Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T09:47:09.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chinese Observations of Soviet Nationality Affairs in the Mao and post-Mao Eras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2023

Luyang Zhou Open the ORCID record for Luyang Zhou [Opens in a new window]
Luyang Zhou*
Affiliation:
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
*
Emails: luyang.zhou@mail.mcgill.ca; luyang_zhou@zju.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Over the years, China’s nationality policy tended to imitate the Soviet Union while also retaining its uniqueness. Existing scholarship has described three deviations the CCP made vis-à-vis the Soviet model: denying national self-determination, rejecting the supra-national union of nation-states, and undertaking constructivist classification of ethnicity. These features took shape around 1949. In this article, I survey China’s observations on Soviet nationality affairs from 1949 to 1991 and provide a perspective for understanding how these deviations from the Soviet nationality model both crystallized and varied. My findings show that after 1949, Soviet studies in China lacked a coherent agenda for studying the nationality question. The experts gathered rich materials but subordinated nationality questions to themes such as revolution, a centrally planned economy, border disputes, geopolitics, and ideological indoctrination. They also tended to reduce ethnopolitics to class struggle and economic modernization. Such systematic evasion of nationality questions persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The USSR’s disintegration caused China to recognize the resilience of ethnicity and nationality, while before 1991, Soviet studies in China had lacked any systematic reflection on the Soviet nationality model.

Keywords

nationalismSoviet UnionChinaintellectual history
Type
Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , First View , pp. 1 - 19
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Association for the Study of Nationalities

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ASSU, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union . 1954. Sulian minzu zhengce wenjian huibian: Sulian de xingcheng, 1917-1924 (The Formation of the Soviet Union: A Documentary History). Beijing: Policy Research Office, Central Committee on Nationality Affairs, Department of State.Google Scholar
ASSU, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union . 1958. Sulian shehuizhuyi minzu (Soviet Socialist Nations). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
ASSU, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, Institute on Philosophical Studies . 1959. Sulian geminzu de zhexue shehui zhengzhi sixiang shigang (An Outline History of the Soviet Nations’ Philosophical, Social, and Political Thoughts). Beijing: Kexue chubanshe.Google Scholar
CASS, Chinese Academy of Social Science . 1978. Shahuang eguo congbu gaibian de mudi: shijie baquan (To Become a World Hegemon: Tsarist Russia’s Never-Changed Goal). Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
CASS, Chinese Academy of Social Science . 1979. Sulian zongjiao zhengc e. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Science, Institute for World Religions.Google Scholar
CASS, Chinese Academy of Social Science . 1991. Sulian dongou wenti xueshu zuotanhui ziliao huibian. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan keyanchu.Google Scholar
Connor, Walker. 1984. The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Dement’ev, V. A. 1957. Baieluosi suweiai shehuizhuyi gongheguo (The Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic). Beijing: Shidai chubanshe.Google Scholar
Diadiev, M. N. 1956. Sulian minzu yuwen wenti (The Linguistic Issue of Soviet Nations’). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
FU, Fudan University, Department of World Political Economy . 1974. Ershi nian lai de sulian jingji (The Soviet Economy over the Past Twenty Years). Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Fu, Maoji. 1957. Sulian shi jiejue duominzu guojia wenzi wenti de dianfan. Beijing: CASS, Institute for Minority Nations’ Language.Google Scholar
