ABSTRACT

Focusing on the time after the Sino-Soviet split, this chapter investigates the Chinese reception of a few Soviet literary works translated between 1960 and 1976. Published as “internal references” and distributed through restricted channels, many of these books reached beyond the designated readership and were secretly shared among educated youth. Rather than being swayed by official interpretations, the new generation of readers found enlightenment and spiritual freedom in Soviet works, which they used to resist the tightened control of minds in the Cultural Revolution. Soviet culture thus turned into an even more liberating force for the Chinese society.