The Origin Of The Sino-soviet Friendship Association, The Course And At The End

The Sino-Soviet Friendship Association which was the first crowd organizes after the establishment of the People's Republic of China implies China's intention to improve Sino-Soviet relation. It was founded on October 5, 1949. It was also during the time when the Chinese Communist Party just adopted the guideline of clinging to communist countries headed by Soviet, yet Chinese people still had the suspicion against Soviet for various reasons. After the foundation of the association, it quickly established a grand network all over the nation, recruiting members throughout the country. Administrated by the high-leveled leaders of local governments, the branch association played a very significant role in political activities. Through various activities, the Association propagandizes to the people the positive side of Soviet Government, which contributed a lot in changing people's negative attitude towards Soviet. The beautified image of the Soviet by the association has shown a perfect picture before Chinese people and made them to identify the communist road for development. Also the association introduced the Soviet experience of development to the Chinese people who were also aroused to contribute to the development of their own country. Therefore, it can be said that the fate of the association is closely linked with the ups and downs of the relation between China and the Soviet. After 1960, with reduction of the staff, the association shrunk. Its function was shifted into vital ache for China and Soviet's relation and talk. After the Culture Revolution, despite the limited political activities between these two countries, the association still made every effort to regain the friendship between the two neighbors, which contributed greatly to the normalization the relation between the two countries.According to different features of the association at different historical period, the dissertation explores the full process of its origins and extension and shrinks taking the advantage of the archives, and makes a rough comment on the association based on the author's knowledges.This paper consists of two parts: introduction and body of six chapters.In the introduction, the author states clearly the theoretical and practical significance and rationale of this research. After the literary review, the author points out the currently existing limitations of these previous researches. Then he elaborates the theoretical framework and methodology, clarifying the content, focus, difficulties and innovation of the research. Chapter One is mainly an introduction of the springing up of the association. There was intensively confrontation between the socialist camp and the capitalist camp after the Second World War. In order to stable the new regime and get access to assistance of the Soviet Union, the Chinese Communist Party made the one-side guideline policy.Firstly, the author points out that it is the conflict between Chinese Communist Party's one-side guideline and Chinese people's suspicion towards the Soviet, the historical background that leads to the foundation of the association. From another perspective, this association succeeds to Sino-Soviet Culture Association. And then the chapter introduces the preparation work before the association was founded, its essence, mission and composed organization. In this chapter, the author also introduces the founding of the branch associations.Chapter Two mainly focuses on the period from 1949 to 1952, when the association was greatly developed. Branch organizations were set up throughout the country in all regions, provinces, counties and townships. They adopted individual membership. The members had certificate and insignia but they were supposed to pay the association fee. The focus of the activities by the association at this stage was to introduce the Soviet and leave a positive image of the Soviet upon the general Chinese people by various kinds of activities, which included publication, exhibition, playing Soviet movies, organizing all kinds of conferences and seminars, series activity titled "Month of Sino-Soviet Friendship", and other cultural exchanges. The focus of this chapter is the propaganda activities organized by the association and its impact upon people's attitude towards Soviet as well as the influence upon the future development of the association itself.Chapter Three describes another important stage (1953-1956) of the association's development. From 1949, the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association was keeping introducing the successful experience of the Soviet toward the Chinese people. Then in 1953, the craze of learning from the Soviet Union rose due to two factors. One is the assistance from KHRUSHCHEV after he took the office, which brought the two countries even closer. The other is the heated Socialist Reform in China then, during which the series of the "learn from the Soviet" were intensified. In such a historical background, the Central Communist Party gave guidance on the improvement of the work in the association, taking the association under the charge of the Publicity Department. To promote all these activities, the association adopted several measures to coordinate the organization. They changed the individual membership into group membership, omitted the certificate and exempted the fee. All these measures reduced the total workload of the association. Meanwhile, the association made no effort to make the Soviet experience more approachable to the general public. This chapter not only gives a clear picture of the specific activities and their impact but also made analysis and comments of the author himself.Chapter Four focus on the time from 1956 to 1959. It is a stage of adjustment and