How Chinese International Lawyers Pursue Marxism: The Introduction of Soviet Theory of International Law to China (1950s–60s) and Afterwards

From the mid-19th century onwards, China abandoned the traditional worldview of “All under Heaven” and turned to (Western) international law, struggling for membership in the “family of nations”. This century-long process was reoriented by the founding of the People’s Republic of China. As a result of China’s ideological turn to Marxism and political alignment with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Soviet theory of international law was introduced during the 1950s and 1960s, while Western theory of international law was denounced, and pre-PRC international lawyers educated in the West also turned to Marxism—specifically, the Soviet approach. However, influenced by nationalism, China did not fully accept the Soviet conceptions of Marxism and international law. More importantly, this stance shifted due to several key developments: the worsening of China-USSR relations from the late 1960s, China’s integration into the Western-led international order beginning in the late 1970s, and its more recent rise as a state of global prominence. Consequently, Chinese international lawyers have departed from the Soviet model, instead developing a Marxist approach to international law “with Chinese characteristics”.