Chinese perceptions of Russia and the West during the 20th century: changes, continuities and contingencies

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Gotelind Müller-Saini
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2017 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 325765658

This project aims at investigating changes and continuities in Chinese perceptions of Russia and "the West" during the 20th century, paying heed to the fact that the respective ascriptions and "frontlines" were historically contingent. The shifts and continuities are to be studied in three major areas: 1. The field of socialization via a look into normative descriptions of Russia and "the West" in Chinese school textbooks which define images of the "other" from childhood on; 2. The field of literature and Chinese fictional representations of Russia and "the West" consumed by a Chinese reading public; 3. The field of visual and material manifestations which define images of the Other in their own medial way and make them accessible also to a public far from purely discursive levels and to those who do not actively look for them. The chosen time-frame of the whole 20th century bridges important developments, e.g. from Czarist Russia to the Soviet Union to post-Soviet Russia, the two World Wars, the Chinese transition from imperial China to the Republic and finally the People's Republic vis-à-vis the Chinese Republic on Taiwan, the Cold War, its division of Europe and how this impacted upon the image of "the West", the Sino-Soviet split, the end of the Cold War and the new constellation in the world after 1989 and its effects on China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau. The focus on "Chinese" perceptions, in turn, intends not only mainland China in the 20th century but also post-1945 Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. These two choices in terms of spatial and temporal coverage are to lead to a fruitful and multi-facetted research on how "Chinese" perceptions of Russia and "the West" (and what the latter precisely meant at which given time, where and for whom, and in how far Russia was conceived of as part of the latter or precisely not) shifted, and where possible continuities might be detected. To do this, a variety of media and societal target groups are to be considered.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Nikolay Samoylov