AMERICAN STUDIES Spring 1996, Vol. 10, No. 1 ARTICLES THE U.S. MOVEMENT OF CONSERVATISM IN THE EARLY POSTWAR PERIOD Zhong Wenfan(7) The trend of conservative thought prevailing in the United States today can be traced back theoretically to the movement of conservatism in the 1940s and 1950s. The movement was composed of two schools, namely classical liberalism (liberianism) and new conservatism (traditionalism). They had turned up independently at different times and had different viewpoints, but they shared one point in common: not only stressing traditional spirit and perfect social order but also demanding personal economic and political freedom. Their questioning the validity of the outlooks on democracy and equality of modern liberalism set off by contrast the theoretical dilemma of modern liberalism. BACK TO THE FUTURE： THE IMPACT OF CONSERVATISM ON U.S. FOREIGN POLICY Cai Jiahe (36) The 1994 midterm election of the Congress might be a significant event in the U.S. political history of this century. It marked the regaining of the longlost mainstream position by conservatism thanks to the public's strong discontent and eagerness for change. The prevalence of the conservative thought reflected a deep crisis facing liberalism. Confronting the postCold War complicated and changeful situation, U.S. liberalist forces would make dynamic changes, while conservative forces preferred to rely on experience and tradition as the reliable basis for reaction. Compared with liberalism, the policy of conservatism had greater immanent consistency. It would exert farreaching but limited influence on U.S. foreign policy. THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION AND CHINA Zi Zhongyun (58) From its founding until its withdrawal from the Chinese mainland, the Rockerfeller Foundation kept on concerning itself with and investing in Chinese medical and cultural undertakings with perseverance and left its traces in nearly all the important fields it worked in. It should be affirmed that the Foundation played an active role in the first half of the 20th century when China was heading painstakingly towards modernization. Its pioneering work in China was motivated by the idealism and the Westcentered world outlook that dominated the American elite of that time. The undertaking it fostered and the "science and rationalism" it advocated on the whole adapted to the trend of social progress in China. However, its argument of a world centered on America and its strong sense of superiority were incompatible with the Chinese people's rising national consciousness. U.S. FEDERAL DEFICITS AND BONDS Zhang Xin (90) The rapid expansion of U.S. federal deficits and corresponding bonds have been in the focus of world attention for twenty years. Deficits lead to bonds and bonds raise deficits in turn. All the U.S. administrations since Jimmy Carter's regarded deficit cut as their own duty. Nevertheless, they all failed except President Bill Clinton, becuase deficit cut can only be realized on the prerequisite of its being conducive to economic growth. Drawing lessons from his predecessors, Clinton has adopted a whole set of policies aiming at deficit cut and promoting ecnomy and has thereby gained relative success therein. BETWEEN MARY AND EVE: AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS AND THEIR HEROINES IN THE MIDNINETEENTH CENTURY Jin Lin(105) This study focuses on five midnineteenthcentury American women writers and their fiction. The exploration of the largely forgotten literary figures and texts represents a new approach to stereotyped images of women writers and their heroines. This study contends that the image of women in those novels moves along a metaphoric spectrum. At the one extreme lies Mary, the woman with traditional values; at the other, Eve, the woman with independent will and rebellious aspiration. The heroines of these novels are often a mixture of the two ideal types. Significantly, the life and experience of their creators, the women writers, can also be placed upon such a spectrum. The author holds that this duality of the women writers and their heroines made them extremely popular in their own times and contributes to the sexual equality in American society. ACADEMIC NOTES ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME — A FOREWORD TO STRUGGLE BETWEEN TWO WAYS IN THE EARLY STAGE OF MODERNIZATION Luo Rongqu(123) CULTURAL MISUNDERSTANDING IN CHINESE STUDIES OF AMEIRCAN HISTORY Li Jianming(127) AMERICAN DREAM， FOREIGN COMPATRIOTS AND “TRUE AMEIRCA” — COMMENTS ON RECENT LITERARY NOTES BY CHINESE STUDENTS IN AMERICA Gao Jian(139) ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES A WORKSHOP ON THE US ROLE IN CHINA’S MODERNIZATION Tao Wenzhao(147) NEW BOOKS(153) EDITOR’S NOTE(160)