China's Cold War Science Diplomacy

During the early decades of the Cold War, the People's Republic of China remained outside much of mainstream international science. Nevertheless, Chinese scientists found alternative channels through which to communicate and interact with counterparts across the world, beyond simple East/West divides. By examining the international activities of elite Chinese scientists, Gordon...

During the early decades of the Cold War, the People's Republic of China remained outside much of mainstream international science. Nevertheless, Chinese scientists found alternative channels through which to communicate and interact with counterparts across the world, beyond simple East/West divides. By examining the international activities of elite Chinese scientists, Gordon Barrett demonstrates that these activities were deeply embedded in the Chinese Communist Party's wider efforts to win hearts and minds from the 1940s to the 1970s. Using a wide range of archival material, including declassified documents from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archive, Barrett provides fresh insights into the relationship between science and foreign relations in the People's Republic of China.

Focusing on the middle of the twentieth century, Dr Gordon Barrett's research on the histories of Sino-foreign scientific exchange and Sino-British scientific networks has intersected with Oxford in a number of ways. On the British side of these relationships, he has explored the international activities, networks, and internationalist agendas of Oxford-based scientists such as...

Focusing on the middle of the twentieth century, Dr Gordon Barrett's research on the histories of Sino-foreign scientific exchange and Sino-British scientific networks has intersected with Oxford in a number of ways. On the British side of these relationships, he has explored the international activities, networks, and internationalist agendas of Oxford-based scientists such as Dorothy Hodgkin and Kurt Mendelssohn, considering how these have helped to shape their relationship with science and scientific colleagues in China.