Dragon by the Tail; American, British, Japanese, and Russian Encounters with China and One Another

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1972. First Edition. Third Printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 448 pages. Endpaper maps. Illustrations. Notes. Index. John Paton Davies Jr. (April 6, 1908 - December 23, 1999) was an American diplomat and Medal of Freedom recipient. He was one of the China Hands, whose careers in the Foreign Service were ended by McCarthyism and the reaction to the loss of China. During World War II, Davies was assigned as political attaché to General Joseph Stilwell. He began the assignment in February 1942, arriving in the China Burma India Theater (CBI) in March, based mainly in Assam, India and Kunming, China. He served under Stilwell until the general's recall from China in the fall of 1944. Davies was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Army Observation Group to Yan'an, China, in 1944. The group, commonly known as the Dixie Mission, established the first official diplomatic and military contact between the United States and the Chinese Communists. After Stilwell's recall, Davies served briefly under General Albert Coady Wedemeyer and also General Patrick J. Hurley. The last three months of 1944 were to prove his last in China, as Davies found himself increasingly at odds with Hurley, who was appointed acting ambassador to China in mid-November. The main point of contention between the two men was their views on the future of China. Hurley advocated for a unified government of Communists and Nationalists with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek at its head. Davies, meanwhile, believed not only that was a coalition impossible to form but also that Chiang's regime was ultimately a dead end for American policy in China. "Excellently written . . . vivid and authoritative" —George F. Kennan. This book is a mingling of history and autobiography, of long focus and close-up. Born in China during the last days of the empire, the author served as an American diplomat in the midst of the Chinese-Japanese conflict, acted as political adviser to General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell during World War II, dealt with Chou En-lai and Mao Tse-tung, and from the American Embassy at Moscow observed the end of the war against Japan and the beginning of what he had foretold—the Communist conquest of China and the emergence in the Far East of a balance of power unfavorable to the United States. Two major themes interweave through this narrative. One is the collapse of traditional China and the fusion therefrom of a new, a Communist, China. A second theme is the American intrusion into East Asia, at first to trade with, enlighten, and baptize the Chinese, "open" Japan, "liberate" the Philippines, and assume the role of an imperial power in the Far East.