Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960
This article explores an understudied aspect in Asia's Cold War history: how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used Hong Kong as a Cold War pivot to produce and disseminate left-wing literature for overseas Chinese living in Southeast Asia. It argues that the CCP's expanding cultural influ...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162443 |
| _version_ | 1811681050974224384 |
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| author | Mok, Florence |
| author2 | School of Humanities |
| author_facet | School of Humanities Mok, Florence |
| author_sort | Mok, Florence |
| collection | NTU |
| description | This article explores an understudied aspect in Asia's Cold War history: how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used Hong Kong as a Cold War pivot to produce and disseminate left-wing literature for overseas Chinese living in Southeast Asia. It argues that the CCP's expanding cultural influence can be attributed to the Party's commercial acumen. Operating within a permissive colonial regulatory regime, the CCP expanded its control of local and regional markets for left-wing printed materials. The content of CCP literature was inevitably propagandistic-that is, shaped by the changing demands of the Chinese government's foreign policy and by a need to attract foreign remittances and accommodate socialist transformation at home. Hong Kong's emergence as a pivot in propaganda wars that were global in scope created tensions between the United States and Britain, and led governments in Southeast Asia to strengthen state controls on imported communist media. As such, this article makes an original contribution to Hong Kong colonial history and deepens our understanding of transnational dynamics within Southeast Asia. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:34:47Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/162443 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:34:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1624432022-10-19T04:12:08Z Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 Mok, Florence School of Humanities Humanities::History Overseas Chinese Cold War This article explores an understudied aspect in Asia's Cold War history: how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used Hong Kong as a Cold War pivot to produce and disseminate left-wing literature for overseas Chinese living in Southeast Asia. It argues that the CCP's expanding cultural influence can be attributed to the Party's commercial acumen. Operating within a permissive colonial regulatory regime, the CCP expanded its control of local and regional markets for left-wing printed materials. The content of CCP literature was inevitably propagandistic-that is, shaped by the changing demands of the Chinese government's foreign policy and by a need to attract foreign remittances and accommodate socialist transformation at home. Hong Kong's emergence as a pivot in propaganda wars that were global in scope created tensions between the United States and Britain, and led governments in Southeast Asia to strengthen state controls on imported communist media. As such, this article makes an original contribution to Hong Kong colonial history and deepens our understanding of transnational dynamics within Southeast Asia. Nanyang Technological University The research for this article was funded by the Association for Asian Studies’ China and Inner Asia Council Small Grant Award. Open access to this article has been made possible by an NAP-SUG grant (research account number 03INS001207C420), provided by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 2022-10-19T04:12:08Z 2022-10-19T04:12:08Z 2021 Journal Article Mok, F. (2021). Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960. Historical Journal, 1-21. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X21000790 0018-246X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162443 10.1017/S0018246X21000790 2-s2.0-85121209462 1 21 en 03INS001207C420 Historical Journal © 2021 The Author(s). All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::History Overseas Chinese Cold War Mok, Florence Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 |
| title | Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 |
| title_full | Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 |
| title_fullStr | Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 |
| title_short | Disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia through Hong Kong, the Cold War pivot, 1949-1960 |
| title_sort | disseminating and containing communist propaganda to overseas chinese in southeast asia through hong kong the cold war pivot 1949 1960 |
| topic | Humanities::History Overseas Chinese Cold War |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/162443 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mokflorence disseminatingandcontainingcommunistpropagandatooverseaschineseinsoutheastasiathroughhongkongthecoldwarpivot19491960 |