Today, the People’s Republic of China is North Korea’s only ally on the world stage, a tightly knit relationship that goes back decades. Both countries portray their partnership as one of “brotherly affection” based on shared political ideals―an alliance “as tight as lips to teeth”―even though relations have deteriorated in recent years due to China’s ascendance and North Korea’s intransigence. In A Misunderstood Friendship, leading diplomatic historians Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia draw on previously untapped primary source materials revealing tensions and rivalries to offer a unique account of the China–North Korea relationship. They unravel the twists and turns in high-level diplomacy between China and North Korea from the late 1940s to the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Through unprecedented access to Chinese government documents, Soviet and Eastern European archives, and in-depth interviews with former Chinese diplomats and North Korean defectors, Shen and Xia reveal that the tensions that currently plague the alliance between the two countries have been present from the very beginning of the relationship. They significantly revise existing narratives of the Korean War, China’s postwar aid to North Korea, Kim Il-sung’s ideological and strategic thinking, North Korea’s relations with the Soviet Union, and the importance of the Sino-U.S. rapprochement, among other issues. A Misunderstood Friendship adds new depth to our understanding of one of the most secretive and significant relationships of the Cold War, with increasing relevance to international affairs today.

A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino–North Korean Relations, 1949–1976 (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)

History

Xia, Yafeng

Shen, Zhihua

Asia

Columbia University Press

Today, the People's Republic of China is North Korea's only ally on the world stage, a tightly knit relationship that goes back decades. Both countries portray their partnership as one of "brotherly affection" based on shared political ideals--an alliance "as tight as lips to teeth"--even though relations have deteriorated in recent years due to China's ascendance and North Korea's intransigence. In A Misunderstood Friendship, leading diplomatic historians Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia draw on previously untapped primary source materials revealing tensions and rivalries to offer a unique account of the China-North Korea relationship. They unravel the twists and turns in high-level diplomacy between China and North Korea from the late 1940s to the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Based on unprecedented access to Chinese government documents, Soviet and Eastern European archives, and in-depth interviews with former Chinese diplomats and North Korean defectors, Shen and Xia reveal that the tensions that currently plague the alliance between the two countries have been present from the very beginning of the relationship. They significantly revise existing narratives of the Korean War, China's postwar aid to North Korea, Kim Il-sung's ideological and strategic thinking, North Korea's relations with the Soviet Union, and the importance of the Sino-U.S. rapprochement, among other issues. A Misunderstood Friendship adds new depth to our understanding of one of the most secretive and significant relationships of the Cold War, with increasing relevance to international affairs today.

A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949-1976: Revised Edition

After Leaning to One Side traces the rise and fall of the Sino-Soviet alliance between 1949 and 1973, emphasizing tension over the Korean and Vietnam wars. Underscoring the theme of inherent conflict within the communist movement, this book shows that while that movement was an international campaign with an imposing theory and an impressive party structure, it was also a collection of sovereign states with disparate national interests. This book explains how this dissonance was further complicated by the unequal development of the Chinese and Soviet states and their communist parties, and traces some of China's actions to Mao's grasping at leadership of the communist movement after the death of Stalin.

After Leaning to One Side: China and Its Allies in the Cold War (Cold War International History Project)

Li, Danhui

Stanford University Press

Mao, Stalin and the Korean War: Trilateral Communist Relations in the 1950s (Cold War History)

Routledge

Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 1945–1959: A New History (The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series)

Based on Chinese archival documents, interviews, and more than twenty years of research on the subject, Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia offer a comprehensive look at the Sino-Soviet alliance between the end of the World War II and 1959, when the alliance was left in disarray as a result of foreign and domestic policies. This book is a reevaluation of the history of this alliance and is the first book published in English to examine it from a Chinese perspective.

Lexington Books

Based on Chinese archival documents, interviews, and more than twenty years of research on the subject, Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia offer a comprehensive look at the Sino-Soviet alliance between the end of the World War II and 1959, when the alliance was left in disarray as a result of foreign and domestic policies. This book is a reevaluation of the history of this alliance and is the first book published in English to examine it from a Chinese perspective.

Why the hope and expectation in 1956 turned to the disappointment and depression in 1957? Why the CCP's eighth congress decided to deepen democracy, strengthen the legal system and concentrate on construction, but did the opposite way in 1957? Why Mao Zedong followed the same old disastrous road of Stalin after seeing the all kinds of drawbacks of the Soviet socialist model? Why the elites of Chinese communist party made this choice after thoughtful thinking? How did this happen? What role did China play in the crisis of Poland and Hungary? This book tries to use the documentary and historical materials we could see to describe this historical process.

The Choice at the Fork: China from 1956-1957 (Chinese Edition)

Guangdong Peoples Publishing House

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shen, Zhihua. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shen, Zhihua

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shen, Zhihua. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino–North Korean Relations, 1949–1976 (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)

A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949-1976: Revised Edition

After Leaning to One Side: China and Its Allies in the Cold War (Cold War International History Project)

Mao, Stalin and the Korean War: Trilateral Communist Relations in the 1950s (Cold War History)

Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 1945–1959: A New History (The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series)

Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 1945–1959: A New History (The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series)

The Choice at the Fork: China from 1956-1957 (Chinese Edition)