| The World Youth Festival is a large-scale international cultural and sports exchange activity for the youth,dominated by the Soviet Union.Since its inception,even if the Festival played“Peace and Friendship"banner,also could not cover up its distinct ideological color.In particular,socialist countries led by the Soviet Union actively took advantage of the Festival,launched the "battle for the hearts and minds" for the world’s youth groups with capitalist countries.Members of Chinese Communist Party,long influenced by Soviet political culture,also regarded the Festival as an important diplomatic arena.From the first Festival in 1947 to the eighth Festival in 1962,a total of more than 3,000 Chinese youth delegations participated in.“Peace"and“Friendship" were not only the gist of the Festival,but also the basic purpose and expectation of China’s participation in the Festival.The main thinking of the CPC and the government of China,was to broaden diplomatic channels and establish an international image by means of the members of the Chinese youth delegation themselves,cultural and sports programs,and exchanges at conferences during the Festival.From the perspective of Chinese diplomatic history,particularly cultural and people-to people exchanges,this paper explores the diplomatic effect and other harvest of China’s participation in the Festival,by sorting out the international situation of the previous Festivals from 1947 to 1962,the preparation of the Festival by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government,the activities of the Chinese youth delegation in the Festival venue and other basic historical facts.The main body of the paper consists of four parts:introduction,text,conclusion and appendix.The introduction mainly combs the research background and academic history,and there are brief introductions of the World Youth Festival and the principal part of Chinese participants in it.The text is divided into two parts.The first part is divided into chapters one to four,according to the prominent characteristics of the time period,especially the features of China’s foreign policy reflected by the Chinese youth delegation in the Festival activities.The fifth chapter is the second part of the article,which discusses the significance of China’s participation in the festival.The conclusion part is the summary and sublimation of the full text.The appendix is the list of Chinese delegates to the Festival from 1947 to 1962.The first chapter "The beginning of China’s participation into the World Youth Festival(1947-1949)",is to discuss the source of China’s active participation in the Festival.Even before the founding of the People’s Republic of China,there had been a link between Chinese youth organizations and the Festival organizer.The CPC Central Committee committed to establishing the image of the liberated areas in the international community.Therefore,in 1947,it organized the youth from the liberated areas to attend the first Prague Festival,and in 1949,it organized the Chinese Democratic Youth delegation to attend the second Budapest Festival.These two participation experiences laid the foundation for the future Chinese rulers to understand the role of publicity and diplomacy of the Festival,which is the beginning of China to become a staunch supporter of the festival.The second chapter,“The continued attraction of the World Youth Festival to China(1950-1953)",points out that after the founding of CPR,China’s international environment was sinister under the Iron Curtain of the Cold War.The main themes of the Festival,“Peace" and "friendship",attracted young people from all over the world,and the Festival became an important stage for China’s foreign affairs.With the development of friendly relations with the Soviet Union,during the Berlin Festival in 1951 and the Bucharest Festival in 1953,in order to consolidate the Sino-Soviet alliance and maintain the socialist alliance,the activities of the Chinese youth delegation were comparatively clearly "one-sided",toward the Soviet Union.The third chapter“The climax of China participating in the World Youth Festival(1954-1957)" holds that during the mid-1950s,owing to the peaceful international atmosphere and the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party,the Festival in the world influence continued to increase,and reached its peak in the Moscow Festival.At the same time,the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence had become the basic approach of China’s diplomacy,and the Chinese youth delegation upheld these principles during the Warsaw Festival in 1955.With the expansion of China’s international political influence and economic power,China’s interaction with capitalist and nationalist countries is even more pronounced.Although the 1957 Moscow Festival was still in the "honeymoon period" between China and the Soviet Union,China also sent a delegation of thousands of people at the request of the Soviet Union,but this could not hinder the Chinese youth delegation with the United States and other capitalist countries youth had eager communications.The fourth chapter "China gradually sequence exit Festival and its end(1959-1962)",discuss how and why China gradually exit from the Festival.In the late 1950s,the Soviet Union was no longer satisfied that the power of the festival was limited to socialist countries.With Sino-Soviet relations being deteriorated openly,at the Vienna Festival in 1959,the Chinese youth delegation focused on fresh nationalistic countries.In 1962,the number of Chinese delegations to the Helsinki Festival dropped to 100,and the trend of cooling was obvious.In 1966,under the influence of the Cultural Revolution,China withdrew its representatives from the Festival organizers and expressed its opposition to the Soviet Union by withdrawing from the Festival.But this did not mean that China’s presence on the Festival would disappear forever.The fifth chapter discusses the influence of Chinese to participate in the Festival.Regardless of the final outcome,decades of participation in the World Youth Festival has great significance for China and its youth:it has not only promoted the development of literary and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries,shaped new socialist people,but also established and publicized the image of the CPC and China,which to some extent broadened the channels of China’s diplomacy and enriched the ways and methods of China’s diplomacy.China’s appearance in the Festival and its strong support for the Soviet Union aroused the attention of the Western world.The experience of struggle and socialist construction introduced by China at the Festival has reverberated worldwide.The conclusion points out that China’s identity in the World Youth Festival had undergone a transformation from an active supporter to a gloomy opponent,which is a reflection of Sino-Soviet relations from close to split;The Chinese youth delegation’s exchanges with different countries during the Festival are also a microcosm of China’s diplomatic history. |
PDF Full Text Request