The Michel Oksenberg papers (1976-2000) document Oksenberg's visits Zouping County, Shandong Province, China, where he interviewed a number of local political leaders on topics such as the economy and industry, education, and the justice system. The papers consist of research notes and interviews with PRC and US officials, as well as photographs, negatives, and slides related to these visits from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Michel Oksenberg (1938-2001) was a leading political scientist and China expert. He earned his B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1960, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1963 and 1969 respectively. He began his career at Stanford University in 1966, moved to Columbia University in 1968, and then to the University of Michigan in 1973, where he was on the faculty for twenty years. He served as president of the East-West Center in Honolulu from 1992 to 1995, and then as senior fellow at the Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford until the time of his death. From 1977 to 1980, Oksenberg served as a senior staff member on the National Security Council under the Carter administration, overseeing issues involving China and East Asia. After an initial but less successful trip to Beijing in 1977 with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Oksenberg traveled with National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to Beijing in May 1978, where they met with Leonard Woodcock, the head of the U.S. liaison office there, to lay the groundwork for establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries. He played a crucial role in the finalization of U.S.-China normalization of bilateral relationship.

17 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder (10 Linear Feet)

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