Precipitating Factors and Root Causes of the Sino-Soviet Split

Professor Shen Zhihua is Director of the Center for Cold War Studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai.

The event is free and open to the public. A brief reception will follow Prof. Shen’s presentation.

In this talk, Professor Shen Zhihua discusses the surface and root
causes of the Sino-Soviet split. The surface causes were China’s
shelling of Goumindang-held islands in August 1958 and its commune
movement of July 1959, which revealed sharp divergences between China
and the Soviet Union. The root causes were the fundamental
contradictions between internationalist ideals and the pursuit of
national interest, and between the fraternal ideals and hierarchical
reality of the Sino-Soviet relationship. These structural
contradictions made the Sino-Soviet split inevitable.

Shen Zhihua is Professor of History at East China Normal University
(Shanghai, China), where he also serves as Director of the Cold War
International History Research Center. He is also concurrent
professor at Peking University, and honorary research fellow at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Shen’s research interests
include Cold War History, the diplomatic history of the Soviet Union,
Sino-Soviet relations, and the Korean War. His books include Soviet
Experts in China, 1948-1960 (2nd ed., 2009), Mao Zedong, Stalin, and
the Korean War (2003), and An Outline History of Sino-Soviet Relations
(2007).

The event is sponsored by the Center for Cold War Studies and by East Asian
Languages and Cultural Studies.

hm 5/12/09