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

Zhihua Shen; Yafeng Xia

Published by Columbia University Press 2020

A Misunderstood Friendship

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

Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia

https://doi.org/10.7312/shen18826

Overview
Contents

About this book

Leading diplomatic historians Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia draw on previously untapped primary source materials to offer a unique account of the China–North Korean relationship, uncovering tensions and rivalries that shed new light on the ties between these two communist East Asian nations.

Author / Editor information

Zhihua Shen is the director of the Center for Cold War International History Studies at East China Normal University, Shanghai. The author of a number of major Chinese-language works on Cold War history, he is also the coauthor, with Yafeng Xia, of Mao and the Sino-Soviet Partnership, 1945‒1959: A New History (2015) and coauthor, with Danhui Li, of After Leaning to One Side: China and Its Allies in the Cold War (2011).

Yafeng Xia is professor of history at Long Island University, Brooklyn. His books include Negotiating with the Enemy: U.S.-China Talks During the Cold War, 1949‒1972 (2006).

Reviews

Xiaohe Cheng:
Shen Zhihua and Yafeng Xia’s long-awaited book, A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949–1976, has beaten the odds and emerged to be the best documented, path-breaking monograph in the field of Sino-North Korean studies.

Highly recommended.

Mark Kramer, program director of Cold War studies, Harvard University, coeditor of Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Open the Iron Curtain: The Cold War and East-Central Europe, 1945–1989:
This is the first scholarly book about the history of China’s relationship with North Korea, and no two scholars are better suited than Shen and Xia to take on this task. They have produced a superb book, drawing on a remarkable array of sources. Their book puts to rest some long-standing myths about Sino-North Korean relations and is therefore of immense value for scholars. Although the authors focus on the Cold War period, their survey is very much relevant to current policy debates about security on the Korean peninsula and will be extremely useful for a general audience as well.

Thomas J. Christensen, Columbia University, author of The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power:
This pathbreaking book systematically uncovers the previously hidden history of relations between the Chinese and North Korean Communists. In their painstaking research, their sharp analysis, and their clear exposition, Shen and Xia show why they are considered among the world’s foremost Cold War historians. Given the importance of Cold War history for the dramatic events in Northeast Asia today, this book could not be more timely.

Gregg Brazinsky, George Washington University, author of Winning the Third World: Sino-American Rivalry During the Cold War:
Anyone who reads this groundbreaking study will gain a new perspective on current Sino-North Korean relations. Using a host of new Chinese materials, A Misunderstood Friendship reveals fascinating new details about both Chinese and North Korean policy. It will be a must-read for all who are interested in the Cold War in East Asia.

A well-documented study.

[An] important contribution...Shen and Xia reveal harsh conflicts between the leaders of China and North Korea during the Korean War.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Refuting a Historical Myth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER I Victory and Expansion of the Revolution in China and North Korea, 1945–1950 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
CHAPTER II Sharp Contradictions Among the Leadership, 1950– 1953 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
CHAPTER III Chinese Economic Aid and Kim’s Juche Idea, 1953– 1956 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
CHAPTER IV Mao’s Policy of Mollification, 1957– 1960 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
CHAPTER V North Korea’s Balancing Act, 1961–1965 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
CHAPTER VI The Lowest Ebb, 1966– 1969 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
CHAPTER VII China’s Last Ally, 1970– 1976 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Epilogue China and North Korea in the Era of Deng Xiaoping Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Illustrations
- Other: 12 b&w illustrations

eBook

Published: November 3, 2020
ISBN: 9780231553674