Competing for Chinese Students in the United States: A Key Battle in a Different Cultural Cold War

Over five thousand Chinese students and scholars were stranded in the United States during the Korean War. How to handle them became a contending issue between Beijing and Washington as soon as the truce agreement was signed in July 1953. The issue has been treated in most existing studies as a minor peg in the post-war diplomatic maneuvers engaged by both sides. This paper offers a systematic examination of the nature, goal, strategies, and outcome of the fight over the Chinese students in the United States in the mid-1950s. Based mostly on the newly released government documents, individual recollections, and newspaper reports, the author reveals that China and the United States entered a full-blown cultural Cold War with the competition for Chinese students a key battle. While Beijing launched a well-coordinated national campaign to get as many students back as possible, Washington took steps to make their extended or even permanent stay in this country as easy as possible. Despite the agreement reached by both sides that removed all legal obstacles for the return of the Chinese students, only several hundred of them chose to go back to China and the number dropped close to zero after 1957. The study of this key battle enhances our understanding of the importance and uniqueness of the Sino-American cultural Cold War. It also helps to prove that it is the battles like this on the cultural front that largely shaped the experience as well as the outcome of the Cold War between China and the United States.