A big flaming stink posted:

the degree to which the CPC refuses to engage in critical analysis of Tiananmen square and instead straight up memory holes it is honestly really weird. the cpc has been entirely consistent with grappling with all the major actions the party has taken in the past (cultural revolution etc) and to fail to do so in this case is just weird as heck, frankly.

Al-Saqr posted:

The CCP did actually study the reasons why Tianemen happened and the result was the ‘the hundred years of humiliation’ propaganda campaign, basically they started taking kids on tours accross China to the sites of every crime committed against China by Europe and the Japanese to instill into the youth how China is under siege from western attempts to fracture it and stop the economic and technological progress by sowing discord and protest.

Mantis42 posted:

They should build a monument for the tank drivers.

How are u posted:

That's an abhorrent opinion. Why do you think so?

How are u posted:

That's an abhorrent opinion. Why do you think so?

SMERSH Mouth posted:

I had a Chinese professor who was a student in China at the time of Tiananmen Square. They had a lot to say about it, but the takeaway in her opinion seemed to be that it was started by racists who objected to international (esp. Black African) students getting enrolled and funded to go to university in Beijing on government scholarships; that there were a lot of salacious rumors about big dick black guys “stealing” or even forcing themselves on pure and innocent Han co-eds and that the protest at its beginning was more like a Southern White lynch mob than a pro-democracy protest, although they acknowledged that was what it became. I always wondered how much of that origin story was true. The professor claimed first-hand knowledge, but didn’t have any personal involvement with the protests.

ronya posted:

apropos of nothing, a narrative I found fascinating:

quote:

China: Walking The Tight Rope

As Weber tells it, China walked a tight rope in the 1980s. Twice the package reformers came close to persuading reform-minded Zhao to introduce full-blown price reform. Twice they were defeated.

In 1986, it was, above all, opposition from within the ranks of the experts that stopped Zhao’s price liberalization push. It was on this occasion that consultations in Eastern Europe proved particularly important in undercutting the argument for radical action. On the basis of extensive enquiries in Hungary and Yugoslavia, the System Reform Institute that advised Zhao concluded that China was in no condition to attempt comprehensive and immediate liberalization.

The second great set piece came in 1988 when Zhao made his most fateful push for price reform. After a sustained campaign — including, among other stunts, a visit from Friedman — at a meeting held in August, the Politburo announced the imminent liberalization of all prices. The result was a wave of panic-buying and bank runs. Inflation accelerated ominously. Deng Xiaoping immediately slammed on the brakes. Chen Yun, the veteran inflation fighter of the 1950s, was summoned to the frontlines. Zhao was humiliated.

All further moves toward price liberalization were halted; in 1989, amid the repression of the protest movement, Beijing embarked on a fiscal and monetary consolidation. After surging to an annual rate of 28% in April 1989, by the middle of 1990 inflation was brought virtually to a halt. As a result, China suffered a major political shock and a fiscal and monetary contraction, but economic growth as a whole proceeded without dislocation.

This sets up a painfully ironic denouement. If it was the pragmatic advocates of a dual-price system who won the argument in 1988, why did they not come to occupy the limelight in the subsequent years of triumphant growth? Why is it that the radical package reformers like Wu Jinglian, who were defeated in 1988, are today celebrated as the godfathers of reform?

“If it was the pragmatic advocates of a dual-price system who won the argument in 1988, why did they not come to occupy the limelight in the subsequent years of triumphant growth?”

This is where Weber’s painstaking and deeply sourced reconstruction delivers the sting in its tail. In 1989, as the student protests in Beijing gathered force, the advocates of pragmatism remained true to Zhao and his ill-starred quest to broker a deal between the students and the regime. In the aftermath of Tiananmen Square, they suffered the consequences: driven into exile or silence. Like Zhao, who spent the rest of his life under house arrest, they have been written out of history.

By contrast, the package reformers proved radical in theory but pragmatic in political praxis. After Zhao abandoned them during the inflation crisis in 1988, the package reformers had few qualms in 1989 about denouncing both him and the student protestors. Their loyalty to the powers that be was rewarded. Once the dust had settled, it was the package reformers who, under Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji, came dramatically to the fore. Zhou Xiaochuan, one of the most brilliant exponents of package reform in the late 1980s, would serve as governor of the People’s Bank of China from 2002 to 2018.

(the rest of the essay is interesting also, but maybe more commonly put forth)

quote:

The Chinese city of Xian has reported an increase in daily Covid-19 infections and local companies have curtailed activity as the country’s latest hotspot entered its third day of lockdown.

