The First Ever China Books Since 1966
SAN FRANCISCO, February 4, 2020 (Newswire.com) - On Sept. 20, 2019, People's Daily Online West USA released a documentary about the first Cold War-era store in the United States that sold Chinese products. Looking back over the past 40 years between China and USA, the story behind the bookstore is fascinating. In an interview, Nicolette Noyes told People's Daily Online, “What we wanted to do was to present China as China saw itself in an honest way.”
Why was China Books founded? The family of Nicolette Noyes has an excellent affinity with China. Henry Halsey Noyes, the father of Nicolette Noyes, was born in Guangzhou. In 1966, China and the United States had no diplomatic relations. Henry, who was living in the United States, obtained the first license for US-China trade after immense efforts, and founded China Books, the only general agent for Chinese books in the US. To promote Chinese books, Henry traveled all over the US using a $99 Greyhound bus ticket. His bookstore was the only one in the US where the government and the public could buy Chinese books unrestricted, a unique bookstore founded in a particular era. It is also the only bookstore established by an American during the Cold War to import Chinese books. Henry obtained the first license for China-US trade, two years ahead of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between China and the United States.
The Pentagon ordered books from them, and Henry also set a record by selling one million copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong in the US. Because of this bookstore, “China Books” had its funds frozen by the bank, and payment for goods was not received until the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US. However, Henry said, “I am very pleased that China Books played an important role during the China-US trade blockade.”
Wei Deng
Phone: 650.680.6791
Email: peopledailywest@gmail.com
Source: People's Daily Online West USA
