The book "Life to live: Essays. Reflections" (Moscow, 2008, 589 p.) is a memoir essay by a well-known Sinologist, Doctor of Economics, diplomat Vadim Ivanovich Shabalin. It seems to me that the book is particularly interesting for Orientalists. Even when the author writes about topics that are not related to the East, for example, about the problems of his small homeland-Vyatka land, he often looks at the situation through the eyes of a Sinologist. V. Shabalin, who graduated in 1954 from the Economics Department of the Lomonosov Moscow State University with a specialization in China, had to deal not only with this country.
Unique information can be found in the sections devoted to the author's studies in Beijing in the late 50s and work in the Soviet embassy in the 60s of the last century. This is an inside look at the turning points of modern Chinese history, such as the politics of the "great leap forward" and the "cultural revolution".
Analyzing the ups and downs in Soviet-Chinese relations of those years, V. Shabalin explains them not so much by ideological differences, but by the consonance or discrepancy between the national and state interests of the two countries at different historical stages.
This interpretation seems reasonable. After all, the author knows very well what he is writing about. He was involved in our relations not only as a diplomat and academic, but also as an employee and then head of the China sector in the Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU for relations with the Communist and workers ' parties of socialist countries. The book speaks frankly not only about the strengths in the international activities of the Central Committee of the CPSU, but also about the bottlenecks, such as excessive ideologization and lack of initiative.
V. Shabalin's career as the Soviet ambassador to the Philippines began rather poorly. In early 1986, he had to present his credentials to President F. Marcos on the eve of the overthrow of his authorita ...
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