Andrew Kuech, Northeastern University

America the Imperialist, American the Benevolent: Locating US Empire in Chinese Cold War Propaganda

In the midst of the Korean War and amid heighted tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the nascent and rival Chinese governments in Beijing and Taipei launched competing propaganda campaigns to elicit the sympathies and support of the international community.  Seeking to shape the opinions of American and English-speaking audiences, the governments of both Beijing and Taipei began production of magazines designed specifically in English that offered “true” pictures of China and the Chinese people. Central to both of these periodicals was the depiction of the United States.  The fortnightly People’s China from Beijing offered consistent and vitriolic attacks upon an evil and imperialistic American Empire. Conversely, Taipei’s monthly Free China Review championed Taiwan’s alliance with a munificent American people and government. Neither magazine, however, accepted or used American military or popular rhetoric in rhythm with the stated intentions of the American government. Instead, both magazines offered their own unique interpretations of the United States and its role in East Asia and used the American global presence to develop distinctive national and group identities. These periodicals reveal that the United States’ global projection of power was not simply a linear process of influence and manipulation but was contested, embraced and renegotiated by people in local spaces far from American shores.