The People's Republic
After visiting the Military museum of the People's Republic, I have a better understanding of why Mao is so respected by Chinese people.
In the years previous to the 20th century, imperialism ruined china. The french, the english, the portuguese, the germans, and probably others came and took over parts of China using opium as a bargaining tool. There were parts of China such as Macau and Hong Kong that were part Chinese and part Western.
Mao helped free China from those European economic and political bonds. I think that's why he wanted to call it the People's Republic, because they wanted their freedom for their people. Too bad he didn't know what the word "republic" really means.
Mao's use of communism to unite the people to overthrow the government that was being held hostage by the foreign nations was key I think. Communism (which is the power of the working class) gave them the unification at the grass roots level necessary to overturn an impotent government and get things in order. For the time when the red revolution happened, it was a great solution.
When I saw the way the Chinese presented their story in this museum, I felt a sense of empathy. I secretly found myself hoping that someday when China rules the world economically, they should just declare the European Union their bitch and just start levying taxes everywhere.
Other things I noticed in that museum was that Taiwan was thought of as a rebel state and that they belonged to China. There weren't very friendly words about Chang Kai Shek and the ruling party of Taiwan. What's interesting is that when you learn world history in the US, you're taught that Taiwan is a (yay good) democratic country while China is (ooh evil) communist. It just goes to show how biased learning can be (both ways).
In the years previous to the 20th century, imperialism ruined china. The french, the english, the portuguese, the germans, and probably others came and took over parts of China using opium as a bargaining tool. There were parts of China such as Macau and Hong Kong that were part Chinese and part Western.
Mao helped free China from those European economic and political bonds. I think that's why he wanted to call it the People's Republic, because they wanted their freedom for their people. Too bad he didn't know what the word "republic" really means.
Mao's use of communism to unite the people to overthrow the government that was being held hostage by the foreign nations was key I think. Communism (which is the power of the working class) gave them the unification at the grass roots level necessary to overturn an impotent government and get things in order. For the time when the red revolution happened, it was a great solution.
When I saw the way the Chinese presented their story in this museum, I felt a sense of empathy. I secretly found myself hoping that someday when China rules the world economically, they should just declare the European Union their bitch and just start levying taxes everywhere.
Other things I noticed in that museum was that Taiwan was thought of as a rebel state and that they belonged to China. There weren't very friendly words about Chang Kai Shek and the ruling party of Taiwan. What's interesting is that when you learn world history in the US, you're taught that Taiwan is a (yay good) democratic country while China is (ooh evil) communist. It just goes to show how biased learning can be (both ways).
posted by Jimmy at
4:33 PM
1 Comments:
China owns the US now, didn't you get the memo? So your secret wish is not very far off that all countries will be the bitches of China. Thanks to W, we have accelerated the bitch-becoming process. It's amazing how travel to other countries will open your eyes.
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