Foreign experts in the People’s Republic of China: an historical review from the perspectives of modernization and globalization (1949-1966)

ABSTRACT In the history of the People’s Republic of China we see two waves of foreign experts who contributed to China’s becoming a self-reliant, modern industrialized country. The first wave took place in the 1950s when experts from the Soviet Union and other Eastern Europe countries were dispatched to China. The second wave, beginning in the 1960s, was mainly driven by experts, workers and technicians from the Western capitalist countries. In the early days of the P. R. C, the arrival of a large number of Soviet experts precipitated the systems established by the CCP Central Committee and the State Council in order to manage issues related to the foreign experts. Under the leadership of a bureau within the State Council that was responsible for these issues, the system incorporated government organizations both at the central and local levels, including those established by Central ministries and commissions. Under the principle of “equal treatment,” the Chinese government made policies concerning payment and benefits for experts from capitalist countries, using as reference the standards observed in the Soviet Union and other East European countries in the mid-1950s. From the time when Soviet and East European experts departed China to 1966, the Chinese government still adhered to the principles of “seeking common ground” and “different approaches towards internal and external issues,” respectively. The approach of the Chinese government was largely cost efficient.