transference, when first the relation between China and Soviet came to the best period, yet after that summit the two countries encounter diverges and extended it as time went on. Influenced by this diplomatic change, the association also displayed its special features during this time. The administration was adjusted according to the report on improving the running of the association released by the Central Communist Party in 1957. The branch associations of all levels were then under the charge of both the local publicity department and groups of foreign affairs. The general association only provided guidance rather than orders to the branch associations. After that, the association also scaled down itself by reducing staff number. As for the function of the association, it acted more as a platform for the exchanges of both countries than as that for propaganda of the good example of the Soviet. The first two stages of hard work for a better relationship were rewarded. In October, 1957, the Soviet-Sino Friendship Association was founded and a magazine called Soviet-Sino Friendship started publication with the assistance of Chinese staff. In 1959, the two countries signed a contract for cooperation, which furthered the bilateral exchanges. However, in spite of the mainstream of friendship and cooperation between these two countries, there were some unpleasant signs undermine.Chapter Five describes the difficult and embarrassing time for the association from 1960 to 1966. When the Soviet ignored and contract and withdrew all the experts in 1960, the consequences of the worsening of the bilateral relation had affected the attitude of the grand Chinese people towards their neighbor. Therefore, it made it rather difficult for the association to conduct its routine work. Because it was stuck in an embarrassing situation with organizing shrinking and staff reduced. On the one hand, they had to maintain the necessary greeting diplomatic activities to the relevant Soviet organizations under strict monitoring. On the other, it had to adopt an unbendable stand in all these activities. Sometimes it even served as the tool for debate with the Soviet. In 1966, the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association was renamed as the Sino-Soviet People's Friendship Association. In this chapter, apart from introducing the necessary activities of the association, the author also gives a clarification of the whole event of the termination of the mutual beneficial magazines Friendship and Soviet-Sino Friendship by looking into relevant documentary materials. The author also gives a detailed introduction of the friction and the later contradiction between the two friendship association in respective countries so as to point out the double roles of the association in both maintaining the bilateral relation and supporting the debate between the two countries.Chapter Six introduces the historical fate of the association and gives some comments. After 1966, the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association once stopped its work on the edge of the collapsing and the staff leaders were animadverted or transferred to the countryside to do the labor work because the Sino-Russian relationship broke down and the outbreak of the Great Cultural Revolution which led to the slogan of Guards against revisionism and anti-revisionism resounded through China. After its resumption, it was not as active as it used to be, but it can send some friendly messages which could relax the relationship between the two countries through limited actions and play an active role in the process of the normalization of Sino-Soviet relationship. When the Soviet Union was disaggregated by the end of 1991, the association was renamed as Sino-Russian Friendship Association in the next year and finished its mission in history. The ending remark analyzes and comments on the forty-three years' history of the Association roughly. The author argues that to determinate the essence of the Association is the premise to comment on the history of the Association objectively and scientifically. The Sino-Soviet friendship association was the special civic body with strong official color, having generated in the special age. After 1966, it gradually degenerated to the ordinary civic body. When confirming that the development and change of Sino-Soviet relation played the decision role in Sino-Soviet friendship association's history, we should also acknowledge that the Sino-Soviet friendship association in turn had the extraordinary influence on the Sino-Soviet relations. Firstly, it played a very important role in changing populace's mood in doubting Soviet and introducing and disseminating Soviet Union's experience, etc.; what's more, it promoted the Sino-Soviet relationship and laid a solid foundation for "lean to one side" policy. Secondly, it displayed a consultant channel's function of the Sino-Soviet Union and postponed the breakdown of Sino-Soviet relationship. Thirdly, the contents it propagandized must be filtrated strictly because of its particularity, which is doomed not to be able to reflect the full picture of Sino-Soviet relations thus having blurred the history which China and Soviet Union associated. When introducing and disseminating Soviet Union's experiences, the Sino-Soviet friendship association not only beautified them deliberately, but also imitated fully and antiforeigned solely, therefore becoming the important channel which transplanted Soviet Model to China completely. The author finally points out that we should continue to deepen the research on the Sino-Soviet friendship association history for some beneficial references so as to develop the Sino-Russian folk communication friendly and promote and impel the strategic partnership between China and Russia in the new century.