Authors

Discussion

While the Sino-Soviet relationship has dominated much of the literature on 1950s socialist internationalism, recent scholarship has begun to highlight the interactions between the “peripheries”—the Soviet satellite states and Third World countries—rather than relying solely on a “top-down” narrative that portrays Moscow as the central transmitter of Soviet-approved cultural projects across the Eastern Bloc. This article examines the lesser-known cultural project of socialist internationalism as realized through the friendship initiatives between China and Czechoslovakia in the 1950s. In contrast to the substantial body of research on Sino-Soviet cultural relations, the cultural exchanges between China and Czechoslovakia have never been systematically studied.

Drawing primarily from 1950s Chinese publications and supplemented by Chinese and Czech archival materials, this article provides an overview of Sino-Czechoslovak cultural exchanges framed within “socialist friendship.” By analyzing a range of cultural activities—including translations of each other’s literary classics, performances by song and dance troupes, fine arts exhibitions, and film weeks—this study reveals the richness and diversity of these interactions. I argue that these cultural exchanges reflect genuine efforts by both sides to foster international socialist friendship. However, the diplomatic actions of the Czechoslovak Communist Party were constrained by the Soviet Union, and the relationship between Czechoslovakia and China inevitably remained under Moscow’s shadow. This flourishing cultural collaboration persisted until the early 1960s, when the breakdown of the Sino-Soviet relationship led to its dramatic decline.