Ambassador Huntsman:  I hope so.  Anything to expand and broaden one’s understanding of Confucius would be a good thing.  I’ve tried to read and learn as much as I can over the years, and I’m sure that I would learn something new by watching it.  So I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Netease:  What impresses you most in Confucius’ thinking?

Ambassador Huntsman:  The sense of ethics and ethical conduct and morality and virtue that he taught, that was later translated in ways that impacted public service, which today needs ethics like never before, in every country of the world.  It was a code of conduct for public servants in China for hundreds of years after Confucius’ life – ethics and virtue and how you treat other people, and how you serve the public.  What was talked about over to thousand years ago is still very much the same today, and still very needed.

Netease:  Can you give us an example in Chinese?

Ambassador Huntsman:  In Chinese?

Netease:  Yes.

Ambassador Huntsman:  I probably like the aphorism that I use which I think is from Confucius, that I’ve used before, which is hu xian xuexi, hu xiang bangmang, gongtong jinbu, which is a reflection of the respect for shared values and the ability, in this case when I use it, it’s about two countries looking to each to learn from each other, to proceed together based upon their shared experiences and to chart the way forward based upon their shared interests and their shared goals.  It’s a very important commentary in just a few characters, a few words that captures so much of what I think is important in the U.S.-China relationship.

Netease:  When you decide to make adoption in 1999, were you so sure that the baby will be a Chinese girl?

Ambassador Huntsman:  We knew the baby was going to be a Chinese daughter, because we applied through the Chinese authorities at the adoption agency.  So we had lived here in Asia twice, we had thought about it for a very long time.  Mary Kaye can tell you her other stories in volunteering with an orphanage.  We decided it was something we wanted to do, specifically in China.

Netease:  Why?

Ambassador Huntsman:  Our life was very drawn to China for many, many years.  It was from a professional standpoint, from a cultural standpoint, from an interest standpoint, from a language standpoint, and because we’ve come into such meaningful and deep connection with the people of China and the greater China world, we thought it would be a good thing to bring a little part of China into our family.  Where we could help and raise a daughter in her circumstances.

Mrs. Huntsman:  The first encounter really was with an orphanage.  We never thought about it.  I actually was pregnant at the time with our third child and never had we thought about adoption.  At that point I was thinking that those that maybe can’t have children think of adoption, and it dawned on me, why can’t we also bring a little child into our family that needs a home? 

And it wasn’t until 12 years later.  The thought continued in our mind day after day.  But timing is everything.  Everyone we talked to that adopts will tell you that timing has much to do with it.  And our feeling was that Gracie was just meant to be in our family, and she wasn’t born then.  Those that have to wait a little longer, to wait for adoption, feel the same way once they hold that baby in their arms that timing has everything to do with it.

Netease:  How did you feel when you first saw Gracie?

Mrs. Huntsman:  I knew she was ours.  I knew the connection, so far away, that that was the one.  We had talked about it for about 12 years.  The most memorable night before we got her was when we went to dinner on May 19, 1999, with our daughter, Mary Anne.  The three of us were just sitting there, and out of the blue my husband said, “I’m warming up to the idea of a little girl from China.” It had taken him a little while to warm up because we were raising our own children.  At that point, we had five of our own.  So it took a little while to really feel it was the right time.    

He said that night, “I’m warming up to a little girl from China.”  Then he said, “What should we name her?”  I can’t believe, I’d been saying for 12 year we’ve got to do this, and he said what about Gracie Mei.  Then he didn’t talk about it for another while, and of course I got home and got on the Internet and started looking at every which way of how you adopt a baby.  I didn’t know where to begin.  I found the Children Center for Adoption Affairs in Beijing and found it through an adoptions agency in the States. 

We went through the whole process, and to make a long story short, when we finally got the call that our baby was found, I said, “when was she born?” And the answer was May 19, 1999.  So for us, I knew in my heart that that was her.

Netease:  As we know, adopting a child in China means a series of complicated procedures, but your adoption of Gracie Mei seemed to have gone quite quickly.  So did your identity as the high ranked U.S. official contribute to your success?

Ambassador Huntsman:  Well, I wasn’t a high ranking official at the time.  I don’t think I was anything at all.  And most of the adoptions at that time were going through rather quickly.  Six months, eight months, ten months.  And it had a lot to do with the ebbing and flowing of U.S.-China relations.  When there were problems in the relationship, then it took a lot longer.  If things were hen shunli de – were smooth – then it went very quickly.  And we just happened to get involved when the process went quickly.

