Passaggio in Cina: Il Diario di Giuseppe Regis

This essay examines Giuseppe Regis’s journal of his stay in China (1957‑61) as both a primary source on Cold War Sino‑Italian interactions and a personal account of life in Maoist China. The journal documents the Regis family’s residence in Beijing during a pivotal phase of the People’s Republic, encompassing the Anti‑Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the early Sino‑Soviet split. Regis’s notes shed light on the mechanisms of unofficial diplomacy between Italy and the PRC, as well as on the intellectual and political networks that shaped Italy’s ‘pro‑Chinese’ current in the 1960s and 1970s. At the same time, the journal reveals the ambivalences of foreign residents in China, caught between ideological solidarity and the constraints imposed by an authoritarian political system. By combining political observations, economic analysis, and personal reflections, Regis’s testimony provides a unique lens through which to assess the intersections of international socialism, cultural diplomacy, and the transnational circulation of Maoist thought. The study thus underscores the journal’s dual relevance as a contribution to the historiography of Sino‑Italian relations and as a source on the subjective dimensions of cross‑cultural encounters in the Maoist era.