Drawing upon newly available documentary evidence from the U.S. and China, Yafeng Xia, associate professor of history at the University of Long Island, and the George Washington University's Margaret Gnoinska will explore how the relationship between the U.S. and China evolved between 1949 and 1972 from confrontation to rapprochement.

Yafeng Xia is associate professor of history at Long Island University and author of Negotiating with the Enemy: U.S.-China Talks During the Cold War, 1949-1972. His articles have been published in Diplomatic History, the Journal of Cold War Studies, Chinese Historical Review and International History Review. From 1995 to 1998 he served as second secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Margaret Gnoinska received her Ph.D. in history from the George Washington University. Her dissertation, which focused on Poland and the Cold War in Asia, 1949-1975 dealt in part with Poland's perspective on Sino-Soviet-American triangular relations.