Folklore and Global Cross-cultural Communication in the Communist World: Poland and China in the 1950s

Abstract

This article analyses the state-sponsored efforts of cross-cultural communication between Poland and China in the early 1950s. These exchanges took the form of lavishly sponsored tours of each country’s best folkloristic song-and-dance troupes. These tours were based on a shared vision of a global socialist unity that could overcome the ‘imperialistic’ divisions of race, nation and class. This article demonstrates how in both countries intellectuals and activists engaged in a parallel development of folklore for their political ends, and how the experiences of past suffering and struggle in both countries were used to maximize the emotional and political impact of these contacts.