Joining the Socialist Camp } 45
popular. An investigation by CCP authorities in Shanghai in August 1949
(about four months after CCP forces occupied the city) found that 72 per-
cent of all moviegoers in Shanghai chose US movies, in spite of a cam-
paign by CCP media condemning US movies as instruments of US cultural
imperialist aggression. American movies were so popular in Shanghai that
the CCP delayed banning them for a number of months lest they generate
dissent before the city was under firm control and a good supply of Soviet
films were on hand as substitute.
The CCP was determined to uproot this vast Western presence, which they
viewed as a form of Western aggression against China. A second CCP ob-
jective was to quick- march China into a socialist form of organization. The
Western presence in China would be an obstacle to that by conveying negative
information about China to foreign audiences and encouraging Westernized
and/or Christian Chinese to resist communist policies. More fundamentally,
there was no place in China’s future socialist state for any sort of autono-
mous, non-state-controlled religious, business, media, educational, or even
cultural activity, whether Western or Chinese. All these were to be brought
under control of the CCP party state and thus directed toward fulfilling the
revolutionary and socialist goals specified by the Party Center.^35
Eradiation of the Western presence unfolded gradually. The CCP estab-
lished firm control before it moved to uproot the popular but politically
incorrect “imperialist presence.” When PLA forces first occupied an area,
they protected foreign nationals and their facilities, typically allowing nor-
mal operations to continue. The case of the US consulate in Shenyang was
a marked exception. Exceptional too were foreign news services and offi-
cial cultural and information offices; these were shut down as soon as PLA
forces took control. Western business and religious-based activities, however,
were initially left alone. Xenophobic people roused by the nationalist fervor
that was sweeping China were prevented from attacking foreigners or their
property. This moderation continued for a number of months, and in a few
cases for a couple of years. Scholar Beverly Hooper surmised that this initial
moderation was inspired by a desire to minimize disruption and opposition
while the CCP had still not consolidated control and was not in a position
to take over from foreigners. Then, as CCP control over an area tightened,
so did the restrictions and burdens imposed on foreigners and their opera-
tions. As these burdens and restrictions grew, foreigners became increasingly
aware they could no longer operate normally in China, and that attempts
to do so were costly, inconvenient, and personally dangerous. The exodus of
Westerners from China grew throughout the second half of 1949 and early
1950 and was well underway by the start of the Korean War in June 1950;
it was not the war that triggered the exodus. The extreme hysteria and re-
pression associated with CCP policy during that war did succeed, however,
in driving out almost all Westerners. By the time the Korean War ended in