Garin, S. 1949. Yige minzu de mingyun bashijiliya zizhi gongheguo jieshao (A Nation’s Destination: The Autonomous Republic of Bashkiria). Beijing: Shidai chubanshe.Google Scholar
Guo, Hongsheng. 1997. Qian sulian yu zhongguo minzu wenti duibi yanjiu. Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Hao, Shiyuan, and Ruan, Xihu (eds.). 1993. Sulian minzu weiji yu lianmeng jieti Chengdu: Sichuan minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Hecker, Julius. 1999. Eguo geming qianhou de zongjiao (Religion and Communism: A Study of Religion and Atheism in Soviet Russia). Shanghai: Xuelin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Hirsch, Francine. 2005. Empire of Nations Ethnographic Knowledge & the Making of the Soviet Union. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Iakubovskaia . 1955. Lun sulian beifang gezu renmin yueguo zibenzhuyi guodu dao shehuizhuyi de wenti (How the Nations in the Northern USSR Transited to Socialism without Undergoing Capitalism). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
INS-CAS, Institute for Nationality Studies of the Chinese Academy of Science . 1964. “Sulian baokan guanyu minzuwenti de xiuzhengzhuyi yanlun zhailu.” Beijing.Google Scholar
Jia, Wenhua, and Gao, Zhongyi. 1988. Sulian wenxue. Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Kuchgan, A. P. 1955. Lun kachahesitan de shehuizhuyi gaige (The Socialist Transformation in Kazakhstan). Beijing: Central College of Nationality Affairs.Google Scholar
Li, Jicheng. 1980. Sha’e dui zhongguo xizang de qinlue (Tsarist Russia’s Invasion of China’s Tibet). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.Google Scholar
Liu, Gengcen. 1990. Sulian dongou wenti zhuanti ziliao 8. Beijing: Institute for Studies of the Soviet Union and Eastern EuropeGoogle Scholar
Liu, Xianzhong. 2021. “Developments in Russian Historical Studies in China since Reform and Opening-up.” Chinese Journal of Slavic Studies 1 (1): 35–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Xiaoyuan. 2004. Frontier Passages: Ethnopolitics and the Rise of Chinese Communism, 1921–1945. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.Google Scholar
Lü, Pu, and Huang, Juxing (eds.). 1964. Xifang zichanjieji xuezhe lun sulian lishixue (Western Bourgeois Scholars on Soviet Historiography). Beijing: Shangwu yingshuguan.Google Scholar
Ma, Rong. 2010. “Dui sulian minzu zhengce shijian xiaoguo de fansi.” Xibei minzu yanjiu 67 (4): 1–26.Google Scholar
Martin, Terry. 2001. The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Matsuzato, Kimitaka. 2017. “The Rise and Fall of Ethnoterritorial Federalism: A Comparison of the Soviet Union (Russia), China, and India.” Europe-Asia Studies 69 (7): 1047–1069.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mekhtiev, Sh. F., and Peng, fei 1957. Asaibaijiang shiyou de baoku (The Oil Treasure of Azerbaijan). Beijing: Shidai chubanshe.Google Scholar
Meng, Hai. 1949. Sulian minzu tonghua (Soviet Nations’ Fairy Tales ). Beijing: Shidai chubanshe.Google Scholar
Mullaney, Thomas S. 2011. Coming to Terms with the Nation Ethnic Clasification in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Xinhuashe, NCA. 1972. Sulian boluodihai sange minzu gongheguo ziliao (Materials on the Nationality Question of the Three Soviet Baltic Republics). Beijing: International Department of Xinhua Agency.Google Scholar
Nikol’skii, N. 2000. Eguo jiaohuishi (A History of Russian Church). Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan.Google Scholar
Pan, Shouyong. 2009. Lin Yaohua pingzhuan. Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Pensikina, E. I. 1950. Sulian minzu shiwu weiyuanhui 1917 dao 1918 nian de huodong (The Activities of the Soviet Union’s Commissariat of Nationality Affairs between 1917 and 1918).Google Scholar
