From the History of the Formation of Ukrainian-Chinese Scientific Relations (A Little-Knowed Visit of a Delegation of Chinese Scientists to the Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR)

The study, based on little-known and partly unexplored archival documents, highlights the stay of a delegation of Chinese scientists at the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1953, a delegation of scientists from the People’s Republic of China, numbering 42 people, first visited the USSR and Ukraine, and for ten days they familiarized themselves with the experience of organizing and managing scientific work and the focus areas of activity of the Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR – the superior scientific organization of Ukraine. It is characteristic that the delegation included scientists of various scientific knowledge spheres. During the visit to the Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR, Chinese scientists gained an idea of the work of most Ukrainian academic research institutions, which was of great importance for the further development of scientific contacts between China and Ukraine, and also influenced the scientific and organizational processes in the Academy of Sciences of the People’s Republic of China, the development of new scientific areas in it, taking into account the experience gained in organizing scientific work in the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. The paper also highlights the achievements of the Ukrainian academic science as of 1953, in the context of the scientific interests of the members of the Chinese delegation. The archival documents demonstrate innovative developments of Ukrainian academic teams, which received world recognition at that time, testifying the strengthening of the authority of Ukrainian science abroad. The establishment of Ukrainian-Chinese scientific ties in 1953 had a significant impact on the strengthening and development of these relations in the future, when specialized delegations of Chinese scientists began to visit the institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, hence, joint scientific research was launched in specific areas of scientific knowledge. The research methodology consists in the application of historical and archival, source-based, chronological methods, as well as methods of analytical and synthetic processing of documents and scientific expertise. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the systematization, analysis, and introduction into wide scientific circulation of a complex of little-studied and partly unstudied archival sources, as well as scientific works on the history of the establishment of the Ukrainian-Chinese scientific relations, while the impetus for their further development was the event of 1953 – the first visit of the highest-level Chinese scientific delegation to the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.