Selling ‘New’ China: Marketing and the Unmaking of a Semi-colonial State

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Chinese communist trade officials used commercial marketing not just to spur trade with foreign capitalists, but also to redefine China’s national identity in the eyes of companies, consumers, and governments outside the socialist bloc. Chinese officials sought to unmake the perception of China as a backward, ‘semi-colonial’ state and to write a narrative of China as a modern, postcolonial member of the postwar international commercial order. This article examines two persistent themes that emerged within ‘new’ China’s commercial narrative of itself. First, Chinese officials developed a story of solidarity with decolonizing states based on the theme of shared oppression at the hands of imperialist aggressors. Second, Chinese officials used commercial marketing to call for open and inclusive trade, regardless of differences in domestic political systems or ideology. By doing so, these officials wrested ‘free trade’ for China’s own use as a cudgel for attacking U.S. sanctions and as a device for framing ‘new’ China as a champion of trade rights for postcolonial states. Both themes reveal how China sought to redefine its image in the eyes of diverse audiences outside the socialist bloc through international commerce.