews with Chou and others. Subseries 4 is a collection of commercial music records in 12-, 10-, and 7-inch diameter. They are published music in the genres of symphony, Chinese folk music, Peking opera, and revolutionary/model opera.

Using the Collection

C. V. Starr East Asian Library

Conditions Governing Access

The following boxes are located off-site: Box #1-117. You will need to request this material from the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at least 5 business days in advance to use the collection.

This collection has no restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The C.V. Starr East Asian Library maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); The Center for US-China Arts Exchange records; Box and Folder; C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University Libraries.

Related Materials

Office of Public Affairs Photograph Collection; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Office of Public Affairs records; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs records; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Historical subject files; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Central Files (Office of the President records); University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

A. Doak Barnett papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Chou Wen-chung, 2016.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, C. V. Starr East Asian Library

Processing Information

Processed by Yingwen Huang, September 2019-March 2020, and by Evian Yiyun Pan, September-December 2022.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form

Subject

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

The Center for US-China Arts Exchange (美中藝術交流中心) is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with and headquartered at Columbia University in New York City. Established on October 1, 1978 by composer and Columbia professor Chou Wen-chung chung (Chinese: 周文中, Zhou Wenzhong), the Center was the first organization to focus on the crucial need to connect professional artists and cultural figures from both countries when the United States and China established diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979. For forty years it was the only privately-funded, non-profit organization carrying out systematic exchanges between the two countries solely in the arts. The mission of the Center was to promote mutual interest and understanding in the arts of the United States and China and to promote creativity in both countries. The Center's geographic reach has since expanded to include the entire Pacific region. The Center relied on contributions of money, materials, and services from foundations, corporations, and individuals to carry out its programs. The Broad of Managers and the Advisory Council, both created in the spring of 1981, oversee the Center's programs and policies.

Under the directorship of Chou Wen-chung, who was Chairman of the Music Division, the Center arranged for the filming of Isaac Stern's trip to China in 1979 and the making of the documentary "From Mao to Mozart". The Center also sponsored Arthur Miller's trip to Beijing to direct the first Chinese-language production of "Death of a Salesman" with the People's Arts Theater. Working in both directions, the Center arranged for the eminent playwright Cao Yu to go on a lecture tour of the U.S. in 1980. Other participating cultural figures included writer Susan Sontag, opera singer Pavarotti, choreographer Alwin Nikolais, sculptor George Segal, designer Ming Cho Lee and director Michael Bennett. Educational psychologist Howard Gardner supervised a three-year program in arts education. The program was truly ground-breaking and had an enormous impact on the development of the arts in China during that era. Concurrently, the Center organized study trips to the US for Chinese arts professionals including art historian Jin Weinuo, conductor Chen Xieyang, composers Chen Gang, Mao Yuan, Yu Runyang and Qu Xiaosong, painters Yuan Yansheng and Chen Yifei, historian Yin Falu and filmmaker Wu Tianming. Moving onto the 1980s, gradually evolved into an organization that geographically extended beyond its original scope and leaned increasingly toward projects that encompassed broader cultural significance, such as Cities East and West: A Comparative Study. Meanwhile, naturally with Director Chou's mastery in music, the Center continue to lead programs that centered on musical performance and composing: the Taiwan project, the Pacific Music Festival and the Pacific Composers Conference. During the 1990's the Center developed a multi-year, multi-faceted project in China's Yunnan Province for the continuation and development of the arts of minority nationalities. A large-scale Leadership Conference on Conservancy and Development was held in 1999 and resulted in the writing of The Yunnan Initiative, a comprehensive policy statement which adopted five principles: Conservation, Inclusion, Education, Tourism and Collaboration. Over the years countless ground-breaking projects were launched in all the fields of the arts, the impact of which continues until the present day.

美中藝術交流中心（Center for US-China Arts Exchange）是一個隸屬於紐約市哥倫比亞大學的非營利性組織。該中心由作曲家、教授周文中與1978年10月1日成立，是1979年1月1日美中建交後第一個致力於兩國專業藝術和文化人士學習交流的組織。四十年來，中心是唯一一個由私人基金資助的非營利組織，專門在兩國之間開展系統的文化藝術交流。該中心的使命是促進中美藝術的理解與互惠，以促進兩國藝術家各自創造力的延展。而後，中心開展的項目的地理範圍擴大到了整個太平洋地區。中心持續依靠基金會、集團和個人以資金、材料和服務等形式的捐贈支持來實施其項目。中心的理事會和顧問委員會均成立於1981年春季，負責監督中心的項目與政策。

在周文中教授的領導下，中心參與籌備美國小提琴家艾薩克·斯特恩1979年的中國之行，並協助製作了紀錄片《從毛澤東到莫扎特》。中心還贊助了阿瑟·米勒的北京之行，其中包括了米勒於人民藝術劇院執導《推銷員之死》的中文版本。 1980年，中心為著名劇作家曹禺安排了在美國的巡迴演講。其他參與過中心項目的文化人士包括作家蘇珊·桑塔格、歌劇演唱家帕瓦羅蒂、編舞師阿爾溫·尼古拉、雕塑家喬治·西格爾、舞美設計師李名覺和戲劇導演邁克爾·貝內特。教育心理學家霍華德·加德納指導了一個為期三年的藝術教育交流項目，該項目的突破性對那個時代中國的藝術發展產生了重大影響。與此同時，中心還組織了多位中國藝術界人士赴美研學，包括藝術史學家金維諾，指揮家陳燮陽，作曲家陳鋼、茅沅、於潤洋、瞿小松，畫家袁運生、陳逸飛，史學家陰法魯和電影導演吳天明。20世紀80年代，中心逐漸擴張其項目所涉及的地理範圍，且越來越傾向於開展包含更廣泛文化意義的項目，一如"東西方城市的比較研究"。由於周文中教授對音樂的精通，中心不斷規劃以音樂和作曲為中心的項目：台灣項目、太平洋音樂節和太平洋作曲家會議。到了20世紀90年代，中心在中國雲南省開展了一個多年多面的文化項目，以探索、延續和發展少數民族的藝術。 1999年舉行了一次大規模的題為保護與發展的領導會議，並促成了以五項原則（保護、包容、教育、旅遊和合作）為基礎的政策聲明《雲南少數民族文化倡議書》的撰寫與發表。多年來，中心在藝術的各個領域都有曾開展數個富有開創性的項目，其卓著影響一直持續到今天。