Xian, home to 13 million people, detected 75 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms on Friday, its highest daily count of the year and reversing the previous day’s decline, official data showed on Saturday.

China as a whole reported 140 new confirmed coronavirus cases for Friday, an increase of 62% from 87 cases the day before, its health authority said on Saturday. Of the new infections, 87 were locally transmitted, compared with 55 a day earlier.

Most of the new local cases were in the north-western province of Shaanxi, where Xian is the main city.

Xian’s locally transmitted symptomatic cases, at 330 for the period between 9 December and 24 December, are few compared with outbreaks in many other countries, but the city has imposed heavy-handed measures in line with Beijing’s policy to contain local transmission as quickly as possible.

Residents are banned from leaving the city, home to the world-famous Terracotta Army archaeological find, without clearance from employers or local authorities and households can send only one person to shop for necessities every two days. Other family members may not leave home unless they have essential jobs or urgent matters approved by employers or communities.

“So far the turning point for the outbreak is yet to come, and stringent curbs are necessary,” Zhang Boli, who helped to shape China’s early Covid response and treatment, told state media.

Local officials have also faced punishment over the outbreak and domestic flights scheduled to depart the city on Friday were cancelled.

Xian Chenxi Aviation Technology, a supplier of aviation technology to the Chinese military, said late on Friday it had temporarily suspended production due to the outbreak, which it expects to hurt its 2021 operating income.

Western Securities said on Friday its Xian-based branches have stopped offering face-to-face services to clients.

An oncology hospital said on Saturday its outpatient department and emergency room had stopped receiving patients due to Covid, after several other hospitals made similar moves.

Xian, which started a round of mass testing on Saturday, has announced no infections caused by the Omicron variant. Nationwide, China has reported a handful of Omicron infections among international travellers and in southern China.

How are u posted:

Chinese city of Xian sees Covid cases rise as it enters third day of lockdown
Residents are banned from leaving the city and non-essential workers can only leave home to buy food

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/25/chinese-city-of-xian-sees-covid-case-rise-as-it-enters-third-day-of-lockdown

Could it be the beginning of the end of "zero-Covid" China? Time will tell.

How are u posted:

Chinese city of Xian sees Covid cases rise as it enters third day of lockdown
Residents are banned from leaving the city and non-essential workers can only leave home to buy food

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/25/chinese-city-of-xian-sees-covid-case-rise-as-it-enters-third-day-of-lockdown

Could it be the beginning of the end of "zero-Covid" China? Time will tell.

How are u posted:

That's an abhorrent opinion. Why do you think so?

Mantis42 posted:

Also I was specifically referring to the liberals within China who made up the Tiananmen protests and comparing them to the Polish libs who started the Soviet Union down the road to dissolution. They may not have intended for reactionary elements to make up the post collapse governments but that was the natural end result.

Mantis42 posted:

It's a shame that a bunch of liberals weren't able to accomplish what they did for the Soviet Union and completely collapse China's standard of living and allow the IMF and CIA choose their leaders for them. What a tragedy /s

Kavros posted:

Varinn posted:

Every other government giving up and letting people die isnt proof that its the right move, jesus.


Its hard to read that article and not get bummed that our government has neither the will or the way to protect people from COVID that strongly.

Varinn posted:

Every other government giving up and letting people die isnt proof that its the right move, jesus.


Its hard to read that article and not get bummed that our government has neither the will or the way to protect people from COVID that strongly.

Plastic_Gargoyle posted:

You're assuming that they haven't been lying their asses off about their numbers.

Benagain posted:

Notice how you don't see any of those stories right now even though everyone would obviously love to push that narrative?

MikeC posted:

muh liberties

Neurolimal posted:

Indecisive superhero choosing between "force everyone to test & lockdown, send them food" and "protect freedoms, murder 3.5 million citizens".

Sampatrick posted:

MikeC posted:

lol, goons raging that they can't obtain the privilege of living under a repressive and authoritarian government

How are u posted:

As vaccinated individuals, our lives are preserved.

How are u posted:

As vaccinated individuals, our lives are preserved.

BrigadierSensible posted:

Why does this always have to be said?

Just because you oppose China and the CCP, does not mean you must necessarily 100% support the US.

Nor indeed the nebulous concept of "the west".

China's oppression can be bad independent of how bad the US's oppression is as well as how bad Portugal's oppression is etc. and so forth.

This also applies to the different countries' COVID response.

A big flaming stink posted:

My guy are you remotely familiar with how the United States treats the oppressed.

We have a relentlessly authoritarian government, it would be one hell of a welcome change to see that authoritarianism bent towards an end that preserves our lives.

Plastic_Gargoyle posted:

Do you actually live in the US or China.