Barriers to foreign ideas: A case study of technology transfer in the People's Republic of China, 1981--1986

This study has as its context barriers to the movement of people and ideas across national borders, taking as its subject the transfer of agricultural technology to China from a U.S. non-profit organization, the American Soybean Association (ASA), during the period 1981–86. This dissertation records the political and cultural barriers in China that served to thwart or filter foreign contact; how those barriers impeded the transfer of technology in spite of the Chinese government's desire to modernize China by means of foreign technology; and how the Chinese government eliminated some political barriers to technology transfer but was unable to eliminate residual cultural barriers to foreign contact.; The dissertation describes the American Soybean Association, the Association's training program and how it fits into the historical context of foreign technology transfer to China. After Mao Zedong's death the reform faction under Deng Xiaoping sought to bring foreign technology, management methods and investment capital into China as a means of modernizing the country. When the time came to jointly conduct technology programs however, both Chinese and Americans were unprepared for contact with each other; Americans due to their emotional and oscillating stereotypes of China, Chinese because of the country's many barriers against foreign contact—political obstacles, a traditional xenophobia and the loss of Chinese internationalists during the Cultural Revolution. As the Reform Faction's strength grew, it incrementally eliminated barriers to foreign contact to expedite technology transfer programs in China.; This dissertation describes the difficulties in establishing and running an office in the People's Republic, the operations of the ASA Beijing office, gives examples of its technology transfer methodology such as lecture tours by American experts and travel of Chinese technical delegations to the United States to study soy protein utilization. Examples of technology-transfer areas include soy-milk, dairy-production, soy-oil processing, livestock-feed and edible-soy protein. There is an overview of China's technology transfers being obtained through foreign corporations, study abroad, Special Economic Zones, direct foreign investment, Chinese investment abroad and foreign consulting reports.; The dissertation lists Chinese traits perceived by Americans as obstacles to technology transfer that have remained after political barriers were eliminated.