30 Years of Sino-US Relations, a major photo album compiled by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China and jointly published by Xiyuan Publishing House and China Intercontinental Press, is just off the press in both Chinese and English versions.

The album presents 109 news photographs in an exquisite display that chronicles significant historical moments in the course of the development of the Sino-US relationship. The photos include wonderful scenes of unofficial exchanges between the two countries over the past 30 years in an album valuable for its documentation of both history and politics.

30 Years of Sino-US Relations is divided into four chapters: Breaking the Ice, Formal Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, Moving Forward and Appendices. Presented in chronological order, each of the photographs is accompanied by a detailed explanation. From 1970 when the late Chairman Mao Zedong met with American writer Edgar Snow on the Tian'anmen rostrum to 2001 when President Jiang Zemin greeted US President George W. Bush at the Shanghai Scientific and Technological Hall, history comes alive before readers' eyes. In addition, the compilers ingeniously added to the book's enhancement by appending the full text of the three joint communiquis between China and the United States as further documentation of the bilateral relations.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Shanghai Communique. Statesmen and ordinary people from both China and the United States have left their footprints on the road of the 30 years' normalized Sino-US relationship. Today, US President George W. Bush will arrive in Beijing for a two-day visit. The trip marks as the American ambassador to China has commented yet "another milestone" in the development of Sino-US relations.

(china.org.cn February 20, 2002)