Historical revisionism on the Chinese mainland

Historical revisionism on the Chinese mainland

Upon the 100th anniversary in 2011 of the Revolution of 1911 that brought about the Republic of China, the first republic in Asia, aka the “min guo” era or the era of “nationalist China”, a series of lectures was held by various Chinese mainland writers, historians, scholars and university professors to talk about the “Nationalist era” from January 1, 1912 to October 1, 1949.  The series of lectures happened simultaneously with the advend of a nostalgic clothing trend.  It started with a group of female college students in Guangdong province where the October 10, 1911, uprising toppled the Manchu dynasty.  These female students dressed themselves up in Nationalist era female student “uniforms” in a nostalgic and romantic “commemoration” of that era.

There was genuine fear among the sponsors and presenters of the 2011 lecture series that the Chinese Communist government might shut them down and arrest the presenters since the series of lectures were historically revisionist and historically critical of the “official” history presented by the Chinese Communist regime, Chinese Communist misinformation and Chinese Communist propaganda.

Lectures included the question “Is the Republic of China history or reality” and “The truth about the bloody Chinese Communist land reform”.  These, like the Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 1989, were facts that the Chinese Communist regime has hidden from the Chinese mainland people.

Specifically, the lecturers mentioned that the Chinese Communist version of history of the Republic of China saying that the Republic of China existed from January 1, 1912 to October 1, 1949 is false, since the Republic of China still exists on Taiwan today.

One lecturer mentioned that many recent Chinese mainland visitors to Taiwan have told him that when they enter Taiwan, they feel that they have stepped back in time to the era of 1912 to 1949.  They feel a great sense of nostalgia and romanticism.

Another lecturer said that the Chinese Communists and the Cultural Revolution have completely destroyed China’s superior cultural traditions and plunged the Chinese mainland society into a primitive uncivilized state without culture and civility.

Other scholars and intellectuals also presented revisionist histories, refuting the Chinese Communist claim that Chiang Kai-shek was a “bandit leader”.  Instead, they contend, Chiang Kai-shek was the greatest leader of China that China ever had.

[Master Chen says]  The historical fact is that Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung was the “bandit leader” who led the illiterate peasants against the Nationalists led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek while the Generalissimo led the Eight-year War of Resistance Against Japan, a fact that many local Chinese mainland provincial historians have come to acknowledge in several films produced on the Chinese mainland in 2011 about the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.

Lecturer and writer Chen Danqing said that in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the October 10, 1911, revolution, he went to see a movie that commemorated the rise of the Chinese Communist Party.  He said that the director of the film did not expect nor realize that his film “inadvertently” depicted the rise of the Nationalist era.  On the outdoor film sets, flags of the Republic of China and billboards in classical Chinese characters were shown.  Even banners of Chiang Kai-shek were displayed.  All of this would have been banned and immediately torn down by the Chinese Communist regime.  Chen Danqing said that the film depicted the Nationalist era in which newspapers were private, editorials and commentaries could freely criticize the government, universities were academically independent, students could go into the streets to demonstrate, ordinary citizens could assemble and form civic associations, the police had no right to make ramdom arrests, the people obeyed the laws, human rights were guaranteed, the poor were taken care of, and youths had ideals and ambitions.

[Master Chen says]  Chen Danqing is a rather outspoken modern writer.  His statements above are an indirect criticism of the current Chinese Communist regime which prohibits all such activities and freedoms on the Chinese mainland.  Yet, all of these freedoms are enjoyed by the people on Taiwan today.  These facts, Chen Danqing hinted, are self evident proof that the Nationalist era of the Republic of China is not history but continues on Taiwan even today.