Playing the China Card: Nixon and Mao

Scope and Content

Material relating to the documentary film series Playing the China Card: Nixon and Mao , 1999, concerning the relationship between the USA and China since the end of World War Two, made by Brook Lapping Productions Ltd and broadcast on Channel 4 as two programmes in 1999, including interview transcripts with US, Chinese and Russian contributors, notably William Frank Buckley, General Alexander Meigs Haig, Henry Alfred Kissinger, James Addison Baker III, General Brent Scowcroft, Anatoly Fedorovich Dobrynin, Fang Lizhi and Ji Chaozhu; complete post-production scripts of the two programmes; a file of questions put to participants for filmed interviews; transcripts from sections of David Frost's interview with President Richard Nixon (1977), relating to US relations with China; books, articles, essays and pamphlets used as background material for the series; background documents, including transcripts of US government archive material, mainly relating to the Nixon administration, and pre-publication extracts from The Kissinger Transcripts (National Security Archives, 1999) by William Burr.

Administrative / Biographical History

Playing the China Card was made in 1999 by Brook Lapping Productions Ltd in conjunction with Channel 4 and PBS.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in sections as outlined in the Scope and Content.

Access Information

Open.

Acquisition Information

Given by Brooke Lapping Productions Ltd in 1999.

Other Finding Aids

Box list available.

Archivist's Note

Sources: British Library of Political and Economic Science Archives catalogue. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright retained by donor.

Related Material

The British Library of Political and Economic Science holds material relating to other programmes created by Brian Lapping Associates, namely The Second Russian Revolution (Ref: 2RR), The Washington Version (Ref: Washington), The Seventies , and Woolly Al walks the Kitty Back (Ref: Falklands), and by Brook Associates, namely The Last Europeans (Ref: Last Europeans) and The Thatcher Factor . The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London, also holds material relating to documentaries made by Brian Lapping Associates, namely Woolly Al walks the kitty back , The Washington version , The fall of the wall , The Death of Yugoslavia , and The 50 Years' War: Israel and the Arabs .

Location of Originals

The originals of the archive material may be found at the US National Archives in Maryland, the Library of Congress, and the National Security Archives, both in Washington DC.