CRI听力:My Love for China: American Community Party Member Sidney Rittenberg

When Sidney Ritterberg began to study Chinese, he didn't realize his entire life would be entangled with the country.

"I volunteered for the Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I was picked out to be trained in Japanese because I did well on a language test that they gave. But I didn't want to be in military government and mainly I wanted to go home right after the war. I thought, “China is an ally, if I study Chinese, I'll come back right after the war."

Sidney was born into a Jewish family in 1921 in South Carolina of the United States. In September 1945, 24-year-old Sidney Rittenberg arrived in southwest China's Kunming, the city held the rearguard of the Kuomintang Army in the War against Japanese Aggression. Because of his proficiency in Chinese, Sidney was appointed to the US Army's Compensation Department.

Later, a tiny thing changed his life path. A drunk American soldier accidentally killed a Chinese girl while driving through a small Hutong, and she was the only child of that family. When Sidney was trying to help the family apply for compensation, he was told they could only get 14 dollars because the dead child had no income. But what impressed him most was the father's submissive attitude.

"It just struck me here's a man who thinks that society has a right to oppress him and keep him down and rob him. He doesn't think he has any rights whatsoever. That impressed me very deeply with how wrong this whole society was at the time. "

Sidney decided to stay in China to help people who had no power at all. He became an official of the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and stayed in China. At the same time, he became increasingly interested in the idealistic Communist Party of China.

In 1945, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out. The situation became increasingly tense in May 1946, when Sidney was ordered to distribute relief food in the Plains liberated area of central China's Hubei Province.

Later a three-man military truce team was held between the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and the American who carried "the peaceful mediation". Just after the team arrived, Sidney met the American representative, General Byroid in the bathroom, where he accidentally discovered the Kuomintang's secret plan to wipe out the Communist Party members.

Sidney leaked the information to the commander of the Central Plains military district, Li Xiannian, which help Li's 16,000-man force successfully break through the Kuomintang's 300,000-man army of encirclement and annihilation, later known as the "Central Plains Breakthrough" in Chinese history.

CPC history researcher He Guangyao is the Co-author of Biography of Li Xiannian.

"The Central Plains Breakthrough is a significant event in Chinese history. It was also a turning point for the history of Chinese revolution. From that day on June 26th, 1946, China entered a phase of nationwide liberation.

Sidney says he had made the right decision.

"My heart is with (the) people, always has been, always will be. These are people, good people who are being wronged, being threatened. I don't care what nationality. If it's wrong, I'm going to do my best to fight it."

Through Li Xiannian's introduction, Sidney officially joined the Communist Party of China by the end of that year. As a CPC member with a foreign nationality and a frequent visitor to Zhong Nan Hai, he became a central figure in the social network between Chinese top leadership and foreigners in Beijing. He was even wrongly jailed twice, but his love for China never faded.

"My heart is red. If you cut me open, you’ll find it's red. That's the truth."

In 1979, China and the US established diplomatic relations. The same year, Sidney, together with his Chinese wife, came to the US to visit his family which he hadn't seen for more than 30 years. It was at this moment that Sidney made another important decision for his life.

Wang Yulin is Sidney's wife.

"The premier wanted him to promote Sino-US friendship. China is now developing at a rapid speed. There are a number of quality English experts in China, so Sidney's function in China is very limited. However, at that time, the US's understanding of China remained very poor. They thought of prevalent hunger when they thought of China. Therefore, we decided we'd better say in the US to promote Sino-US friendship.

During the 1980s, China began to reform and open up. Its economy started to develop rapidly. Sidney established a consultancy company on China-US trade issues, which has successfully helped big companies such as Microsoft, Intel and Polaroid develop their business in China. Sidney Rittenberg's popularity immediately soared.

And his contribution to bilateral ties didn't stop there. He forged a deep friendship with renowned journalist Mike Wallace in 1980s, and it was during this time that Sidney facilitated the 1986 interview with Deng Xiaoping. It was the first and only interview of Deng by western TV media.

During the interview, the renowned diplomat improved how the world viewed China overnight, stirring up a Deng Xiaoping fever in the West.

As a guest professor at Pacific Lutheran University for over 20 years, He always encourages his students to analyze the history of the Chinese Civil War. The old man never stopped his steps to promote the mutual-understanding between the two countries.

Loren Anderson is the President of Pacific Lutheran University.

"Sidney has lived a life of high purpose. And that I think he's always understood his work in the context of trying to serve others and to improve the world in which he has landed. And I think in these senior years where he's working as a business consultant and as a professor, in both of those roles, he understands that his mission is to encourage the people of China and the people of the United States to understand one another better."

Sidney says he has lived his life without any regrets.

"I think, you know, I went with a kind of philosophy but China made it real. China made it practical and real, I think. I really learned a different outlook, a different outlook on life in China. So when people ask me, 'Are you American or Chinese?' I say, 'I'm American but I'm Chinese American.' "

For Studio+, I'm Li Ningjing.