From Allies to Enemies: Visions of Modernity, Identity, and U.S.-China Diplomacy, 1945-1960

by Simei Qing

Overview

In a stunningly original work about the impact of cultural perceptions in international relations, Simei Qing offers a new perspective on relations between the United States and China after World War II.

From debates over Taiwan in the Truman administration to military confrontation in Korea to relations with the Soviet Union, Qing explores how policies on both sides became persistently counterproductive. Implicit moral and cultural values became woven into policy rationales for both China and the United States. Cultural visions of modernity and understandings of identity played a critical role in each nation's evaluation of the other's intentions and in defining interests and principles in their diplomatic relationship.

Based on American, Russian, and newly declassified Chinese sources, this book reveals rarely examined assumptions that were entrenched in mainstream policy debates on both sides, and sheds light on the origins and development of U.S.-China confrontations that continue to resonate today. Simei Qing also provides a compelling look at the vital role of deeply anchored visions in the origins of human military conflicts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674023444
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	410
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

Simei Qing is Associate Professor of History and International Relations, James Madison College, Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction Cultural Visions and Foreign Policy

1. Perceptions and Realities: Chinese and American Visions of Modernity and Identity in the Modern Era

2. Straining the Cordial Relationship: Truman and the Reconstruction of China after World War II

3. Disillusionment and Polarization: The Failure of the Marshall Mission and Deepening Divisions in Nationalist China

4. New American Strategies: Debates over the Chinese Communist Party and Taiwan in the Truman Administration

5. Two Sides of One Coin: The CCP's Policies toward the Soviet Union and the United States

6. From Adversaries to Enemies: Military Confrontation in Korea

7. Inducement versus Containment: U.S.-China Policy under Eisenhower

8. The Foundation of New China: Conflicting CCP Visions of Industrialization in the 1950s

9. Mao's Magic Weapon: From a Gradualist Political Program to the Hundred Flowers Policy

10. Becoming First-Class Citizens of the World: China's Diplomacy of Peaceful Coexistence

Conclusion Ways of War and Peace: Recognizing Deep-Seated Assumptions in U.S.-China Diplomacy

Notes

Primary Sources

Index

What People are Saying About This

Qing's nuanced analysis of the roots of Chinese Communist-American conflict from the end of World War II to 1960 enriches our understanding of this often tragic period. In addition to her keen appreciation for the cultural dimension of politics, her prodigious use of new Chinese sources adds unique elements to a work of great substance.

Warren I. Cohen

Simei Qing is the most extraordinary historian to come out of China since the floodgates opened in the 1980s. In this long-awaited book, she uses important new Chinese sources, Guomindang as well as Communist, and her training in the sociology of knowledge to provide remarkable insights into Chinese-American relations in the 1940s and 1950s. The study of Chinese-American relations will never be the same.

— Warren I. Cohen, author of The Asian American Century

Michael Schaller

Qing's nuanced analysis of the roots of Chinese Communist-American conflict from the end of World War II to 1960 enriches our understanding of this often tragic period. In addition to her keen appreciation for the cultural dimension of politics, her prodigious use of new Chinese sources adds unique elements to a work of great substance.

— Michael Schaller, University of Arizona

Steven I. Levine

Simei Qing is an important and innovative scholar in the field of modern China's international relations. This is a bold and pioneering work that transcends conventional diplomatic history to get at the intellectual, social, and psychological roots of Sino-American relations.
— Steven I. Levine, University of North Carolina

Editorial Reviews

Simei Qing is an important and innovative scholar in the field of modern China’s international relations. This is a bold and pioneering work that transcends conventional diplomatic history to get at the intellectual, social, and psychological roots of Sino–American relations.

Steven I. Levine

Qing’s nuanced analysis of the roots of Chinese Communist–American conflict from the end of World War II to 1960 enriches our understanding of this often tragic period. In addition to her keen appreciation for the cultural dimension of politics, her prodigious use of new Chinese sources adds unique elements to a work of great substance.

Michael Schaller

Simei Qing is the most extraordinary historian to come out of China since the floodgates opened in the 1980s. In this long-awaited book, she uses important new Chinese sources, Guomindang as well as Communist, and her training in the sociology of knowledge to provide remarkable insights into Chinese–American relations in the 1940s and 1950s. The study of Chinese–American relations will never be the same.

Warren I. Cohen