A China perceived over 40 years

CHICAGO - That is a trip he will never forget. In August 1975, as a member of the US first Congressional delegation to China, Adlai Ewing Stevenson III visited China for the first time.

Stevenson remembered the delegation arrived in Shanghai before taking train to Beijing, where they met then Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.

The US legislators visited China's major cities and rural areas during the 10-day trip. What he perceived then was poverty and the alienation of the people. "People in the streets did not dare be seen talking to foreigners."