On this Day in Chinese History; 2 August

This day, 2 August, in 1949, John Leighton Stuart, one of the most respected Americans in China, departed for the final time his post in Nanjing as the last US Ambassador to China before the establishing of diplomatic relations some 3 decades later. Born in Hangzhou, Stuart’s proficiency in Chinese and his mediations between the KMT and CCP exerted an incredible influence on China like no other foreigner.