Chester Ronning was born in Fancheng, China, in 1894, the son of Norwegian missionaries. Until his death at the age of ninety, he was everything from a cowboy to an ambassador, a college president to a Peace River homesteader, a missionary to a member of the Alberta legislature. But Ronning, who died in December 1984, is best remembered in international circles for his long and close relationship with China. Throughout his many careers, including that of Canadian High Commissioner to India, ambassador to Norway, and head of an international mission in 1966 to end the war in Vietnam, Ronning's lifelong ambition was to explain China to the western world. His story is a rare example of the meeting of east and west in a compassionate, remarkable man.