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This paper investigates the relationship between Maoism and psychiatry in the work of the Argentine psychiatrist Gregorio Bermann (1894-1972). As a result of the cultural diplomacy deployed by the People's Republic of China since 1949 and of specific institutional networks, the author produced knowledge regarding China, its practices and institutions of mental health as an expert-traveler. Those works were a dissemination of the "mass science" promoted by this country, applied to the field of psychiatry, though not without tensions. The relevance that China had for rethinking psychiatric practice in the case studied is evaluated, and it is argued that Gregorio Bermann's interest in largescale psychiatry and the international political commitment that he held were decisive in it. Lastly, this article studies the spaces where those works circulated and shows the variety of existing knowledge regarding China based on the political positions that were held towards it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]