Transnational Memory of the Sino-Soviet Alliance: Cultural Exchanges, 1950–1960

Abstract

The decade of the 1950s marked the peak of Sino-Soviet cooperation, during which cultural exchanges played a central role in shaping perceptions of socialist solidarity. While political and military cooperation has been widely studied, the cultural dimension remains underexplored, especially its significance for both domestic narratives and international socialist identity. This article investigates cultural diplomacy between China and the Soviet Union from 1950 to 1960, with particular attention to literary translations, film circulation, and educational exchanges involving Chinese students in Soviet universities. Using a wide range of sources, including archival materials from the Chinese Ministry of Culture, periodicals, memoirs of exchange participants, and official propaganda, the study analyzes how these interactions constructed and contested the image of socialist modernity.
The research reveals that cultural exchanges served as more than symbolic gestures. They created concrete channels for ideological transfer, technical learning, and cultural adaptation. For example, Soviet films depicting industrial progress and collective life were not only consumed by Chinese audiences but also reinterpreted through local contexts of rapid urbanization and collectivization. Similarly, the translation of Soviet literary works introduced new aesthetic forms into Chinese literature, though debates soon emerged over the appropriateness of these models for Chinese realities.
The study further argues that cultural exchanges both reinforced and strained the alliance. While they strengthened the rhetoric of socialist brotherhood, they also foreshadowed tensions that culminated in the Sino-Soviet split. Intellectuals and students who engaged deeply with Soviet culture often became critical voices in the later debates on China’s independent path to socialism. By situating these developments within the broader history of Cold War cultural diplomacy, the article underscores the dual nature of cultural exchange as a vehicle of solidarity and a source of friction in international socialist relations.