Chinese Big Brother

Mad Minerva often mentions the term Gege (??) when dealing with Chinese Communist mouthpieces. I had always viscerally understood it, as the term translates to "Big Brother" in Mandarin Chinese. It is pretty much accepted that, throughout the history of the Chinese civilization, successive states, both provincial and imperial, had sought not only to rewrite history, but also actively to destroy unpleasant reminders of the past (sometimes accompanied by glorification of aspects of the past that are helpful to current government PR programs). That history is often revised is no cause for alarm; but when government actively seeks to revise history and wipe out any possible alternative versions, a 1984 moment is reached.

John Dugan, the Betelnut Blogger, has a series of short posts about the problem of china's historical revisionism, and in particular how, given their own penchant for such revisions, to accuse the Japanese of the same really becomes a case of the pot calling the kettle black. It is divided into three sections: "On the Uses of History"; "Facing Up to History";, and "The CCP and History". Read them all.

[Cross-posted at Between Worlds and Naruwan Formosa]

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