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It's also worth noting that 1950 China has very little in common with 2011 China.
by jbooth 15y ago
It's also worth noting that 1950 China has very little in common with 2011 China.
- gwern 15y agoIndeed, but it also has some factors in common through different pathways - I grow nervous when I read of the ultranationalist riots permitted by the Party, because it seems like the kind of thing that would itself to the leaders deciding to enter 'a short, victorious war'. (Defending the Middle Kingdom, defending the Revolution; rather similar.)
- jbooth 15y agoEntirely different, see my comment above about Deng Xiaopeng's ascendance in the late 1970s and the quite severe repercussions for the perpetrators of the Cultural Revolution. There's no linkage between the revolution and nationalism anymore. "A cat that catches mice is a good cat, whether it's white or black". Nationalist pride, sure, that's been a constant through any cohesive nation's history. Koreans aren't Chinese, though, and the leaders of China are too smart to look for a "short, victorious war" on the Korean peninsula..
- gwern 15y agoI didn't say nationalism and the Revolution were the same thing, I said they could play the same role.