"To build, we must have knowledge and we must master science. And to have knowledge, we must study, tenaciously and patiently. Learn from all, from enemies or friends, especially from enemies. --Stalin
On March 2, 1969, the Soviet Border Guard invaded China's Treasure Island, killing and wounding six patrol members of the Chinese Border Guard Force, and in order to avoid more people being harmed, the Chinese Border Guard Force was forced to fight back in self-defense.
After a series of battles, Chinese border guards successfully drove the invading Soviets out of Zhenbao Island. Sino-Soviet relations have been deteriorating since 1958, and the outbreak of the Battle of Treasure Island meant that Sino-Soviet relations had deteriorated to the extreme.
Since then, China has become more wary of the Soviet Union, and its actions on China's northeastern border have become increasingly undisguised. Although the Soviet Union at that time was infuriating, before that, when China and the Soviet Union were closely related, our country had received assistance from the Soviet Union in all aspects.
So do you know how big the Amount of Soviet Aid to China was at that time for more than a decade? Here we may wish to take a brief look.
Soviet aid to Chinese paintings
Why did the Soviet Union come to China's aid?
In fact, the Soviet Union will provide assistance to China for more than a decade, which has a great relationship with the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. When New China was just founded, the world pattern showed a situation with the United States and the Soviet Union as the center and other countries as the foil.
The Soviet Union and the United States both wanted to become world hegemons, but shortly after the end of World War II, it was impossible for the United States and the Soviet Union to launch a large-scale war to compete for the position of world hegemon.
Thus the Cold War and confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union occurred in this situation. The United States and the Soviet Union, which could not directly enhance their international status through war, set their sights on other countries in the world.
Just at this time, a civil war broke out on the Korean Peninsula, and the two countries fighting against each other just happened to belong to the two camps of the United States and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, which was united by the United States, was not a rival to North Korea at all, which gave the United States the opportunity to intervene in the war.
Chinese volunteers on the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea
The addition of the United States has quickly brought North Korea into decline, and once the Korean Peninsula is reunified by South Korea, it is tantamount to putting a "time bomb" on its side. And this "time bomb" will also have a significant impact on China's development.
Our country intervened in the Korean War with the main purpose of self-preservation and on the premise that the Soviet Union promised to provide the weapons and equipment needed by the Chinese volunteers.
Because the performance of the Chinese volunteers in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was very outstanding, this made the Soviet side firm in the idea of placing China in the same camp as itself, and this is the main reason why some scholars will say that "the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea strengthened Sino-Soviet ties."
After Sino-Soviet relations became more and more intimate, the United States' control over the Asian region undoubtedly weakened a lot, which made the United States have to consider re-establishing a spokesperson for its own power in Asia.
Chinese Volunteer Army
So which country is better? Japan. First, because Japan was under the control of the United States after World War II, and second, because Japan had a certain military production capacity during the Korean War because of the deliberate relaxation of the United States.
After the Soviet Union discovered that the United States began to "invest" in Japan, in order to ensure that its own expansion of influence in Asia could be smoother, it also began to provide assistance and "investment" to China.
Of course, the Soviet Union also carefully considered when choosing the countries to be assisted, compared with other countries in the Asian region, China is the object of secret attention of the United States, and one of the countries that the United States does not want to develop in the world is China.
Moreover, China also has a blood feud with Japan, which the United States is ready to support, and it is easier to attract the attention of the United States and increase its influence than to aid other countries.
Paintings aided by the Soviet Union
Soviet aid to China for more than a decade
During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Union provided China with equipment for 64 army divisions and 23 air force divisions, although most of the equipment was provided for a fee, but it did facilitate the Soviet Union to continue to carry out the aid project to China.
At that time, the leader of the Soviet Union was Stalin, and the Soviet Union developed very rapidly under his leadership, and our country also quickly established a complete industrial system under the influence of the Soviet Union through multiple five-year plans.
