I sometimes encounter proud young things who possess newly printed degrees from Canadian universities. Those who claim to have read modern Chinese history catch my attention because I’m always eager for exposure to new schools of thought. They usually disappoint. It bugs the hell out of me how few of them bother to investigate the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and worse, I have never met a Canadian grad whose read Nien Cheng’s memoir LIFE AND DEATH IN SHANGHAI. That’s a lapse which no China “specialist” should ever admit. In my view, if they haven’t read Nien Cheng, their degree is worth sh*t.
I would extend that unsavoury opinion to include the legitimacy of the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights. Our federal government just committed to pouring a staggering $311,000,000 in vote buying dollars for the museum's construction in Winnipeg, and goosed that with an additional $22,000,000 per year (for starters) in guaranteed operating costs. What is it's mandate? Probably to spend money and leave the government alone. My suggestion is that the new Museum seek out and record the tragic experiences of thousands of Chinese Canadian families who were victimized by the Chinese Communists during Mao's Cultural Revolution, much as Steven Speilberg has done with his Shoah Foundation and European Jewish Holocaust survivors. If they do that, instead of merely duplicating what's already been done by the Holocaust Museum in Washington, their museum will not be a total waste of our money.
Butt ugly design for $311 million CDN Human Rights Museum
Final thoughts? Oh yes, and for those Canadians planning a holiday trip to the Beijing Olympic Games – here is a little Chinese reality your grinning hosts will hide from you. Because... you just can’t handle the truth.
Beijing 2001. Women cops drag woman away to be executed.
AN UGLY SEQUENCE - Mass execution in 1994
Five images culled from a series taken at a Chinese Execution Ground. I don't know what these two women were accused of. I do know that blowing their heads apart with an assault rifle is totally inexcusable.
They were first paraded before the public, and apparently one of her escort is ready for trouble. I suspect he has a pistol in his pocket and will plug her if she attempts to run or cry out.
The condemned were off-loaded from trucks and lined up at the Execution Ground. They were then frog-marched to a berm, and stone dead not more than two minutes later.
A chilling image and not one I enjoy posting, but it still happens in China on a regular basis.
The second woman, equally disfigure by a high velocity bullet from an assault rifle. As stomach churning as these images are, I have seen a few even worse.
having just read "LIFE AND DEATH IN SHANGHAI" Nien Cheng is testimony how to fight tyranny with strength and grace . and maybe without swearing
ReplyDeleteI have just finished reading "Life and Death in Shanghai", it is a most captivating and outstanding book which allowed me to understand the workings of the Cultural Revolution. I have the greatest admiration for Nien Cheng who has shown not only courage, but a deep intelligence. I hope she is still alive and doing well.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree than Nien Cheng's book is a must read for anyone interested in recent China history, especially of the Cultural Revolution years. While I have read many other books on the subject, most of the authors were impressionable youths when they were sent to the countryside. Nien Cheng was a mature and extremely intelligent woman, who was 51 in 1966 when detained in solitary confinement. Her story is without parallel and gives a chilling and impassioned account of he evil than men can do.
ReplyDeleteSam Stearman
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ReplyDeleteLife And Death In Shanghai is without a doubt the most amazing book I have ever read on the cultural revolution in China. Nien goes in to gripping detail without any self pity. And with no swearing. Her intelligence level outwitted The Red Guards, and everyone else who stood in her way. It would be a great honor to meet her in person.
ReplyDeleteI have just received an e-mail from my son, Marcus Alejandro Hull of Germantown, Md and it reads:
ReplyDelete"Some sad but not unexpected news. May she rest in peace, she takes our love with her." (Nien Cheng had passed away in her home in Washington the 2nd of November, 2009).
More than twenty years ago my late husband, Charles J. Hull, II and I had the fortune to have met Mrs. Cheng, she insisted us to call her Nien, but she was too Grand of a lady to be addressed by her first name. She has been a very dear friend of all our family and an inspiration through our lives; I am sure she will be forever so, for the rest of the world.
I repeat after Marcus, MAY SHE REST IN PEACE and add, WITH HER DEAR HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER.
A TRUE HEROINE,in all the sense of the word, A WOMAN ADMIRED FOR HER COURAGE, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS AND NOBLE QUALITIES.
I shall miss her forever, Teresa Camacho de Hull from La Paz, Bolivia (South America)
An amazing book, loved it. You are right, everyone who wants to know about modern China needs to read it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a courageous woman Nien Cheng is. So grateful for examples that show how truth prevails. Man can torture and take away the physical freedoms but one can never take from another the agency of the mind. We saw the frustration of those that tried in Life and Death in Shanghai.
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