Breaking the Bamboo Curtain: China's Economic Statecraft, Trade with the West and Its Influence on the Cold War

The thesis will discuss China's foreign trade with western capitalist countries during Mao's era. It aims to show, first, the experience and practice of economic diplomacy initiated by the Chinese Communists to break the Western trade embargo and maximize political benefits, from 1950 to 1976; second, this project examines the role of trade as a bridge between Communist China and the West, particularly with the United States from confrontation to reconciliation.