The tensions between China and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s refer to the series of events that led up to the eventual Sino-Soviet split. The causes of these events can be mainly divided into ideological, political, economic and territorial. From the Soviet point of view, these events were always tied up with the Chinese desire to seek their own path to socialism. From the Chinese point of view, on the other hand, they did not share the views of the Soviets, but instead felt it was purely these events on its own that was the main culprit behind the tensions, and that if they had a desire to seek their own path to socialism, it was only playing at the background and had no effect whatsoever. Often, it seemed that the tensions led to the Chinese wanting to seek their own path to socialism rather than vice versa, that the Chinese desire to seek their own path to socialism led to the tensions. .
One of the reasons behind the tensions is ideological. For example, the Chinese emphasis on the peasant revolution instead of following the Soviet emphasis on the urban working-class revolution was something that the Chinese could not change because they did not have an urban working-class. Thus, we see that ideological causes that the Chinese viewed that the tensions were completely due to ideological clashes alone and had nothing to do with their desire to seek their own path to socialism. However, some of these ideological causes, like Mao's "Hundred flowers movement" can also be viewed by the Soviets as part of a larger overall Chinese desire to seek their own path to socialism. .
Another one of the reasons behind the tensions is political. There were many political events which caused much unhappiness among the Chinese. For example, the Soviets did not provide any concrete help when China faced the 2nd Quemoy-Matsu crisis in 1958. The Soviets, on the other hand, shook off the blame by saying that it was the Chinese fault for not consulting them about the plans in handling the crisis because the Chinese wanted to be independent and to follow their own paths to socialism.
