Participation of MSU professors in forming the system of economic education in the PRC

The paper analyzes the impact of the model of MSU Economics faculty on forming the system of teaching political economy in China in the 1950s. The focus of the research is on the activities of MSU economists at the People’s University of China (V. A. Zhamin, N. K. Karataev) and Peking University (Ya. S. Kumachenko). The study is based on the materials in Chinese that reveal little-known aspects of the work of Soviet economists in China. In Russia, this topic has not been sufficiently studied, while in China negative assessments of the borrowed Soviet model of economic education prevailed for a long time. The paper is aimed at a comprehensive objective reconstruction of the processes of transferring theoretical economic knowledge and practical teaching experience from the USSR to China. The subject of the research is the forms and mechanisms of interaction between MSU teachers and the Chinese economic community, including giving lectures, compiling curricula and manuals. The author puts forward a hypothesis that mastering the Soviet model of teaching economic disciplines was due to the need to accelerate the replacement of old pre-revolutionary courses in economics with Marxist political economy, alongside the practical need to build socialist economy in China. The paper examines the contribution of MSU economists to training qualified teaching staff capable of using theoretical knowledge to analyze Chinese problems. The role of MSU teachers in establishing “teaching and research sections” (kafedry) in Chinese universities according to the Soviet model made it possible to coordinate educational work and organize scientific research. Although Chinese interest in the Soviet version of Marxist political economy declined under the influence of political changes in the second half of the 1950s, it had a long-term impact on teaching and research of economic theory in the PRC. The author concludes that the academic tradition transferred by the economists of Moscow State University in the 1950s has undergone a lasting and comprehensive sinofication.

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