And as I was writing the story, I was just thinking, you know, how kind of typical this is, that, you know, Opal Chen, when she helps that tour guide, she just helps her out of compassion - right? - because she understands the situation and because she can help. And then later on, the tour guide turns around and does her a big favor. Grace Chen's mother Opal, you know, understands the tour guide's situation, and she helps her out. SIMON: We're talking a character, Grace - Grace Chen de Castro. And I will say that it's - you know, this whole story is very Chinese not in its details, but in this dynamic in the sense that the - you know, the Chinese mother, because she's Chinese-born - the protagonist's mother - because she's Chinese-born, she understands. And the protagonist's mother helps her out. And so she herself is kind of in an awkward situation. And she's gotten this job because of her father. And she actually does not speak very good English. This is very early in the tourism thing in China. This is a typical Chinese thing, I will say, that the poor guide has been put in charge of these American tourists. At that point, they're also concerned about their guide, aren't they? This is before Yelp reviews, you know, might say, well, I don't think it's so great or boy, it needs repair. SIMON: A particular favorite sequence I have is when you have a group of American tourists, including from Chinese families, visit the Great Wall.

And that ambivalence, of course, has continued to this day. But they saw that coat, and they loved that coat (laughter). I think it's the - you know, they had been taught to hate the West. SIMON: You say - I think the phrase you used is it let a big genie out of the bottle. And - you know, and much flows from that moment. And the Chinese - you know, famously great lovers of red - you know, when they saw that red coat, I mean, they were just overwhelmed with admiration. And what she remembers most of all is not actually Nixon himself so much as Pat Nixon and the red coat that she wore, which really made a huge impression on the Chinese because, you know, back then, China was a sea of gray and navy blue and black. JEN: (Laughter) Well, you know, the girl in my story, of course, is made up, right? But she does remember very well this visit. And in her letter to President Nixon in the beyond, she's affronted that he didn't notice her coat. SIMON: There is a famous photo, which - not that girl, but another one. Nixon.' And Gish Jen, author of the highly acclaimed novel, 'The Resisters,' joins us now.

Gish Jen has a new book of short stories that are linked by that relationship, beginning with the recollections of someone who was a young girl who met the U.S. But it's also a country with family members, ancestors and centuries of accomplishment and culture. They know China as the land of Mao's mass murders, Red Guard brigades, detention camps, state censorship, surveillance and imprisoned dissidents. Today, China is one of the U.S.'s largest trading partners, and many Americans from Chinese families have complicated thoughts. And it's hard to convey what it was like to see a conservative Republican Cold War president shake the hand of Mao Zedong, leader of the world's largest communist power. relations with the People's Republic of China. It's been 50 years since President Richard Nixon opened U.S.

Gish meaning