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The “Socialist Other”: Cuba in Chinese Ideological Debates since the 1990s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2012

Yinghong Cheng
Yinghong Cheng
Affiliation:
Delaware State University. Email: ycheng@desu.edu
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Abstract

This article offers an analytical introduction to some important Cuba-related discussions in China in the last two-and-a-half decades. No Latin American nation has been treated like Castros' (Fidel and Raul) Cuba in China's ideological development. Cuba's revolutionary experience in the past and the regime's defiance of major global trends – from retreat of socialism to advancement of neo-liberalism – correspond to a wide range of opinions in China and are exploited by them to address their own concerns. To borrow Orientalist analysis, just like the “Other” helps define “Self,” as a “socialist Other,” Cuba in Chinese perception often reflects China's own confusions and contradictions.

Keywords

ChinaCubareformsideology
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 209 , March 2012 , pp. 198 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2012

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References

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2 Suo Sa is a pen name of Liu Chengjun. The author made it clear that the article was a response to a previous article on Guevara.

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34 The company is registered with Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce as a co-operative but under the supervision of the China Scholarship Council, according to its website. It is conceivable that it has to share the money it makes with the Scholarship Council. For Oriental International's place in the Scholarship Council's structure, see http://www.csc.edu.cn/About/.

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37 http://tieba.baidu.com/p/265390921?pn=1.

38 Ibid.

39 Zhang Caiguo, “An analysis of neo-liberal ideology.”

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45 The attendants included high-ranking officers from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the CCP's International Department, CASS, People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency. Foreign guests included the ambassadors of Cuba and Venezuela (another anti-neoliberal Latin American country) and diplomats from many Latin American countries.

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47 Qin, He, “Xin ziyouzhuyi quanqiuhua yu Lamei yitihua: weiji yu tidai” (“Neoliberal globalization and Latin American integration: crisis and alternative”) Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 32, No. 4 (2010)Google Scholar. This article was also published in Studies of Marxism, No. 9 (2010).