Long live James Lilley, one of the great “Old China Hands” of our times. There aren’t many left with his combination of insight and experience. I was fortunate enough to meet the old man in Cleveland, Ohio, where after a well-received speech at the Cleveland Press Club, he happily spent almost an hour talking with me and a big group of Hiram College students I brought in tow. He was a gem of a man.
Lilley’s obituary in the Washington Post hardly does him justice, but his memoirs get close.
Adam,
I actually got his autograph, when he was the US ambassador to China. But the more I learned about the man the more I grew to dislike him. He was truly a great spymaster though.