In the mid-1980s, Henry Kissinger approached I. M. Pei with an idea to bring prominent Chinese Americans together to help resolve issues in United States-China relations. Pei, who died in New York in 2019 at age 102, has been one of the most prolific architects of our time. He designed landmark buildings throughout the world, including the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris, and the Bank of China in Hong Kong. He was born in Guangzhou, China, came to the U.S. at age 17, and studied architecture at MIT and Harvard.

Kissinger’s idea resonated with Pei in 1989 when the People’s Liberation Army killed hundreds of students during peaceful protests in Beijing. Pei wrote in the New York Times: “More than anything we wanted to combine our love of the nation that had become our own with our desire to do something for the land of our birth and heritage. We wanted to believe that a more open and modern China was possible. Today, these dreams are dashed by the horrible events at Tiananmen Square.”