The United States is the result of an enlightened philosophy; China is the outcome of traditions and history.

China is constantly reinventing itself and so is the United States.

History is the archaeology of the present and future.

Individual identities and national destines were shaped by the tripod of history, geography, and philosophy.

This two-track plan of nationalism and development (in China) is a historically powerful weapon.

Today’s connoisseurs of Sino-American relations seem to view the relationship through a dystopian prism; their gloomy commentaries are largely an assemblage of snapshots on contemporary interactions or day-to-day developments without a historical context.