Overview

In 1950 the British government accorded diplomatic recognition to the newly founded People’s Republic of China. But it took 22 years for Britain to establish full diplomatic relations with China. How far was Britain’s China policy a failure until 1972? This book argues that Britain and China were involved in the ‘everyday Cold War’, or a continuous process of contestation and cooperation that allowed them to ‘normalize’ their confrontation in the absence of full diplomatic relations. From Vietnam and Taiwan to the mainland and Hong Kong, China’s ‘everyday Cold War’ against Britain was marked by diplomatic ritual, propaganda rhetoric and symbolic gestures. Rather than pursuing a failed policy of ‘appeasement’, British decision-makers and diplomats regarded engagement or negotiation with China as the best way of fighting the ‘everyday Cold War’. Based on extensive British and Chinese archival sources, this book examines not only the high politics of Anglo-Chinese relations, but also how the British diplomats experienced the Cold War at the local level.

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9781350109193

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Reviews

A dramatic story well told with excellent use made of the UK National Archives’ government papers ... Chi-kwan’s The Everyday Cold War is ... very welcome, plugging a major gap in the historiography of Sino-British relations and the Cold War. It will also undoubtedly provide food for thought to scholars and practitioners of contemporary international relations. * International Affairs * This authoritative and meticulously-researched book is an essential reading for our understanding of the development of Sino-British relations during the Cold War. It makes an important contribution to the study of the twentieth century. * Qiang Zhai, Auburn University at Montgomery, USA * Chi-Kwan Mark has written a powerful account of a key Cold War relationship. The UK-China dynamic is often overshadowed by that between China and the US, but in this monograph, Mark uses rigorous research and rich sources to show that the two countries were concerned to reshape their relationship in ways both confrontational and cooperative. * Rana Mitter, University of Oxford China Centre, UK *

A dramatic story well told with excellent use made of the UK National Archives' government papers ... Chi-kwan's The Everyday Cold War is ... very welcome, plugging a major gap in the historiography of Sino-British relations and the Cold War. It will also undoubtedly provide food for thought to scholars and practitioners of contemporary international relations. * International Affairs * This authoritative and meticulously-researched book is an essential reading for our understanding of the development of Sino-British relations during the Cold War. It makes an important contribution to the study of the twentieth century. * Qiang Zhai, Auburn University at Montgomery, USA * Chi-Kwan Mark has written a powerful account of a key Cold War relationship. The UK-China dynamic is often overshadowed by that between China and the US, but in this monograph, Mark uses rigorous research and rich sources to show that the two countries were concerned to reshape their relationship in ways both confrontational and cooperative. * Rana Mitter, University of Oxford China Centre, UK *

Author Information

Chi-kwan Mark is Senior Lecturer in International History at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. He is the author of Hong Kong and the Cold War: Anglo-American Relations, 1949-1957 (2004) and China and the World since 1945 (2012).

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