Crossing the Iron Curtain

Western Students in Mao’s China (1949–1976)

Longfei Xing (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

280 Seiten

2025
De Gruyter Oldenbourg (Verlag)
978-3-11-914744-6 (ISBN)

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The peer-reviewed series offers books that illuminate the multifaceted history of the Cold War in both its European and Global dimensions, across and beyond the Iron Curtain. It focuses on the interactions, interdependencies and co-operation of Eastern state socialist countries (and their citizens) with Western capitalist, Latin American, African and non-aligned states (and their citizens), as well as with China.

During the Cold War, an invisible "iron curtain" divided the Western world from Maoist China. What motives lay behind the façade of educational exchange? This book explores the experiences of Western students in China from 1949 to 1976, revealing how education functioned as a strategic tool of people's diplomacy. Through an analysis of the PRC's educational policies, tailored curricula, and student memoirs, it reconstructs the landscape of studying in Maoist China. The study shows how the Chinese state sought to shape Western students' understandings and attitudes through an education grounded in proletarian politics, a curriculum combining open-door schooling with productive labor, and a management system that differentiated between insiders and outsiders. It also examines how these strategies shaped Western students' perceptions and influenced their retrospective reflections. Offering a fresh perspective on Sino-Western encounters, this book demonstrates how state-led diplomacy was intertwined with personal, unofficial interactions through education. These connections enriched the state-centric narrative of Cold War diplomacy, serving as reference for scholars of public diplomacy, international relations, and educational exchange.

Longfei Xing, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

Erscheinungsdatum	16.10.2025
Reihe/Serie	Rethinking the Cold War ; 15
Zusatzinfo	38 b/w ill., 16 b/w tbl.
Verlagsort	Berlin/München/Boston
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 230 mm
Gewicht	500 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Zeitgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften
Schlagworte	Bildungsdiplomatie im Kalten Krieg • Cold War educational diplomacy • East-West entanglement beyond the state • Foreign students in the PRC • Internationale Studierende in der VRC • Maoist china • Maoistisches China • Überstaatliche Ost-West Verstrickung
ISBN-10	3-11-914744-3 / 3119147443
ISBN-13	978-3-11-914744-6 / 9783119147446
Zustand	Neuware