When we adopted from India, I was governor, a very high-ranking official, and it took a very long time, with more paperwork than we’d imagined.  So, I think we got lucky in terms of the timing of the adoption, because that window closed shortly after we got Gracie and the time necessary expanded greatly.  Today, it’s probably two years or so.

Netease:  We know that Gracie Mei was adopted soon after her birth, and she was brought up in America, and pretty much in an American way.  I saw from an interview with Mr. Huntsman that you told Gracie Mei that she was raised in America and coming back to China and she is a bridge between China and the United States.  In your definition, would you say that Gracie Mei’s more of an American or Chinese?

Ambassador Huntsman:  I think she’s a good combination of both, but I think she’s more Chinese than she is American, because that is her country of birth, and that is her ethnicity.  I think she will always carry that sense of being Chinese with her for her entire life.  It’s a good thing.  We’ve wanted to build that in Gracie, ever since we got her.  Even in the United States, we introduced her to Chinese culture, Chinese language, Chinese food, everything we could.  And we knew that there would be opportunities to bring her back here to Asia.

One of the truly exciting aspects of coming here to serve as Ambassador was the idea that we could watch Gracie develop in her country of birth in ways that we could not imagine.  And we have been so surprised and honored to see Gracie connect with the culture of her birth, the traditions of her birth, in ways that I never would have imagined.  She loves it here.  She feels so much a part of the landscape.  I think this has been a very important bonding experience for her, to come back to her home country in ways that have been so meaningful to her.  And being Ambassador is great, but watching Gracie Mei reconnecting with China and seeing in her eyes every day the new experience she gets to live has been most extraordinary.

Netease:  And that’s what you said in an interview, that you see China through the eyes of your daughter.

Ambassador Huntsman:  Every day, I watch China through the eyes of my daughter.

Netease:  And what about Mrs. Huntsman?  How do you see China through the eyes of your daughter?

Mrs. Huntsman: Just the way she uses her chop sticks.  As we were saying she’s more Chinese than American.  Her mannerisms, every thing that she does, is very much from – nothing that we could have taught.  It’s just innately in here.  She is innately Chinese and we are very proud of that.  In her life, she has taught us so much.  And going to Yangzhou, to be able to watch her go back through her eyes, was an experience we will never forget.  To see her light up with joy.  She said it was the happiest day she ever had when she went back to the orphanage.

Netease:  Speaking of your trip to Yangzhou, we put the report of your family trip to Yangzhou on our web site, and it has received over a million page views.  That’s an enthusiastic response.  Was the trip part of your family plan or part of your diplomatic schedule, Mr. Huntsman?

Ambassador Huntsman:  I’d have to say that it was as much selfish on the part of the family as it was diplomatic planning, because we wanted so badly to go back with Gracie as close to the ten year anniversary as we could.  As it turned out, when we were in Yangzhou, it was almost exactly ten years to the week that we adopted her.  So it served a very important diplomatic purpose.  I had no idea I’d be going back with Mary Kaye as American representatives, but I knew that someday we’d go back with Gracie.  And I knew that when we went back, that it would be a very proud moment for her and for us, and a very emotional journey for all of us.  And it was probably the most emotional journey of my life to see her drive up to the orphanage lined with hundreds of people, her friends.  And to see the outpouring of emotion and love for somebody they didn’t know after six months of age.  But it solidified in my own mind the important connection emotionally that people have when they are adopted, and I didn’t understand that until we went through the adoption with Gracie.

It was a happy, happy moment personally for all of us and for our family, but I think it was also a happy moment between the United States and China diplomatically because relationships are driven by people.  Not by lifeless ideas.  They’re driven by people and personalities.  And politics and diplomacy are all about people.  And Gracie became part of the diplomatic area between the United States and China.  It became a story between the United States and China in ways that couldn’t help but promote understanding between both countries.  And the most important thing you can do as a diplomat is promote and enhance understanding, and my daughter did it more brilliantly than anyone else could have.

Netease:  Did you ever expect such a fervent media exposure at the orphanage?

Mrs. Huntsman:  No, not at all.  I don’t think Gracie did.  It was very overwhelming to her, but as Jon said, the outpouring of love that we felt.  And in the city of Yangzhou, driving through the city, to see the people lined up, this little girl that they’d written about before we got there -- there was a warmth and comfort that we felt going through those streets, as if Yangzhou was part of our lives, will always be part of our lives, and will definitely be very close to Gracie’s heart for the rest of her life.

There was just so much meaning.  You can hardly describe what we felt.  So much more love and emotion.  It was probably the most emotional journey that we’ve taken.

