ABSTRACT
In the second half of the Cold War, China-related research in Hungary was of a relatively high standard. A small group of scholars read the Chinese press, translated a selection of official Chinese publications, and distributed them on a restricted basis while also publishing analytical and situation reports on Chinese domestic and foreign policies. This research activity was motivated, above all, by political considerations. Soviet propaganda, which often made references to the results of scientific research, tried to return the Chinese leadership to the “correct” developmental path of socialism. To achieve their goal, the Soviets made use of the research capacities of their satellite states. The Soviet-led system of research on modern China came into being in the 1970s and existed for over a decade. This chapter investigates the institutional framework for research on modern China in Hungary. It reviews the main features of relations between the Soviet Bloc and China from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s and explores Soviet intentions to control the activities of their satellites. By outlining these policies, the chapter puts the development of research on modern China in Hungary into context, based, primarily, on Hungarian archival sources.
