The unfathomable foe. Constructing the enemy in the Sino-Soviet borderlands, ca. 1969-1982

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the hostilities between the Soviet Union and China during the period of the bitterest disagreement between the two great socialist powers on the local and regional level at the border between the two states. The article focuses on the region of Chita (Eastern Transbaikalian region) and Hulunbuir (Inner Mongolia). An analysis of the Soviet propaganda reveals that the conflict produced only very few innovations in technology and content. Instead, propaganda material had rather been dug out of the «relic box». Enemy concepts dating back to a former phase of the conflict were rekindled and remained stereotypical and abstract. Because of isolation, the local population perceived the people on the other side of the border as through frosted glass».