Ambassador Huntsman:  I felt like a Yangzhouer, I felt like I was from Yangzhou.  That’s how closely connected as a human being I felt to Yangzhou, and I think Mary Kaye felt the same way.  Just because we have a daughter from Yangzhou.  I felt perfectly comfortable there.  I felt like I could retire there.  We made good friends with the mayor and so many other people there.  It was just all very natural.

Mrs. Huntsman:  We felt it was part of our home.

Ambassador Huntsman:  Very much so.  And it helps that Yangzhou is just a beautiful city with beautiful people.

Netease:  Among the comments about the story of your trip to Yangzhou, some think that Gracie is an unfortunate girl because her parents abandoned her.  But also some said Gracie is a lucky girl because a wealthy American family adopted her.  What do you think of that?

Ambassador Huntsman:  We’re the lucky ones.  I don’t know that Gracie is the lucky one.  We’re the lucky ones because we’ve benefited enormously from Gracie’s goodness and the way that she has brought understanding into our own family in ways that we never could have realized.

But you also have to know that she has a mother some place who made a very difficult decision.  It wasn’t easy.  Those decisions never are easy, I’m sure, and that decision was a very painful one.  We love the mother, wherever she might be.  She made it for reasons that we’ll never understand.  And Gracie, as we always tell her, should always keep in her heart a special love for her natural mother.  Because she gave her birth and she did make that very, very difficult decision to leave her behind, which was based on circumstances and based on a reality that we don’t understand.  We’ve told Gracie that she needs to put it in the proper perspective, too, and I think she has.

Netease:  Have you ever tried to contact the natural mother?

Ambassador Huntsman:  No.

Mrs. Huntsman:  It was very much in Gracie’s mind when we were going through the streets of Yangzhou, I would watch her looking out the window of the bus that we were in and I wondered what she was feeling.  At one moment she made a comment about her name and how it may not have been that name before and how would someone know what her name was today.  And it made me realize the deep thoughts that she has.  We have tried to talk to her since she was a little girl about the love that this mother had for her, and it was probably, as Jon said, the most painful thing that she had to go through.  A mother is a mother no matter where they are around the world, and the love that you feel as a mother is real and never goes away.  So that stays very, very deep within our hearts.  It’s something that we’ve never look at it as ending and so we are the lucky ones that ended up having Gracie and we think of this sweet mother every day.

Netease:  I heard that you were studying Chinese culture and Confucianism for quite some time, and you seem very fascinated with  Chinese culture.  In your past experience, either as Ambassador to China or in your past experience, what is the most challenging aspect in the Chinese culture that may create impediment to the mutual understanding of the two countries, in your past experience?

Ambassador Huntsman:  A couple of things come to mind.  One is the sheer length and complexity of Chinese history, which has produced Chinese culture.  You don’t have culture without history.  And you compare that to American history, which is a small fraction of the time.  It’s about the length of a medium-sized dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, 300 years or so.  The United States is not yet 300 years old.  Yet Chinese civilization and culture, history, go back at least 5,000 years.

So for Americans, processing the enormous complexity that makes up the Chinese experience, civilization, political system, local government, federal government, land and territories -- it’s very complicated for most outside observers.

The second aspect is that China’s culture thinks in very long increments.  Very long increments.  That’s very hard for most American minds to grasp.  We’re short term, and sometimes impetuously so.  We have quarterly earnings in the business world where every quarter, four times a year, you know exactly where you stand in terms of the performance of your firm.  And to some extent politics is a little bit that way in America.  Instant results.  And with the Internet and with Facebook and with Twitter, even more so.  Every young person wants instant results and instant gratification.

That’s hard to sometimes fit into the Chinese model, which is so different.  It’s methodical.  It’s long term.  It’s built incrementally, piece by piece.  Decisions are made that perhaps won’t affect people for many many years to come.  And so just the very culture of decision-making is different, when you look at how and why decisions are made in the West and why decisions are made in China.  And so explaining those differences and working within those very different systems is sometimes rather challenging.

Netease:  In another interview about the Sino-U.S. relationship, you mentioned that today the situation is different because today we approach the negotiation table with mutual respect.  In my understanding, mutual respect is based on mutual understanding.  Is there something that Chinese people need to know about America?  Either habits, tradition, or it could be anything.  And what would that be?  If there is something we have to know about?

