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Yeah, it also seemed a bit jarring to me how modern China is portrayed so positively in the trilogy. Perhaps this is also how books by Americans are seen in Ch
by elihu 6y ago
Yeah, it also seemed a bit jarring to me how modern China is portrayed so positively in the trilogy. Perhaps this is also how books by Americans are seen in China? One could make a case that, say, Tom Clancy novels are pro-American cold war propaganda. (That's not really my view, but I could understand why someone, especially a reader from one of our cold-war adversaries, might think that.)
I think the most jarring bits are plot points where some ideology crops up that's contrary to whatever goals the countries of the world have decided to pursue, so they just make that opinion illegal and that's the end of it. And then I'm like: "that's not how that works in most of the world". In North Korea that might work, and maybe in China, but not anywhere with reasonably well-established human rights.
It was also interesting how China was always saving the day. That's sort of expected of any author to make their own country the heroes, but I couldn't help but wonder if that's really what he wanted to write, or if writing a story that could be construed as a criticism of modern China would get him in trouble in some ways.
On the other hand, a big early part of the first book was about how awful the cultural revolution was. Is it considered politically acceptable these days in China to acknowledge the past failings of communist government, even if criticizing the current policies often is not?
- yongjik 6y agoI don't think the trilogy portrayed modern (21st century) China with much positivity, or in fact much thought at all. Most political interactions (other than flashbacks to the Cultural Revolution era) are happening in an alternate universe, so that the author can avoid making unnecessary political remarks - just like Captain America never mentions Bush or Obama, even though he's fighting for America against Nazis.
- pasabagi 6y agoThe current CCP consists of those who pushed back against the excesses of the cultural revolution - I think you get much less scrutiny for criticising than celebrating this part of Mao's legacy - I know of one instance where somebody was arrested for making a big-character poster with 'the cultural revolution was good', for instance.
- baybal2 6y ago> The current CCP consists of those who pushed back against the excesses of the cultural revolution No... At maximum, "cultural revolutionaries" were just silenced for one generation.
- pasabagi 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping#Early_life_and_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping#Early_life_and_educ... The bit where his sister committed suicide during the cultural revolution jumps out as sort of character forming, but in more general terms, do you have any chinese party sources praising the cultural revolution? The closest I can think of is the now vanished Bo Xilai.
- Elaine-H 6y agoYes or no, Deng was obviously against the Cultural Revolution, but Xi isn't so. Evidence: "The Two 'Cannot Negates'" - In English: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094609.2016.1241101?journalCode=mclg20 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00094609.2016.12... - In Chinese: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%A9%E5%80%8B%E4%B8%8D%E8%83%BD%E5%90%A6%E5%AE%9A https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%A9%E5%80%8B%E4%B8%8D%E8...