PKU, Peking University World History Department, and Second Artillery Writing Group SA . 1976. Sha’e qinlue kuozhang jianshi. Beijing: Beijing renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Potapov, L. P. 1957. Sulian guanyu youmu minzu fengjian zongfa guanxi de tantao (Soviet Scholars on Nomad Nations’ Feudal and Clan Relations). Beijing: Kexue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ruan, Xihu, Li, Yifu, and Wang, Enqing. 1979. Sulian minzu wenti de lishi yu xianzhuang (The Past the Present of the USSR’s Nationality Question). Beijing: Sanlian shudian.Google Scholar
Ruan, Xihu, Li, Zhenxi, and Wang, Youqi. 1978. Sulian xinde lishixing renmen gongtongti wenti ziliao (The Soviet Union’s “New Historic People’ Community”). Beijing: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Institute on Nationality Question.Google Scholar
RUC, Renmin University of China . 1984–1989. Sulian gongchandang he sulian zhengfu jingji wenti jueyi huibian (Collection of the CPSU’s and the Soviet Governemnt’s Resolutions on Economic Affairs). Beijing: Zhongguo renmin daxue chubanshe.Google Scholar
Shelest, Peter. 1974. Women de suweiai wukelan (Our Soviet Ukraine). Beijing: Sanlian shudian.Google Scholar
Shen, Zhanyun. 2007. Huipishu, huangpishu. Guangzhou: Huacheng chubanshe.Google Scholar
Sidorov, A. L., Rybakov, B. A., Cherepnin, L. V., Artsikhovskii, A. V., Druzhinin, N. M., Mintz, I. I., Golikov, G. N., and Nikonov, A. D.. 1957. Sulian shixuejia zai luoma dishijie shixuejia daibiaodahui baogaoji (Soviet Historians’ Presentations at the Tenth International Congress of History in Rome). Beijing: Sanlian shudian.Google Scholar
Shchishkin, N. I. 1956. Kemi suweiai shehuizhuyi gongheguo (Komi Soviet Socialist Republic). Beijing: Minzu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Sidorov, Arkadi, and Qiu, Bonian. 1950. Sidalin yu sulian lishixue (Stalin and Soviet Historiography). Beijing: Sanlian shudian.Google Scholar
Suny, Ronald Grigor. 1993. The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tao, Songyun. 1974. Sulian shixuejie dui eluosi fengjian shehui de yanjiu gaikuang (Recent Soviet Historical Research on Russia’s Feudal Society). Shanghai: Fudan University.Google Scholar
Unnamed . 1977. Sulian xiuzhengzhuyi shixue guandian pipan (Critique of Some Theses of Soviet Revisionist Historiography). Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Unnamed . 1978. Sha’e qinlue zhongguo xibei bianjiangshi. Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Unnamed . 1979. Sha’e qinlue woguo menggu diqu jianshi. Hohhot: Neimenggu renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Unnamed . 1980. Sulian kaogu wenxuan (Recent Research Articles by Soviet Archeologists). Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.Google Scholar
Wolf, David. 2003. “Interkit: Soviet Sinology and the Sino-Soviet Rift.” Russian History 30(4): 433–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WU, Fusheng. 1986. “Mantan sulian wenhua shiye.” Sulian wenti cankao ziliao (2): 9–12.Google Scholar
Wu, Langxi. 1955. Jinjiaolu, Skazki severnykh narodov. Beijing: zhongguo shaonian ertong chubanshe.Google Scholar
Xu, Weixin. 1989. Sulian quyu jingji (The Regional Economy of the USSR). Nanchang: Jiangxi renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhang, Guangxiang, and Zhou, Jiaying. 2015. “Bainian yilai eguoshi yanjiu.” Shixue yuekan (11): 101–128.Google Scholar
Zhang, Wenzhou, and Li, Yi. 1993. Sulian guoshi fengyunlu. Beijing: Jingji ribao chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhao, Longgeng, and Jin, Huogen. 1981. Sulian minzu gailan. Beijing: Shishi chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zheng, Yifan (ed.). 2015. Huipishu Huiyi yu yanjiu. Guilin: Lijiang chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Yu. 2022. “Changes and New Challenges: The Development of Russian Historical Studies in China since the Collapse of the Soviet Union.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 56: 231–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zuo, Fengrong. 2022. “A Study of the Soviet Union’s Historic Issues since China’s Reform and Opening-up.” Chinese Journal of Slavic Studies 1 (1): 1–19.Google Scholar
Zuo, Fengrong, and Liu, Xianzhong. 2015. Cong Sulian dao eluosi minzu quyu zizhi wenti yanjiu. Beijing: sheke wenxian chubanshe.Google Scholar