The Role of American Local Media in the Sino-American People-to-People Diplomacy: A Cast Study of Mei Lanfang's Visit to the U. S. in 1930

Mei Lanfang's visit to the United States in 1930 promoted the development of Sino-American people-topeople diplomacy because, among other reasons, the many performances of the Mei troupe in various American cities received extensive and in-depth coverage by local media outlets. The reports and reviews of Mei's Peking Opera by the local American newspapers not only provided detailed, interesting, and critical accounts of the authentic Chinese theatrical arts; they conveyed a sense of immediacy and uniqueness in introducing to local communities an unfamiliar cultural phenomenon. Collectively, their thorough reports and analyses, including illuminating reviews that offered simultaneously artistic commentaries on and critical evaluations of Mei's performances as well as cultural reflections of Peking Opera as a reliable, albeit foreign, art form, functioned as an effective vehicle in conducting successful peopleto-people diplomacy. Clearly, the local media complemented, reinforced, and refined the coverage of eve