China Learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–Present

Harvard Cold War Studies

by Hua-yu Li (Editor), Tina Mai Chen (Contributor), Izabella Goikhman (Contributor)

It is well known that the Soviet Union strongly influenced China in the early 1950s, since China committed itself both to the Sino-Soviet alliance and to the Soviet model of building socialism. What is less well known is that Chinese proved receptive not only to the Soviet economic model but also to the emulation of the Soviet Union in realms such as those of ideology, education, science, and culture. In this book an international group of scholars examines China's acceptance and ultimate rejection of Soviet models and practices in economic, cultural, social, and other realms. The chapters vividly illustrate the wide-ranging and multi-dimensional nature of Soviet influence, which to this day continues to manifest itself in one critical aspect, namely in China's rejection of liberal political reform.

Genres: China, History

562 pages, Hardcover

First published November 16, 2009

Reviews

[Chet]

What you see in the title is what you get. No unique insights, just commentary on the primary sources explaining in English how China learned from the USSR. Embarrassing likewise even by low anti-communist standards. The completely debunked and derided "Black Book of Communism" is cited here without irony or self-awareness. The jocular acknowledgements thank some Russian dissidents for helping with the Soviet sources despite said dissident finding the sources revolting. Cold warrior energy saturates the entire book. Western scholars ask interesting questions and pursue worthwhile lines of inquiry about communist states, and they could be taken more seriously if they could just let go of their pathological anti-communism and try to write with a shred of objectivity and dignity. I'm not holding my breath though.

[Ding Lingwei · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book discussed about why and how PRC learned from Soviet. The regime of Soviet is a mixture of Marxism, Russian absolutism, and Farcism. So when CCP leaders especially Mao used it as the only prototype, its regime became more tyrannical and inhuman after localized with the Chines tradition such as the lack of the awareness of civic right and ignorance of huamn right.
And I have to say it's a pity this book dosent discusse much about what and how China learns from Soviet's fall, which is an important topic to CCP today. Also, I have a diffrent oppinion that the women labor dosent mean gender equality, it means nothing but enslaving everyone equally. No equality exists between slaves and female slaves.