Historical Wars in China: Controlling the present, past and future | Historical News

Historical Wars in China: Controlling the present, past and future | Historical News

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China Hong Kong – Since the suppression of the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the ruling Communist Party has always been the creator of modern Chinese history and the creator of myths.

The job of the Propaganda Department is to ensure that the historical version of the party is implemented and supported by the so-called “patriotism education.” Patriotism education has now expanded beyond the classroom. It is also expanding to Hong Kong, a market for a duel version of modern Chinese history that was once prosperous.

“The party regards history as a political management issue, and maintaining the party’s prestige and power is of utmost importance,” the author Richard McGregor wrote in his book “The Party: The Secret World of the Chinese Communist Ruler.”

At the beginning of his first term, Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping declared war on “historical nihilism,” which he defined as any attempt to challenge official accounts of major past events.

Thursday, when the party celebrates its 100th birthdayXi Jinping once again reminded Beijing people of the importance of history.

“Through the mirror of history, we can foresee the future,” he said. “We can see why we succeeded in the past and why we will continue to succeed in the future.”

He emphasized that one of the party’s party-building principles is to “adhere to the truth.”

Steve Tsang, director of the Institute of China Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, said that Xi Jinping “knows that those who control the present should control the past.” “If Xi Jinping and the party can continue to do this, they believe that they can determine China’s future, and the Chinese will accept it, because Xi Jinping’s request of China is the’will of history’.”

Here are four seminal moments in the Chinese history of the Communist Party in the first century, highlighting the gap between official and public accounts:

The Long March (1934-1936)

Chinese version: The epic military exercises led by the outstanding strategist Mao Zedong surpassed the encirclement of the Kuomintang army in the myth of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Mao’s Red Army — initially about 80,000 men — travelled from coastal Jiangxi Province across a large swath of the country about 12,500 kilometers (7,800 miles) to establish a new base in the mountains of northwestern China. Along the way, Mao’s heroic fighters attracted the support of “ordinary” people and overcame huge challenges.

What the CCP did not say: The first few months of the retreat were catastrophic and were ambushed by the Kuomintang early on, resulting in the loss of 15,000 to 40,000 lives. Mao was able to squeeze out another Soviet-backed faction in the party and become the undisputed leader of the Communist Party. The dwindling army sometimes resorted to kidnapping—and torturing and executing their captives as “class enemies”.

After the Long March, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Qin Bangxia took a group photo in the northwest of Shanxi. March has an almost mythical position in the party and is an example of Mao Zedong’s strategic talent. [File: AP Photo]

The Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)

Chinese version: The revolutionary plan of the great helmsman Mao Zedong was aimed at accelerating industrialization in order to defeat major enemies and developed economies such as Britain and the United States. Following the main thrust of Mao Zedong’s thought, the entire people adopted a newly invented method of organization-the commune-which greatly increased industrial output overnight. According to McGregor, author of The Party, this is officially known as “a difficult period that lasted three years.”

What the CCP did not say: Former Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Jisheng documented the tragedy in his book “Tombstone.” According to former Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Jisheng, overzealous cadres rushed to implement the plan and made snowball mistakes, resulting in 35-40 million deaths. Utopian communes proved to be inefficient. The large-scale transfer of agricultural labor to small-scale industries disrupted food production. Coupled with a series of natural disasters and the withdrawal of support from the Soviet Union, the plan caused not “true communism” but the worst man-made famine in history.

The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

Chinese version: Mao Zedong’s last fight was to fight against the pro-capitalist conspiracy in the Communist Party’s leadership and prevent the party from going astray. Deng Xiaoping, who was purged but became the country’s supreme leader after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, declared the incident a decade-long disaster. However, Mao’s carefully selected successor, Lin Biao, died in a plane crash while fleeing to Mongolia. The culprit was the Gang of Four of Mao’s widow and long-time revolutionary partner Jiang Qing. TV show trial.

What the CCP did not say: This campaign was meticulously planned by Mao Zedong with the goal of eliminating his political enemies, real or imaginary, and re-implementing strongman rule. Driven by the idolatry of Mao, hordes of young people joined the Red Guards and devoted themselves to a frenzied and violent campaign against Mao and the party, which were regarded as enemies. In colleges and universities across the country, they denounced their teachers and principals as “capitalists” or “smelly intellectuals” in so-called struggle meetings. The children opposed their parents, and different factions in the party blamed each other. There are public beatings and mob violence, and even cannibalism. Historians believe that as many as 2 million people were killed in the chaos.

The Red Guards, who were fascinated by Mao, held so-called struggle meetings and public beatings, including teachers, and even parents. [File: AP Photo]
Mao Zedong’s widow, Jiang Qing, one of the “Gang of Four”, was tried for the Cultural Revolution [File: AP Photo]

Tiananmen Square (1989)

Chinese version: In the 90,000-word party’s first 100-year chronicle published last month, the incident was described as “certain political riots that broke out in Beijing and other cities as part of counter-revolutionary riots… the riots were suppressed to allow The road continues to reform, open up, and modernize.” The authorities said that no one was killed in Tiananmen Square. When the tank came in, thousands of demonstrators gathered there. Soldiers armed with bayonets and rifles were sent to demolish the six-week-old Camp.

What the CCP did not say: Tiananmen Square This is an anti-corruption democratic movement led by university students in the capital and participating in more than 400 city compatriots across the country. It was triggered by the death of the deposed reformist leader Hu Yaobang. Analysts estimate that the People’s Liberation Army killed hundreds to thousands of demonstrators and injured thousands of people while clearing the square.

Al Jazeera reporter Adrian Brown, now based in Hong Kong, was also present. “I saw a lot of things that I will never forget that day,” he said Written in 2019 On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the suppression. “A tank stepped on two flat corpses, a burned army troop carrier and the charred corpses of soldiers inside.” said Wuer Kaixi, one of the student leaders who confronted Premier Li Peng in a hospital gown. The protesters just want democracy. “We anticipate some bloodshed and maybe get hit by police batons. This is exactly what we expected,” he said. “Live ammunition? No never.”

Mi Ling Tsui of Human Rights of China said that Tiananmen Square has become “Obsessive-compulsive amnesia“.

After the army stormed Tiananmen Square to disperse the pro-democracy protesters who had camped there for several weeks, the party tried to erase what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989 [File: Catherine Henriette/AFP]

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