Ambassador Huntsman:  Americans are a very compassionate, pragmatic people.  Very caring about of others.  Most Americans would, as they say in America, give their shirt to you if you had nothing.  Americans also tend to wear their emotions on their sleeve, as they say in America.  They’re proud of their traditions, they’re proud of their culture, they’re proud of where they come from, they like to talk about it.  They like to debate the pros and cons of the American system.  Sometimes that’s misinterpreted.  Sometimes that’s seen as arrogance.  Sometimes it’s seen as self assurance.  Sometimes it’s seen as a little bit egotistical or ethno-egocentric, where it isn’t meant to be that way at all.  Americans are proud of their experience, proud of their traditions, just like they are in China.  We have different ways of communicating about it.

So I think it’s important for people in China to understand the differences between our cultures, why in America people do the things they do.  Why they talk about issues the way they do.  And it’s so important in the United States for our young people to understand the values and the cultures and the traditions that are in China.  And I have no doubt that over time there will be much bigger harmony across the Pacific Ocean between both countries, because we’re learning more Chinese language in America.  Our young people are.  They have so many more opportunities to travel to China, to instantly pull up information about China over the Internet.  And here in China, the same.  There’s more and more access to the rest of the world.  There are 350 million Internet users, tens of millions of bloggers, and it increases with every passing month.  You can’t stop that.

So the sheer flow of information, I think, is going to facilitate greater goodwill and better understanding between both sides.

Netease:  You mentioned misconceptions or misinterpretations in American culture as understood about Chinese, and I also think that many expect that China’s culture is misinterpreted by Americans.  So at the same time, what do you think is the most crucial aspect in China’s culture that has to be understood by Americans, which is not quite understood currently?

Ambassador Huntsman:  There are many.

Netease:  Can you give me some examples?

Ambassador Huntsman:  I would say the one area of difference, for example, one prominent area of difference is an area of human rights, which is where in China you see human rights as something quite different than we see it in the United States.  Your traditions are, again, born out of Confucian experience, the civilization, the community, and talent as being of paramount importance.

We on the other side of the Pacific have more of a Jeffersonian tradition.  Thomas Jefferson framed some of our founding thoughts as a country, which is very much individual rights, human rights, the right for the individual to speak out and to express him or herself, which we do regularly in the United States.  This is one area where there’s a misunderstanding and where we debate all the time -- Jeffersonian individual freedoms versus a Confucian world view and what is best for the collective or the whole -- one area that I think is very important for both sides to better understand.

We’re always debating that one is better than the other.  The fact of the matter is, I don’t think there’s enough understanding on either side about what the other country represents.  We just come from different traditions.

Netease:  People say that the President chose you to be the Ambassador to China because you understand Chinese culture better than anyone else in the government.   So what is the most important information the President wanted you to share or wanted to know from you.

Ambassador Huntsman:  I’m not sure that was in the decision at all.  I’m just pleased and honored to be here.  I loved being governor.  The best job in the world is being governor of a state.  This is the best job in diplomacy, no question about it.  So we’re very, very lucky that we’ve had a couple of the best jobs, most exciting jobs in the whole world.

The President is a very astute man.  He is a very culturally-sensitive man.  He’s lived in Indonesia.  He was raised in Hawaii.  He has connections to the Pacific.  He’s the first real Pacific President, as he described while he was here.  He doesn’t need me to coach him on cultural sensitivities.  I think he understands that very, very well.  But he understands the relationship and the long-term nature of the relationship well enough to know that you must plant seeds early on.  They might not yield immediate returns, but they will yield returns over time.  We must be patient.  That’s a very important aspect of the relationship.  You can’t expect quarterly results like we do in the United States with the New York Stock Exchange.

So when he set out to create this relationship, he said, “I want a relationship that is positive, that is comprehensive, that is collaborative.  One that focuses not just on the bilateral issues.”  We’ve had those for 30 years, and we’ll have those for 30 more years.  But now more on the global issues, because there are only two countries in the world that can have an overall impact on the environment, regional security and stability, the global economy, and they’re the United States and China.  If we approach the relationship in a steady fashion that’s based on trust, understanding that we’re in it for the long term -- which is very much a Chinese principle -- and if it’s based on a positive outlook, comprehensive in the issues that we try to cover, and collaborative, it will be successful over time.

I think we’ve received a lot of good input from people who understand China, who understand the reality of the bilateral relationship, and the President gets the importance of it all.  So he laid it out a year ago, and now we’re beginning 2010.

I would argue that 2010 could very well be the most important year in the history of the U.S.-China relationship, because so much is at stake and so many of the global issues that impact every corner of the world will really be dependent upon the U.S. and China to problem solve around them successfully.

