This book offers new insight into the love-hate relationship between the United States and China by examining the experience of Chinese students caught between the two countries. American-educated Chinese have considered themselves patriots because they studied in the west in order to return home to build a strong and prosperous China. However, when they returned they were often accused of being traitors who advocated Western ideals. The author focuses on several generations of Chinese students from 1872 to the present as she examines attempts to bridge the gap between East and West. The work includes seventeen biographical sketches that place the cultural and political trends of over a century within a more personal and accessible context. Through the students' experiences we are able to trace developments in China's modern history, China's ambivalence toward Western influence, U.S.-China relations, and the use of educational and cultural exchanges as a political device.