When Parisot undertook this trip to China in September 1984 during the “Period of Openness” under Deng Xiaoping, the country had been opened to the West only a few years before. Parisot recallled that damage because of the Cultural Revolution, which ended in the late seventies, was extensive—all the pianos were broken. Students practiced with the doors of their studios open. He could not imagine how they could hear anything. (Conversation of 8 May 2016)

Parisot was the first in the School of Music to go to China. Then he arranged an exchange, which he believes was the first exchange between the dean of the Yale School of Music and the dean of a foreign conservatory. The dean of the Shanghai Conservatory came to Yale and Frank Tirro, then the dean of the Yale School of Music, went there. There was also an exchange of faculty and the possibility for many Chinese students to study at Yale. Parisot also made another trip to China in 1987. In an article in Music at Yale, the situation in China during the Cultural Revolution is described as follows:

Music was supposed to reflect the struggles of the people, although Western classical music was not completely suppressed.

Parisot was treated as an honored guest. He gave master classes and discovered the very talented Jian Wang, who has gone on to have a major career. The government paid for a trip to the Guilin Mountains, so that Parisot could see a little of China. From Shanghai he went on a boat along the Yangtze River, his interpreter with him.