‘Writing about China’ Latin American travelogues during the Cold War:

Bernardo Kordon’s ‘600 millones y uno’ (1958), and Luis Oyarzún’s ‘diario de oriente, Unión Soviética, China e India’ (1960)

Resumen

This paper explores how travelogues of Latin American travellers to the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War, provided knowledge which informed the Latin American political, economic and cultural discussions of the time. Through an analysis of the travel accounts of the Argentinean Bernardo Kordon’s 600 millones y uno (1958), and the Chilean Luis Oyarzún’s Diario de Oriente, Unión Soviética, China e India (1960), the texts reveal the authors as explorers and interpreters of a model which they afterwards presented at home. Focusing on the complex identities which emerge in their texts, I argue that the travelogues, while essentialising China and its culture, aimed to provide a broader understanding beyond Orientalist views, suggesting a lenient understanding of the subject beyond fixed notions of alterity. Ultimately, I argue that these texts can be considered a successful outcome of the People’s Republic of China’s cultural diplomacy in the region.