Doak Barnett, one of America’s leading China experts, was a devoted teacher and firm believer in the importance of productive Sino-American relations. Following his fellowship in China from 1947 to 1952, Doak served as a public affairs officer at the American Consulate in Hong Kong and then as an associate for the American Universities Field Staff until 1955. He went on to teach and consult at the State Department Foreign Service Institute, Syracuse University, the National Planning Association and Ford Foundation before becoming a professor of political science at Columbia University in 1961. In 1966, he was the principal witness in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee review of China policy, which is credited with influencing Presidents Nixon and Johnson to work toward opening relations with China. Doak then spent 13 years as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, after which he became professor of Chinese Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author or editor of more than 20 books, including China’s Far West: Four Decades of Change (1994).