Netease:  During the President’s visit to China what kind of advice did you offer him, in terms of cultural differences?

Ambassador Huntsman:  He didn’t need my advice.  He reads his briefing books, he reads literature, he consults with a lot of experts.  The only thing he tried to do was to steal my hot sauce at lunch.  [Laughter].  But he has a very good understanding of this relationship, and I think he appropriately framed the relationship early on in his presidency in ways that will serve the United States and China and the people of this world very well over time.

We’ll hit some bumps in the road, and I think he understands that.  Early this year, over the next several months, we could experience some bumps.  It’s not that we have bumps, every relationship has bumps.  [Turning to his wife.]  We’ve even had some.  [Laughter].  We’ve never had major bumps.  We don’t always agree on everything, but you’re going to have bumps in the relationship.  That’s not what is important.  What is important is how you respond to and then recover from those bumps in the relationship.  Do they make you stronger?  Do they make you understand each other better and more profoundly?  Or do they separate you?  I think given the one year in office so far and the very good and solid and trustworthy relationships that have been created, we’ll have bumps, we’ll have ups and downs, and the newspapers will talk about the differences, but we’ll get through the year and we’ll stay focused on the big issues that really do matter.  And the world will benefit from the U.S.-China relationship longer term.

Netease:  You just mentioned the media coverage of President Obama’s visit in China.  I heard that you were quoted in an interview saying that, “I’ve got to say, some of the reporting I saw afterwards was off the mark.”  Can you say a word about it?  Do you after all think Obama’s visit was successful and productive?

Ambassador Huntsman:  Oh, I think by any measure you would have to say that it was a successful visit, because of the way it framed the relationship and set out the priorities that we are now working on.

Look at North Korea.  We’re making progress.  Look at Iran.  It’s a very difficult, very sensitive issue that impinges upon the stability and well being of the entire Middle East.  We’re working together like never before.  Look at climate change.  I just spent this morning with the Minster who is overseeing all climate negotiations here in China.  It’s very complex, very difficult.  It looks like nothing goes right, but the fact of the matter is we’re making progress.  These are not easy issues.  You can’t wave a magic wand and expect things to just resolve themselves.  We’re working together on trade and finance in ways that we probably never have before.  We have a $400 billion relationship, the largest in the world very soon.  Now second largest, but it will be the largest in the world.

So the President framed those issues, set the priorities, and now we’re working on the priorities.

There are two things about what you brought up.  I did mention that some of the reporting covered issues that said things that were not quite accurate.  That issues were not raised in particular meetings when in fact they were raised.  And it was a shame that all reporters can’t be in the meetings.  Maybe they should be open to all reporters.  But I’ve also been asked about how I feel about the critical coverage of the visit.  I say that it’s perfectly fine.  Journalists criticize; that’s what a free press is all about.  And I am never going to say anything negative about a newspaper or a radio station or a television station or a blogger who wants to write negative commentary.  That’s freedom.  That’s freedom to express.  We totally accept that.  You might even learn something from the criticism, too.  You might learn something in the next go-around.

So my comments were never about the tone and tenor of the coverage.  That’s left up to the free market of journalism.  My only comments were about wholesale statements that were made about things that were not discussed when in fact they were discussed with some clarity.

Netease:  The New York Times columnist [Paul Cumen] wrote in his article and suggested that protectionism might be a good way to protect U.S. job opportunities.  What do you think of his suggestions?

Ambassador Huntsman:  As a former trade negotiator and as a former governor, I’ve always felt that openness is the best cure for economies that are experiencing challenging times.  Openness is always the best cure.  That’s never an easy thing to do because the tendency will always be to close when we should open and expand -- expand opportunity, expand education, expand financing.  This will be important for the United States and China in the months ahead.  When the tendency is to close up, we must do the opposite.  We must open.

Over time I think we will see that that is the best course of action, that we remain committed to open markets, that we remain committed to freedom, the free flow of goods and the free flow of capital and the free flow of people.  I think we always benefit in the long term as a result of that.

We’ve seen open markets over the last 100 years since really the end of, let’s go right back to the end of World War I and look at the economic buildup globally since the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, almost 100 years ago.  If you just look at the economic indicators over the last 100 years and how some countries have risen so very, very quickly.  China’s probably the greatest example in recent history of a country that has pulled more people out of poverty as it has transitioned into a global environment, a more open environment.  And many countries over the last 100 years have benefited from openness as opposed to closing down.

So we can only hope that that will serve the world well in the future as well.

Netease:  Thank you very much.

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you.

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