AMERICAN STUDIES Fall 1998，Vol. 12, No. 3 ARTICLES THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR TEST BAN Wu Zhan (7) The superpowers did not consent to a comprehensive nuclear test ban before the d isintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 which ended the nuclear arms race. The United States, the only remaining superpower, began to push for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, because without international constraint more countries might want to join the nuclear club and threaten U.S. supremacy. Despite its unfairnes s in preventing nuclear testing only when superpowers had enough of it, the tre a ty was finally opened for signature in the United Nations because most countries wanted to stop nuclear proliferation. India and Pakistan refused to sign it, ho wever, and conducted nuclear tests successively in May 1998. This created a diff icult problem for the treaty. U.S. FOREIGN TRADE POLICY IN THE CHANGING WORLD ECONOMYSheng Bing (30) U.S. foreign trade policy plays a decisive role in multilateral global and regio nal trade relations, with the new mercantile principle of reciprocity in trade a s its foundation. Since world War II, and since the early nineties in particular , the fast changing world economy and the struggles for power between the two pa rties and among interest groups in the United States have been influencing U.S. foreign trade policy. Relying mainly on multilateralism with regionalism and uni lateralism on the subsidiary, the new multitrack trade system is a major correct ion to the sole and overly dependence on multilateralism in American history. As the U.S. power status changes, the checks and balances among American interest g roups will play a more important role in the making of foreign trade policy. POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE AND POSTCOLONIALIST CRITICISMSheng Ning (50) The emergence of postcolonial literature and post colonialist criticism in the western academic institution has, to a great extent, changed the literary as wel l as the cultural map of the western world. However, there are limitations to th ose cultural critics. Moreover, the cultural reconstruction of the former coloni es has its own concerns different from those of their former metropolitan countr ies. For these two reasons, the essay argues that this postcolonial discourse, w ith both its literature and criticism, should not be mistaken for the voice of t he Third World. Nor should those postcolonial cultural critics be regarded as th e representatives of those former colonies where they came from. LOBBYING IN U.S. CONGRESS AND FOREIGN POLICY MAKINGXiong Zhiyong (71) Domestic and foreign interest groups are lobbying U.S. Congress, which plays an important role in foreign policy making. Being a very professionalized business, lobbying should follow appropriate procedures, adopt required skills, and obser ve relevant laws and regulations. Skillful lobbying helps a foreign country in minimizing its conflict with the United States and in mitigating international t ensions. AN ANALYSIS OF THE FUND-RAISING ENQUIRYSun Ru (91) The congressional investigation into political fundraising was a response to “ illegal”and “improper”activities of the Democratic National Committee in the 1996 presidential election campaign. The enquiry covered the contribution solici ting activities of the DNC, Vice President AL Gore and President Bill Clinton, a nd the infiltration of foreign funds into U.S. election. This move produced infl uences of varying degrees on the participation of Asian Americans in U.S. politi cal affairs, on Taiwanese and the alleged PRC lobbying activities in America, an d on fundraising reform in US election. THE IMPACT OF CALIFORNIAN PROPOSITION 209 ON HIGHER EDUCATIONLi Yingtao(109) The adoption of the proposition 209 in California denied the affirmative action for ethnic minorities and women in public organizations and programs. The propos itions entry into force caused a marked drop of the ethnic minority freshmen a nd registered woman students were also on the decrease. The results of the enfor cement show that the discrimination against ethnic minorities and women continue s to exist, and that appropriate affirmative action to provide equal opportunit y for these groups is still indispensable. BOOK REVIEWS SOME THOUGHTS ON A PATHBREADKING WORK：MERITS AND DEMERITS OF THE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN TERMSLi Shidong(129) NEW POINTS OF VIEW SUMMARIZED FROM HISTORY：COMMENTS ON THE RADICALISM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BY GORDON S. WOODZhou Qi (135) ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES A SUMMARY OF THE SYMPOSIUM ON “THE HISTORY OF SINOAMERICAN CULTURAL RELATIONS”Yang Jinxin(142) CAUSES AND IMPACTS OF THE ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS AND CHINAS COUNTERMEASURES：A SUMMARY OF THE SYMPOSIUM ENTITLED“ASIAS FINANCIAL CRISIS：VIEWS FROM CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES”Wang Yong(147) A SYMPOSIUM IN THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CHINESE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN ECONOMY”Wang Rongjun(152) NEW BOOKS(156) EDITORS NOTE(160)