The mission of the Tai Initiative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit for education, is to nurture and educate the network of organizational and personal relationships between Americans and Chinese to achieve mutual understanding, communication, and trust.  To that end, the fellowship mission will be to cultivate discernable agency among young Chinese and American leaders and professionals at the subnational level. We are designing a fellowship for young American and Chinese graduate level students and professionals who seek a deeper understanding and guided path in building trust and capacity between China and America. The “Zhong-Mei” — or China-America — relationship is not just between nation-states; it is rooted in deals struck between businessmen, programs partnered by governors, mayors, and academic institutions. The total America-China relationship is a nexus of culture, commerce, and local leadership, but too often the cultivation and navigation of relationships between Chinese and Americans at the subnational level can falter; lack of cultural intelligence or skills in international relations makes building trust and capacity a real challenge. We want to alleviate that challenge by offering a rigorous certificate training and fellowship for the advancement of the “Zhong-Mei” relationship that will generate a lifelong professional network.