Guess who else is re-writing their history books....

I Think it's too recent to be covered in History class, I might be wrong on this though. It most certainly will be covered in politics. I think it says in essence it started out as protests then morphed into riots, and milatary was called to quench the riots. I'm not sure though, these things can change pretty quickly in China. I'm not up to date about what's been taught in China. Real_egal prob has a better idea.

Man, I'm out of touch.

 

Yup, things were getting out of control by late May 1989. The demonstrations can hardly be called peaceful in many places. The Western media just loved to show the Statue of Liberty in full display on Tian'anmen Square, and the TV viewers in the West simply swooned over the sight and "democracy in action". To them, that's a sign of Chinese students rubbing democracy on the face of CCP, the biggest, baddest commie b*stard left on earth. Some even sent money over to China to support the students (how in the world large amounts of cash ended up in the hands of the demonstrators is still beyond me). Of course, the Westerners needed not to worry about the huge chaos and disruptions that were affecting many cities in China, so much so the political turmoils would threaten to turn the whole China into a messy stalemate, which would in turn bring economic disaster. The much publicized man-vs-tanks image further accentuated the joyfulness of TV viewers outside of China, but the Chinese themselves had to take the blunt trauma of the anarchy.

 

I found it ironic that your original comment implied one group could be more brainwashed with less propaganda. I've also seen resentment from other Chinese posters for being called brainwashed in light of their views. So it's more a comment on the irony....

otoh, if the American way works well to brainwash the most masses, the Chinese government could rip some more pages off their books and put in some of ours.

 

No, sorry to disappoint you, I didn't imply at all there is less propapanda here. I did, however, acknowledge there are more choices and less restrictions on what you can access. But abundance of available stimuli doesn't necessarily invoke more awareness.

 

I can't disagree with you there.

 

If one cannot read others' answers and keep asking the same question, he is not gonna be taken seriously.

China is not whitewashing history. It is taking out previous mispresentation of history. And 1989, if were ever included in history textbook (which I doubt), would not have been described anything but a riot, the removal of such biased description is not whitewashing history.

 

While it is not as bad to have nothing as to have misinformation, neither is as good as having the truth. Japan should teach the truth about their actions in WWII. China should teach the truth of all the terrible things that happened under communist rule. The US should teach the truth about the genocide of the native people.

 

I don't know how many Japanese were killed in Tiananmen Square. May be you knew a few? I thought China along with other Asian nations and their PEOPLE were criticizing Japan for rewriting the atrocities it committed IN their countries during the War, not what Japan did to its own people. There are hypocrisies everywhere, but your attempt at drawing a close comparison is poor at best.

 

If our education system's any indication, there are several well spoken interest groups who don't want the truth to get out. Their actions is why black inventors and politicians have a smaller place in school history, and why the American Indian is romanticized into the noble savage without being given any historical depth. I don't consider this as some racist agenda either. These people just have a twisted way to teach pride to our children through ommission.

It's hard to be the good guy when we're forced to learn the facts, and it's easier to label those who want the truth as trouble makers or unpatriotic.

 

NewYorker, whatever your friggin' race is I am sure it has its ugly past, maybe you should also examine and disclose the skeleton in your own closet before you fool around on a bb forum to whine about others' complaints?

Or maybe I should bring back that NeoNazi march thread. It's not very funny to witness you cried about the fear felt by the minority neighbourhood then but are completed unfazed now by the anxiety of East Asian nations over Japanese whitewashing the history of brutal aggressions.

 

Nothing goes through the thick skull of NewYorker. He asked for an answer while several posters already answered his question. I spend my precious 2 minutes to give him the answer again. Instead of addressing to my answer directly, he called it exuses without any argument.

 

And what about Koreans, Malays, Philipinos, US Pacific War Vets and all the other non-Chinese who are upset about what Japan is doing?

You keep on thinking that this is just between Japan and the PRC when it is anything but. You keep on portraying Japan as being victimized by PRC bullies and hypocrites telling them what they can say about their history when this concerns people throughout Asia, the US and the World. The Japanese brutalized not just Chinese and other Asians but US, British and Australian POW and in addition to Asian women being used as comfort women British Dutch and other European colonists were also forced to be sexual slaves to the Japanese Imperial army. Do those people have to shut up and not criticize the Japanese since the PRC is also whitewashing their history?

 

You are at liberty to be an apologist for Japanese war criminals and find excuses for their subhuman brutality committed in China, Korea, and much of the East Asia. No Chinese is asking YOU to sympathize with them. Don't flatter yourself.

Say a convicted pedophile gets paroled, and starts to post pictures of other people's children in his home. For some freakin' reason, the parole board didn't stipulate in the parole conditions that he can't do this. His neighbours, some of who are the victims' families, feel alarmed and uneasy when they know what he's been doing lately. Furthermore, they are outraged when they hear the former pedaphile claims the reason he molested these kids was to set them free from their restrictive parents. Now you are saying these adults shouldn't protest against the pedophile because they themselves don't have clean records.

Likewise, by your logic, the minorities shouldn't complain about NeoNazi marching in their (minority) neighbourhood because minorities themselves also commit violence and hurling racial epithets sometimes somewhere.

What's most moronic and ironic about you is you stated that it was wrong to provoke and intimidate people; that it was disgraceful to abuse freedom of speech; that it was downright oppressive and cruel even if there was no physical pain inflicted; that people who support NeoNazis being able to march have no idea what it's being like a minority in that neighbourhood; that you favor to end intimidation under the guise of free speech -- all these in the NeoNazi thread, but when it comes to Chinese protesting Japanese leaders in official capacities visiting a shrine which honors war criminals (mind you, in addition to the 14 Class A war criminals, Yasukuni Shrine also houses the names of Class B, C and D criminals -- 1,068 convicted war criminals in all, known to some as the "Showa Martyrs"), you would have no problem with Japanese provoking its Asian neighbours and rekindling fear among Chinese and Koreans, you would tell Chinese (posters) to shut up and respect Japan's right to honor its "history", you would largh at people being unrealistically sensitive and fearful because no "real" danger is threatening them.

If you understand or feel the fear and anxieties of minorities in the neighbourhood where NeoNazi were holding march, what makes you so dismissive about the similar sentiment of people from the regions where the Japanese committed the most heinous war crimes? You accuse Chinese poster only think and act from their perspectives, why are you doing the same from the Japanese ultra-nationalist right wingers' point of view? Why is your position so self-contradictory?

 

I just think NewYorker has had his school lunch stolen while he's little, that's all.