4 ms·

Do you know what you don't know though? People can freely find info on politically taboo topics if they want in the west. Whereas, do you know about the famine

by graeme 8y ago

Do you know what you don't know though? People can freely find info on politically taboo topics if they want in the west. Whereas, do you know about the famine in the great leap forward? And it is widely known? I was talking to one chinese student who maintained that there was no censorship in china. She was surprised to learn that I, a foreigner, could not make a wechat account for my business. And she is well educated, has travelled abroad, etc

paraditedc 8y ago
People know things are being censored, well, as least of my age. There is a term and a meme for it on Chinese internet. You can Google-translate these pages that explain the term: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1882528841530933188.html https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1882528841530933188.html https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E8%9F%B9/10292878 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E8%9F%B9/10292878
- graeme 8y ago
  That was a more extreme example. I expect most Chinese online know of censorship. But do you/they know about the government caused famine under Mao?
  - paraditedc 8y ago
    As far as I recall, everything else that is negative, except 1989, was taught in secondary school history class.
    - becege90 8y ago
      This is not correct. I grew up in China (Beijing to be more specific) and it is definitely not taught in school. All history I’ve learn casts China as having done everything right.
      - paraditedc 8y ago
        Were you taught using 人教版 or 北师大版 history textbook? I'm pretty sure 四人帮 and 大跃进 were inside 北师大版 and called a mistake. Well at least for my year. Maybe they changed it, or you didn't pay attention in class.
        becege90 8y ago
        It was quite a while ago so I don’t recall who made the book, I went to high school there more than 10 years ago. I used whichever books were standard. But if I remember correctly, they portraited Si Ren Bang as a group of four planning against the state, no fault was assigned to China or Mao.
        paraditedc 8y ago
        What about 大越进 or 文化大革命? At least in my textbook they were attributed as CCP and Mao's mistake.
- becege90 8y ago
  This is a censored answer /explanation of the term.
withhighprod 8y ago
My friends are criticizing /making fun of communist leaders all the time on WeChat group and no one get arrested or affected(in fact couple of us work for state owned bank and agency). We were joking once we are “aggressively attacking our socialist system”(猖狂的向社会主义制度进攻） Of course it’s another story if our wechat group grows to 500 people rather than 10 or we have a celebrity in this group. It’s all about the scale of the impact
thaumasiotes 8y ago
> People can freely find info on politically taboo topics if they want in the west. > Whereas, do you know about the famine in the great leap forward? And it is widely known? Yes, the famine is widely known. It's not considered secret at all. However, it is attributed to the weather, not to the government.

by graeme 8y ago

paraditedc 8y ago

People know things are being censored, well, as least of my age. There is a term and a meme for it on Chinese internet. You can Google-translate these pages that explain the term: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1882528841530933188.html https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1882528841530933188.html https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E8%9F%B9/10292878 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B2%B3%E8%9F%B9/10292878

graeme 8y ago
That was a more extreme example. I expect most Chinese online know of censorship. But do you/they know about the government caused famine under Mao?
- paraditedc 8y ago
  As far as I recall, everything else that is negative, except 1989, was taught in secondary school history class.
  - becege90 8y ago
    This is not correct. I grew up in China (Beijing to be more specific) and it is definitely not taught in school. All history I’ve learn casts China as having done everything right.
    - paraditedc 8y ago
      Were you taught using 人教版 or 北师大版 history textbook? I'm pretty sure 四人帮 and 大跃进 were inside 北师大版 and called a mistake. Well at least for my year. Maybe they changed it, or you didn't pay attention in class.
      - becege90 8y ago
        It was quite a while ago so I don’t recall who made the book, I went to high school there more than 10 years ago. I used whichever books were standard. But if I remember correctly, they portraited Si Ren Bang as a group of four planning against the state, no fault was assigned to China or Mao.
        paraditedc 8y ago
        What about 大越进 or 文化大革命? At least in my textbook they were attributed as CCP and Mao's mistake.
becege90 8y ago
This is a censored answer /explanation of the term.

withhighprod 8y ago

My friends are criticizing /making fun of communist leaders all the time on WeChat group and no one get arrested or affected(in fact couple of us work for state owned bank and agency). We were joking once we are “aggressively attacking our socialist system”(猖狂的向社会主义制度进攻） Of course it’s another story if our wechat group grows to 500 people rather than 10 or we have a celebrity in this group. It’s all about the scale of the impact

thaumasiotes 8y ago

> People can freely find info on politically taboo topics if they want in the west. > Whereas, do you know about the famine in the great leap forward? And it is widely known? Yes, the famine is widely known. It's not considered secret at all. However, it is attributed to the weather, not to the government.