The "Harvey the Rabbit of Media"

By Manling, China Plus Host

Harvey Dzodin is often found sporting a broad smile and an outrageously loud jacket. He strides slowly, but thinks quickly. When I asked him how he came to settle down permanently in Beijing, he said with a sly smile that it was because he was still keen to pursue new and different things.

Harvey Dzodin, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, takes an interview from China Plus. [Photo: China Plus]

Born in Detroit and trained as a lawyer, Harvey served as the vice president of ABC TV in New York. His love affair with broadcasting stretches back to the days when he was a young boy with a shortwave radio. Having tuned in to Radio Peking all those years ago, he could still describe the sound of the opening tune of the station's news program, which was the era's classic red song "The East Is Red."

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Young Harvey Dzodin and his shortwave radio. [File photo provided to China Plus]

When Harvey came to China decades later in 1988, he arrived in a drab place. Most people only wore black, white, or blue. Buildings were in match-box shapes, rarely more than a handful of stories tall. Flying Pigeons were everywhere; not the bird but the iconic bicycle brand that was people;s primary form of transportation. Harvey said that foreigners had virtually no chance to interact with local people, and as if that wasn;t sequestered enough, they even had to use a different currency to purchase goods in separate stores.

Back then, ordinary people were considered well-off if they could afford their own TV sets. Skip ahead 30 years, and both Harvey and I are both amazed at how effortlessly people can now communicate and come together. During the interview, we agreed that technology seemed to have brought people closer together, but that it was also increasingly evident that people are limiting their communication primarily to people who share their own world view, and that this is perhaps just as true for countries as it is for individuals. "President Trump uses social media well, but not appropriately", said Harvey. This comment stuck with me, as it accords with my own belief that social media is a tool that, when used appropriately, can make a real difference in the world for better or for worse.

Serving as a Legal Counsel in President Jimmy Carter's Administration, Harvey saw a new thread of international relations being woven when China and the United States normalized their diplomatic relationship in 1979. I think he still had this thread in mind when he wrote an article during Obama's presidency called "This could be a Sino-American century." Despite his generally optimistic outlook on life, Harvey said he perhaps wouldn't choose to write an article like this one now given the circumstances of today. He's come to describe China and the United States as "frenemies."

There are people predicting that war between the two countries is unavoidable, and there are ample historical precedents to support that view. Harvey cites a Harvard professor who believes the chances are less than 50 percent, simply because since ancient Greece a rising nation challenging the established leader usually goes to war. This frighteningly high probability reflects Harvey's concern about the unstable mix of friendship and enmity between the two sides. Isn't it a universal truth that love and hate is a classical complex? It's also true that to love or to hate is a choice we make, and for China and the United States, it will take both ancient and modern wisdom to finally turn repulsion into attraction.

Whereas four decades ago, the wisdom of the leaders of the two countries led them to break through the diplomatic ice, the relationship is now only "a little better" and could conceivably be on the brink of changes. Both Harvey and I agreed that we should strive to work towards a future where the two countries are partners, instead of rivals.

Harvey Dzodin, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, takes an interview from China Plus. [Photo: China Plus]

Harvey is happily married to a Chinese woman who returned to her native country because of her husband's love of its robust vitality. He said that marriage has its ups and downs, and offered up interpersonal communication as one of the challenges. For two people to keep their love for each other fresh is by no means an easy task, and it's one that is all the more complicated when they come from different cultural backgrounds. But the enduring relationship between Harvey and his wife shows that it's not an unsurmountable task when there's willingness to bridge differences.

Another example Harvey gave about putting anticipation into action was his visit to northeast China's Harbin. He said he'd long known about the charm of this icy world, but it still took him 15 years to finally go and set foot on that frozen soil during winter. All he can recall now is not the excruciatingly freezing temperature, but the overwhelming beauty of the ice displays. He said he'd go there again in a heartbeat.

There is a Chinese saying, "At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right." When I asked Harvey what this meant to him, and what he wanted to keep doing throughout his 70s, he replied: "Keep breathing", to which I added "fresh air."