Triggering the Cold War: New Perspectives on Misperceptions and Misjudgments with Shen Zhihua

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Why and how did the Cold War begin? The origins of the Cold War have been the subject of extensive study and debate. Through thorough, multilingual, and multi-archival research, China's leading historian of the Cold War Shen Zhihua argues that the conflict between the US and the USSR was rooted in mutual misperceptions and misjudgments regarding economic policies. Domestic-focused speeches and policies were mistakenly seen as signs of aggressive global ambitions. Even George Kennan’s famous “long telegram” and “X” article misinterpreted Stalin’s ultimate intentions. This history provides a crucial lesson for the 21st century: understanding the impact of perception and misperception on international relations.

Professor SHEN Zhihua is a distinguished historian and the Director of the Center for Cold War International History Studies, as well as the Dean of the Institute for Studies of China’s Neighboring Countries and Regions at East China Normal University (ECNU). He also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of International and Area Studies at Tsinghua University and co-directs the NYU Shanghai - ECNU Center on Global History, Economy, and Culture with Professor CHEN Jian. Widely regarded as China's foremost historian on the Cold War, Professor SHEN is a pioneering figure in archival research, particularly in the areas of Soviet Union, Sino-Soviet, and Sino-Korean relations. He is the author of a number of major Chinese-language works on Cold War history, and he is the co-author, with Yafeng Xia, of Mao and the Sino-Soviet Partnership, 1945‒1959: A New History (2015) and A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949–1976 (2018), and, with Danhui Li, of After Leaning to One Side: China and Its Allies in the Cold War (2011). Most recently, he published a new book in Chinese entitled “Economic Vortex”, in which he revisits the origins of the Cold War, contending that it was sparked by mutual misperceptions and misjudgments over economic issues between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.