The Campaign Of Propaganda And Education On Sino-Soviet Friendship In Shanghai (1949-1965)

In 1950’s, the Chinese government carried out the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship in China for national development strategy and diplomatic. In the national development strategy, the Chinese government wanted to introduce the developmental pattern of the Soviet Union. In the diplomatic, the Chinese government wanted to consolidate the Sino-Soviet Socialist Alliance and opposed the western capitalist camp led by the United States. During the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship, the Chinese government focused on Shanghai. With the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union(CPSU), the Poland Incident and Hungary Event, the Chinese government carried out the socialist education campain. They propagated the importance of unity of the socialist camp and the superiority of socialism. During the same period, there was confluence of the socialist education campain and campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship. At the end of 1950’s, divisions between the CPC and CPSU were increasingly obvious. There were changes of the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship. The Chinese government began to attach importance to propagating the achievements of China, especially the Three Red Banners. The contradiction between China and the Soviet Union was brought into the public in 1960. The CPC began to fight for the right of discourse in the socialist camp by the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship. In 1965, the Moscow Conference was held. It meaned the Sino-Soviet Alliance collapsed. The campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship ended.People were deeply influenced by European and American culture since the opening of Shanghai in the 19th century. As a result, Shanghai became a multicultural city with western complex. The Chinese government instilled revolutionary culture of the Soviet Union to people through the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship. The Chinese government tried to transform Shanghai into a city with the single culture and thought. Revolutionary culture of the Soviet Union was much different from European and American culture. They represented different thinking model, political system and ideology. The Chinese government focused on political system, science and technology, ideology when they instilled revolutionary culture of the Soviet Union to people. People ignored, doubted and boycotted revolutionary culture of the Soviet Union because they thought the Europe and America were better than the Soviet Union in these aspects. However, European and American culture was not only an obstacle to instilling revolutionary culture of the Soviet Union to people. In some ways, it was a foundation of the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship. People were familiar with several methods of the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship because Shanghai was deeply influenced by western art forms(especially Russian culture) in the first half of the 20th century, such as painting, movies, music and dancing.There was a complex mental picture during the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship because people were influenced by European and American culture. At first, there were different views on the Soviet Union, such as identification, indifference, doubt and boycott. With the development of the campaign of propaganda and education, more and more people said they identified with the Soviet Union. Of course, some people didn’t say what they really thought. Perhaps some people doubted the Soviet Union when they kept silence. During the same period, some people still said they doubted the Soviet Union and appreciated western countries. This means the real mental picture wasn’t broadly show when more and more people said they identified with the Soviet Union. In addition, once some people identified with the Soviet Union and socialist system, but they developped resistance and doubt toward the Soviet Union because of some events, such as the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the Poland Incident and Hungary Event. This means there was a complex mental picture in Shanghai during the campaign of propaganda and education on Sino-Soviet friendship. There was fierce competition between various kinds of thoughts. In the course of fierce competition, same thought appeared repeatedly. After the anti-rightist campaign, most people said they identified with the Soviet Union and almost no people said they doubted the Soviet Union. Of course, it was associated with the campaign of propaganda and education. In addition, it was good for people when they kept silence or said something which was in line with the mainstream discourse. From 1960, the CPC began to criticize the doctrine of the Soviet Union. Most people identified with the Chinese government, but they still had some doubts because the Chinese government had propagated the Sino-Soviet friendship and superiority of the Soviet Union for long time. This means some people identified with the image of the Soviet Union which was constructed by the Chinese government, so they had doubts and felt supervised when the Chinese government criticized the Soviet Union.