{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["china-c5176a65f799f2"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/cui-tiankai-6063efc747/","countrySlug":"china","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/cui-tiankai-6063efc747/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Cui Tiankai spent part of his youth working in rural Heilongjiang before attending Shanghai Normal University and becoming a teacher. He trained as an interpreter and worked in the United Nations Secretariat from 1981 to 1984. After further study at Johns Hopkins, he combined multilateral assignments with foreign ministry work on policy planning and Asian affairs.","Cui served as ambassador to Japan and vice foreign minister before taking charge in Washington in 2013. He remained for eight years, the longest Washington tenure of any ambassador of the People’s Republic up to that time. In his 2021 farewell letter, he urged a choice for dialogue and cooperation as American policy toward China changed."],"id":"china:cui tiankai","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-6063efc74751d7ca3705.html","name":"Cui Tiankai","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["cui-bio"],["cui-bio","cui-farewell"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-6063efc74751d7ca3705.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"5ea61c42459d6cea","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2013-04-09","id":"cui-bio","locator":"Career table","publisher":"Embassy of China","title":"Biography of Ambassador Cui Tiankai","type":"official-biography","url":"https://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/dszl/dsjl/201304/t20130409_4902374.htm"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2021-06-23","id":"cui-farewell","locator":"Farewell letter report","publisher":"China Daily, via China News Service","title":"China’s top envoy to U.S. says farewell","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.ecns.cn/news/politics/2021-06-23/detail-ihannatq0281273.shtml"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Accessed 22 October 2026","id":"mission-390cc301ced3a9d1b02a","locator":"Month-level tenure chronology; liaison directors distinguished from ambassadors.","publisher":"","title":"Official list of Chinese representatives","type":"Mission record","url":"https://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zmgx/lrzmds/201206/t20120622_4910403.htm"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"2026-10-26","id":"mission-0d67afec1359e1f0d972","locator":"Separates government representation, U.S. recognition, and the 1979 change in diplomatic relations.","publisher":"","title":"Office of the Historian: recognition and relations with China","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/countries/china"}],"topics":["United Nations","Japan","Public diplomacy"]},"schemaVersion":1}