And while helping China build its industrial system, the Soviet Union did not forget to provide economic assistance to China. It is understood that between 1950 and 1952, China's production capacity performance data is relatively small.
However, since the Soviet Union began to aid China, China's new production capacity data has soared, for example, China's coal mining volume was only 15.637 million tons / year before the Soviet Union's assistance, and after the assistance directly increased to 23.437 million tons / year or more.
Old photos of the Soviet Union aiding China
The reason why China's production capacity data in some fields has such a large increase is greatly related to the completion of 50 preliminary projects in the 156 project proposed by Stalin.
After the sino-Soviet cooperation achieved considerable results with the naked eye, the Soviet Union sent a large number of advanced talents and scientific research experts to China, who provided a lot of help for China's construction and development in various fields.
The most rare thing is that the Soviet Union under Stalin actually achieved "it is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish." While aiding China experts to help China carry out domestic construction, the Soviet Union also actively accepted a large number of students, cadres and scientific researchers from China.
These people received good care and subsidies in the Soviet Union, and after they returned from their studies, they further promoted China's progress and development in related fields.
Old photos of the honeymoon period between China and the Soviet Union
On March 5, 1953, Stalin died. Khrushchev then succeeded Stalin, and during the Khrushchev era, relations between China and the Soviet Union became closer. It is understood that in July 1954, China proposed to the Soviet Union:
It is hoped that the Soviet Union can continue to supplement some assistance on the original project. Khrushchev did not think long about this, and after agreeing to China's request, he increased the planned equipment supply and technical cooperation funds by almost 400 million rubles.
In addition, Khrushchev also offered that Chinese enterprises under construction could use new technologies and equipment that had just been developed or improved by the Soviet Union.
Not only that, Khrushchev also approved a low-interest military loan worth 520 million rubles to help our country better enhance its military strength. After doing this, the Soviet Union also boldly sent a large number of scientific research experts to China again.
Expert on Soviet aid to China
According to statistics, between 1955 and 1959, during the Khrushchev administration of the Soviet Union, 51,792 sets of technical documents alone were provided to China.
It can be said that at this stage, soviet assistance to China covered industry, transportation, science and technology, education and other aspects, and during the entire period of the First Five-Year Plan, the Soviet Union's scientific and technical assistance to China accounted for half of the total scientific and technological assistance to socialist countries.
We do need to thank the Soviet Union for the many help it has given to China, but at the same time we have to admit that the Soviet Union was so good to China at that time, and indeed had some other purposes.
As an industrial power, the Soviet Union itself had fatal flaws that could not be ignored in other aspects, and it was precisely because of this that the Soviet Union began to intervene in China's development direction after it reached a certain height.
The Soviet Union helped China build its industrial system
It is understood that at that time, the Soviet Union proposed that China should go all out to develop agriculture and abandon development in other fields. Naturally, China will not agree to this.
It was precisely because of this that the Soviet Union simply withdrew its experts in China to aid China, intending to hinder China's progress in various fields. As a clip from the movie "Born Out of the Blue" interprets:
The Soviet Union believed that it could provide nuclear protection to China, and China did not need to develop it itself, and China's attitude towards it was "it is better to have a father and a wife than to have it yourself."
Under this ideological difference, China and the Soviet Union naturally could not continue to cooperate. Although Soviet aid to China ceased, the completed aid programs continued to support China's continued development.
Stills from the movie "Born Out of the Blue"
The amount of Soviet aid to China
In sum, stripped of certain subjective or objective factors, we must acknowledge and thank the Soviet Union for its generosity. According to Soviet archives, the Soviet Union aided China with at least 9.4 billion rubles during its aid to China.
If this money had been used on the Soviet Union itself at the time, it would have been sufficient to solve the housing problems of all soviet townspeople. Not to mention that in addition to this assistance, the Soviet Union also provided China with a large number of interest loans and help that could not be assessed with money! You can imagine how good the Soviet Union was to China at that time.
Chinese researchers discussing issues with Soviet experts