President’s Book of Choice Is a Novel about China.docVIP

President’s Book of Choice Is a Novel about China 　　THE U.S. President Donald Trump has always allowed special media access to his private office at the White House. Recently， one of the items noted on his desk was an English-language edition of Beautiful Country. The novel， published in 2013， is set in China and tells the story of a 14-year-old American boy who comes to China as part of a tennis training exchange program. There he meets a group of Chinese boys and develops wonderful friendships. Chase came to Beijing to study Chinese and train with the Beijing Junior National Tennis Team. Under the wing of his father’s Chinese friend Victoria， he went to Chinese classes in the mornings and tennis practice every afternoon. On public holidays he looked around the Forbidden City， went to Tianjin to eat steamed buns， visited Panjiayuan antiques market， and hung out at artists’studios in the 798 art district. In the tennis squad he formed a special friendship with an exceptionally talented Chinese boy called Bowen. Chase realized that Bowen had grown up amid a clash of new and old Chinese values， in an environment where innovation was constrained by convention. All these inhibited Bowen’s development as a professional tennis player. In the one year that he was there， Chase gained maturity； he learned much about friendship and Chinese culture， but also the meaning of courage， sympathy， and responsibility. The author， J.R. Thornton， is the son of John Thornton， the former president of Goldman Sachs. When he was 14， at the suggestion of his “China watcher” father， J.R. Thornton studied in China for a year to learn Chinese and practice his tennis. After he returned to America， he always remembered his experiences in China， and seven years later he decided to write a book about his time there. Thornton said that he was writing from the viewpoint of an American teenager， observing the rapid change of a fast-developing China. He wanted to capture the dreams of y