Origin Story

American writer and global leader in media research Bill Harvey has always been a student of philosophy, in which he received his degree. Eastern philosophy and psychology have been a special interest of his, and so he became, like Carl Jung, fascinated with the I Ching.

As a result of this fascination he bought and read a book published by Ballantine in the early 80s in which each day of the year was linked to one change line in the I Ching. When the calendar book failed to be published one year, Bill was disappointed and did some research to find the writers of the material.

Succeeding in connecting with Khigh Dhiegh, he was surprised to be invited to stop in Phoenix on his way to LA, in order to meet Khigh in person. Following his intuition he agreed and Khigh picked him up at the airport and drove him to the restaurant and Tao temple that he owned. Khigh showed him around the beautiful temple and restaurant, which was closed to the public that night so that Bill and Khigh could have it to themselves, with the kitchen staff and a few of the wait staff.

During the long and delicious dinner, they found out what made each other tick, and what they were looking to achieve with their lives. That turned out to be very similar, including bringing the USA and China closer together again, the way they had been in the 1930s and early 1940s. A key bit of their dialog went something like this:

“You say you’re interested in making movies and TV shows,” Khigh said, and Bill nodded, “would you be interested in making movies in China in collaboration with Chinese filmmakers?”

“Sure! And I hope you mean also with you and your I Ching writing partner Chao-li Chi?” and now Khigh nodded. “But do you have a specific concept in mind?” Bill asked, feeling the answer would be yes, and Khigh nodded again. Bill waited for Khigh to share the concept.

Khigh began with “There are about 10,000 graves in The Heroes’ Graveyard in Beijing. Only four of those buried there are non-Chinese. Three of those four were card-carrying Communists. Our true story is about the fourth one, an American, one that was and still is so beloved by China, that to this day, every schoolchild knows who that person was.”

“Who was that?”

“A war correspondent who went where no one else dared, author of books, photographer whose work appeared in LIFE Magazine, and humanitarian uplifter of the oppressed. A woman, named Agnes Smedley, a feminist who marched with Margaret Sanger.”

Some months later Bill and lead writer/researcher on the Agnes project Weston Gavin were together at the Heroes’ Graveyard reading the inscription.

What had Agnes done to rate being called “A Friend of the Chinese People?”

• Went outside of sanitized zones where the press were not allowed, to report that outside of the few areas the press had been allowed to see, the peasants were still oppressed across China, and she got that news out to the world
• Through her writings, helped lay the groundwork for the temporary truce between the KMT and the Communists so that, united, they could push the Japanese out of China
• Reported from the warfront between China and Japan by newspaper and radio
• Lived in grave hardship with the Communists and reported their side of the story to the world

“She Showed She was our true friend by her willingness to eat bitterness with us”

This was said by an elderly Chinese woman welcoming Agnes to their village behind enemy lines, as she introduced her to give a talk.

Agnes risked her life over and over again to bring medical supplies to the wounded.

• Helped institute proper sanitation and medical facilities
• Helped raise money for medical supplies
• Although marked for death by the Japanese, she risked her life to spy
  on them for the Allies
• Warned China of Japanese plan to invade
• Warned America of Japanese attack
• Wrote the biography of General  Zhu De, her great friend, head of
  Mao’s Army

Colorful People in Agnes’ Life

• Mao Tse Tung
• Chou En Lai
• General Zhu De
• Chiang Kai-Shel
• Dr. Norman Bethune
• Jawaharial Nehru
• Margaret Sanger
• General Joe Stilwell
• Ernest Hemingway
• Captain Evans Carlson

More Than Allies, We Were Friends

This, then, is the short version of the story of how SACC was born, and what we are trying to do.

 

Motion Picture Credits

Khigh Dhiegh, pronounced “Ki (rhymes with ‘why’) Dee.”, (1910-1991), was an actor, known for The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Seconds (1966) and Noble House (1988). He had a recurring role on the TV series Hawaii Five-O (1968). Khigh founded the Taoist Sanctuary in North Hollywood, California. (now the Taoist Institute, as of 2003) and authored multiple books on Taoist philosophy, including The Eleventh Wing. See more about Khigh Dhiegh.

 

 

Chao-li Chi (1927-2010) was 12 years old when he and his family fled China and emigrated to New York City as refugees from the Second Sino-Japanese War. He studied acting through Pearl S. Buck’s ‘East-and-West Association’. Chi found regular work as a character actor in films (The Joy Luck Club and more) and television ( Falcon Crest). He practiced and taught philosophy and martial arts, co-founding the Taoist Institute in North Hollywood and leading a weekly morning t’ai chi class for 30 years straight. Read more about Chao-li Chi.

 

 

Weston Gavin (born 1935) is an American folk singer. When he was age three, Woody Guthrie visited his family in New York City. Eventually, he started his talent in playing the guitar when he was 13 and was part of a revival in folk music. He has recorded and released many albums, around 800 songs (initially as Jimmy Gavin), and has performed in clubs across the USA and Canada. In addition, he had an acting career movies and television in supporting roles from the original Superman movie and two Pink Panther movies, to most recently in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. His TV acting credits include many TV movies and series. Weston lives in London where he sometimes plays his music. He is married and has three daughters from a previous marriage. See more about Weston’s acting career and his music career.

Martin Mendelsohn (1944-2003) had a 30-year career in advertising, media, finance and internet marketing. In the mid 1970’s he founded Mendelsohn and Adler Advertising Agency in San Francisco. Starting as a 2-person firm he built it into a multi-million dollar company. Later at Computerized Telemarketing Inc., they developed the first digital, multi-branching, computerized telephone system used as a marketing tool.

As Executive VP of Next Century Media, Inc., (NCM) he worked with such companies as Bell Canada, GTE, Bell South and Southwestern Bell on interactive TV platforms and managed client relationships with BBDO, Chiat/Day, Toyota, Pepsi, Visa and Arbitron.

Press conference on Chinese Television in 1985

At Unlimited Productions he and his partners developed the project to shoot a feature film in China on the life of Agnes Smedley, an American journalist who is buried in a Hero’s grave near Beijing. Marty spent nearly a year in Hong Kong trying to raise money to finance the film. He was determined to have the remarkable story of Agnes Smedley’s life made into a movie. Hopefully, the time has come.

 

Bill Harvey (born 1942), Emmy® Award winner and media research industry leader, has been lauded as a visionary and technological pioneer of the changing mediascape over the last 35 years.

He started his career in the media business and predicted today’s media reality with his MediaWorld 1990 report to the industry and in his widely-read Media Science Newsletter. He invented media research tools and measurement systems, including some now written into FCC regulations.

Bill’s received a 2022 Emmy® Science & Technology Award for pioneering the development of technology in the 1990s which protects privacy while collecting massive data on media usage at an aggregate level. In other words, this invention helps diverse audiences with a wide range of interests to get all the types of programs they enjoy the most.

Bill has received many awards including the Advertising Research Foundation’s Great Mind Award, and was the first recipient of the ARF’s Erwin Ephron Demystification Award. He holds four issued US patents and has consulted for over a hundred Fortune 500 companies.

Bill lives with his wife Lalita in the beautiful Hudson Valley. He has a daughter Nicole, and with Lalita has four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 

 

What is Sino-American Cultural Consortium Doing Today?

The ongoing project surrounding Agnes Smedley is currently focused on our intention to produce a one-hour documentary about Agnes, and later a theatrical feature film.