Shambaugh visited China at least once a year for professional purposes for 35-36 years from 1979 to 2015, traveled to 27 of China's 31 provinces, lectured in Chinese and English to multiple audiences, engaged party, government, and military officials at multiple levels, and lived off and on in China for a total of five years, making him one of the best-known American scholars of China and the U.S.-China relationship within China.