Quenching the Thirst: On the Contact of Soviet Scientists with Chinese Scientists in the 1950s

抄録

In the 1950s, the Soviet Union provided scientific and technological assistance to Chinese projects geared toward economic development and the modernization of their military armament, which included nuclear weapon development. Many Soviet scientists were dispatched to China to assist Chinese scientists during that period. What motivated them to visit China? Were they merely complying with their government's request? A comprehensive study on the Soviet scientific and technological assistance to China does not reveal the true intentions of the involved Soviet scientists. Some scientists who were dispatched to China in the 1950s submitted reports on their visits to China to the Soviet Academy of Sciences and its research institutes. These reports have been preserved in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Drawing primarily from these archival sources, which had not been referred to in previous literature, this paper attempts to find the answer that corresponds with the newest developments in Soviet studies̶which suggest that their own motivations of the scientists should be given more consideration than they previously were.