Shortly after its establishment at Columbia University in October 1978, the Center launched its program with two inaugural delegations to China that were dubbed the first American arts delegations since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949. The first, in February 1979, was led by Schuyler Chapin, Dean of the School of the Arts of Columbia University together with Center Director Professor Chou Wen-chung and included prominent figures of the film world. The group carried gifts of films, publications and other materials unavailable in China at the time.
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Ernest Kinoy and Barbara Powers Kinoy -
(left to right) Wang Danfeng, Jayne Meadows, Qin Yi and Steve Allen
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Schuyler Chapin and Steve Allen visit the Shanghai Film Studio
Delegates
- Tom Ackerman, cinematographer
- Stephen (Steve) V. Allen, entertainer, writer and composer; television personality
- Jayne Meadows-Allen, spouse of Stephen V. Allen; stage, film, and television actress; research writer and lecturer
- Peter Bonerz, actor
- Rosalind DiTrapani, spouse of Peter Bonerz
- Schuyler Chapin, Dean, Columbia University, School of the Arts; tour leader
- Chou Wen-chung, Director, Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange; Vice Dean, School of the Arts, Columbia University
- James Scott Cranna, writer and actor; theater improvisation teacher
- James Devaney, television and film producer
- Susan Devaney, spouse of James Devaney; publicist
- Cheryl Downey, television and film director; production manager
- William Friedkin, director
- Ernest Kinoy, screenwriter (“Roots,” “The Defenders”); television writer
- Barbara Powers Kinoy, spouse of Ernest Kinoy, psychotherapist
- Jeannie Meyers, casting director
- Morning Pastorok, film sound mixer
- Mark Peterson, filmmaker; photographer
- Richard Russell, writer, TV Guide
- Peter L. Schmall, cinematographer
- Edward Schuman, film distributor; importer; academic filmmaker, producer, and executive
- Lila Everett Shanley, actress
- Stephen Sharf, producer and director
- Manya Starr, writer for film and TV
- Michael Welch, photographer
- Irvin S. Yeaworth, film producer and director (The Blob)
- Arthur Zilch, writer/ publicist, Signature Magazine; The Rising Sun