Learning from Czechoslovakia: Chinese Students and Experts Sent to Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1960s
Abstract
After 1949, both China and Czechoslovakia were socialist countries allied with the Soviet Union. In 1952, both countries signed a Cultural Treaty, which provided for an exchange of students as well as academic experts.
The number of Chinese students in Czechoslovakia (less than 100) and Czechoslovak experts visiting China (around 30) was small relatively to the exchanges with the Soviet Union, but it significantly displayed the dynamics of the relationships between China and relatively advanced socialist countries. Chinese scholars came to Czechoslovakia to learn mainly mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering.
Czechoslovak authorities tried to arrange generous conditions for them. Exchanges between the Academies of Sciences received even higher support, especially between 1957 and 1959, when funding for visits to and from China became second only to funding for exchanges with USSR.
Nevertheless, the documentary record reveals various problems encountered in practical implementation of this programme, some due to diverging politics of the two countries, other resulting from ignorance of different culture and customs which could not be superseded by shared socialist values. The academic exchanges cooled in the early 1960s, precisely when Czechoslovak scientists started to be more interested in China and eager to suggest common research projects.