Cultural education as containment of communism : the ambivalent position of American NGOs in Hong Kong in the 1950s

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Journal of Cold War Studies

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Volume

12

Issue

2

First Page

3

Last Page

28

Publisher

M I T Press

Abstract

This article discusses the ambivalent role of U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in shaping Hong Kong's institutions of higher education in the 1950s. Cold War concerns about Communist expansion induced the NGOs to pursue ideological goals that were not part of their main mission, even as they continued policy directions that superseded and sometimes unintentionally counteracted Cold War thinking and strategies. Hong Kong, as a site important but marginal to both China and Britain, had strategic value in the Cold War and as such impelled many different forces to contest it. By examining how U.S. NGO educational work in Hong Kong both reinforced and destabilized Cold War ideology, one gains a clearer picture not only of Hong Kong's cultural significance in Cold War politics but also the ambiguity of Cold War intellectual paradigms of culture and education.

DOI

10.1162/jcws.2010.12.2.3

Print ISSN

15203972

E-ISSN

15313298

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2010 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Chou, A. L. G. (2010). Cultural education as containment of communism: The ambivalent position of American NGOs in Hong Kong in the 1950s. Journal of Cold War Studies, 12(2), 3-28. doi: 10.1162/jcws.2010.12.2.3

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