China’s Image in Russia: Historical Background

Abstract

Studying the cultural specificity of the neighboring countries is an important research question for philosophical anthropology and philosophy of culture as it gives a perspective of new possibilities of interaction and partnership in various areas. People’s understanding of a different culture originates from a complex interrelation of consciously chosen strategies and unconsciously projected feelings. The resulting image of the Other culture often plays a significant role in policy-making and helps determine the quality and extent of interrelations, including cooperation, both at the governmental and non-governmental levels. There are multiple ways of constructing such an image. Intensified contacts, that include direct interaction, diplomatic and scientific contacts, lead to the increase of knowledge about neighboring countries’ lifestyle, household organization, and traditions. Art is one of the key means of getting to know another culture. The author pays special attention to visual images, namely political caricature, as interesting yet poorly explored ways of forming the image of China in Russian society’s perception. Herein political caricature, i.e. political visual satire, not only translates the atmosphere of those times but also greatly affects the audience and influences public opinion by creating strong and vivid impressions. Both external and internal images of the self-perception of the Chinese played their role in the development of the perception of China. Their comparative analysis proves that these images underwent a certain evolution in Russia: the image of the neighboring state dynamically altered over the years. Emotional and affective evaluations of China several times drastically changed from positive to negative, and back. The paper explores peculiar features of the political caricature of the 20th century and looks into the ways the imagery shows the Chinese in the light of major political events. It is noted that the images represent both Chinese and Russian historical and cultural context of the epoch. During the period under consideration, the Soviet way of thinking about China mainly came from the logical approach of seeing China as the Other. At the same time, this period is characterized by an increased interest in universal human values of freedom and political independence, the unity of the working population, and the positive outlook on the workpeople’s future. The Chinese middle kingdom in the vein of proletarian internationalism appears a leader fighting for the above-mentioned values. This friendly approach towards China and the possibility of a partnership between the countries remains unquestioned till the 1950s.