Beijing Plays Down Mao’s Memorial Anniversary
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Feng Yiran 13/09/08
CHINA—On the thirty-second anniversary of Mao Zedong’s death, Mao Memorial Hall on Tiananmen Square was closed. On the surface, it appears to be associated with the Paralympic Games. However, Chinese have had varied opinions about Mao for over 30 years. Mao obviously has become an embarrassment to the authorities.
The Voice of America reported that among the many sensitive issues restricted from open discussion, Mao is one of them. On Mao’s memorial day on September 9, an Internet article entitled, “People will never forget Mao Zedong” was posted. However, only the title was viewable since the body of the article had already been deleted.
On the one hand, the Internet posting was erased, yet Chinese media claimed a wave of celebrations was quietly happening throughout China.
Hong Kong’s Open Magazine editor, Cai Yongmei, indicated that the reason why many Chinese, in particular the younger generation, nowadays praise Mao was because the authorities have been blocking [any revealing] news, transforming the image of Mao, and concealing Mao’s crimes. She said, “The crimes Mao had committed in contemporary Chinese history, such as the Cultural Revolution and the Anti-Rightist Struggle movement, are forbidden subjects for discussion in China.”
She continued, “That many Chinese publicly express their memories of Mao is also an indication of discontent in life, such as the disparity between the rich and the poor, money and power politics, corruption, and so forth. The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda praised Mao’s era as honest and spotless, erasing the dark side and misleading the people into believing Mao’s era was upright, clean and fair.”
Professor Hu Xingdou of Beijing Institute of Technology suggested China has never fully and critically assessed Mao’s era except for simply labeling the Cultural Revolution a disaster. The totalitarianism behind the disaster has never been the center of retrospection. That’s the reason why China is still far from a society with rule of law.
As for the thirty-second anniversary of Mao Zedong’s death, China’s official news media have been playing it low and issuing no statements.
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