Editors note: This week, after multiple rounds of starting to draft, pause and self-censor, I find it necessary to write something, still, about China’s collective amnesia phenomenon. To circumvent increasing surveillance outside the Great Firewall, I’m putting this behind the paywall, though you could get a seven-day trial with a few clicks.
That's the problem with war, and it is even more evident that there is a war, cold to hot depending on the sphere. In war the nation that allows itself to remain open will be subverted and distroyed, but at the same time a nation that completely suppresses the telling of unwelcome truths will also be destroyed. Hence the suppression of voices in the EU/UK are becoming just as apparent as those that occur in China. For now at least, China has inside the party some apparatuses for allowing private dissident views. I'm not so sure about the West,** hence I've a pretty strong feeling about how this war is going to be resolved, though luck/risk/entropy always is present.
Timely. Just heard this 25 minute talk, which does a better job than I and has plenty of documented references to each point. All of it is relevant, but the 2nd half clearly lays out the threats being made against China are primarily in the simi-military and soft power areas, and why loss of control of media has subverted the sovereignty of many nations, particularly in ASEAN.
It's interesting, the lockdowns of 2022 really seemed to cause a complete shift in the mindset of much of the Chinese public. In late 2022, when public frustration had almost reached breaking point, I remember people saying things like "now I understand why foreigners always say China has no human rights" or "now I sympathise with what the Uyghurs have been going through". It was incredible, although I don't know how long it lasted.
I wonder if your grandmothers suddenly telling you their memories of the Cultural Revolution is part of the same phenomenon, at some level. Dissatisfaction with current policies reminding them of what they suffered in the past. I find it sad to think how many such memories will simply be lost - never written down, never told to relatives, nothing.
That's the problem with war, and it is even more evident that there is a war, cold to hot depending on the sphere. In war the nation that allows itself to remain open will be subverted and distroyed, but at the same time a nation that completely suppresses the telling of unwelcome truths will also be destroyed. Hence the suppression of voices in the EU/UK are becoming just as apparent as those that occur in China. For now at least, China has inside the party some apparatuses for allowing private dissident views. I'm not so sure about the West,** hence I've a pretty strong feeling about how this war is going to be resolved, though luck/risk/entropy always is present.
** example: https://www.public.news/p/ulrike-guerot-nato-is-finished
Timely. Just heard this 25 minute talk, which does a better job than I and has plenty of documented references to each point. All of it is relevant, but the 2nd half clearly lays out the threats being made against China are primarily in the simi-military and soft power areas, and why loss of control of media has subverted the sovereignty of many nations, particularly in ASEAN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCYwDtaRu6E
Such an insightful piece--love hearing about your grandparents' experience and how the Covid lockdowns prompted them to explore these old memories.
It's interesting, the lockdowns of 2022 really seemed to cause a complete shift in the mindset of much of the Chinese public. In late 2022, when public frustration had almost reached breaking point, I remember people saying things like "now I understand why foreigners always say China has no human rights" or "now I sympathise with what the Uyghurs have been going through". It was incredible, although I don't know how long it lasted.
I wonder if your grandmothers suddenly telling you their memories of the Cultural Revolution is part of the same phenomenon, at some level. Dissatisfaction with current policies reminding them of what they suffered in the past. I find it sad to think how many such memories will simply be lost - never written down, never told to relatives, nothing.