Posted January 16, 2021
That mellowed out considerable under Deng Xiaoping (who, while not flawless, seemed exceptional from what I read about him). We'll see what comes after Xi Jinping (who is not exactly a young man btw). One can hope he'll be more like the predecessor.
Countries tend to have ups and down depending on the leadership of the moment. Quite a shocking development across the ocean just recently! Nobody is immune to having a demagogue as head of state... you gotta stay vigilant.
Yeah, the so-called "century of humiliation". While there is no denying that China was a victim of what you call "Western and Japanese imperialism" (sometimes gruesomely so) and that these aggressions left deep scars, your university course seems to have painted a rosier image of China than reality.
Things certainly did not mellow out under Deng Xiaoping. After all, he was the supreme leader during the Tiananmen square bloodbath. The "century of humiliation" became a systematic tool of propaganda (and school curricula) as a reaction to the massacre. Why? Because the CCP's leadership saw what was brewing in the Soviet Union and its satellites, and they began to shit their pants at the idea of people demanding things of the government and threatening to topple it. Today, they would like to have the chinese people believe that nothing happened there and then, but at the time, the population was shocked at the army killing peaceful protesters. Chinese protesters. Hence the recourse to that time-honored practice of blaming the foreigners for everything that went wrong in living memory. THAT is what prompted the CCP to ramp up the rhetorics of China having been wronged. By the way, the rejection of confucian dogma was quietly reversed when it became convenient (see Confucius Prize, Confucius Institutes, etc...)
Secondly, it should never be forgotten that China sees itself as 中国: the Middle kingdom. For millennia, they considered themselves to be the literal center of the world, surrounded by "barbarians" (if you've never heard of Empress Suiko's letter to the chinese emperor, do yourself a favor and look it up: it is both hilarious and enlightening). For many centuries, China took tributes from other countries as a mark of submission. To refuse to send an adequate and timely tribute was, at best, to be unable to trade with China (does it sound familiar? Wink wink nudge nudge), at worst to expose yourself to a military invasion.
Thirdly, to hell with the myth of the peaceful China without a colonial empire. What is happening today in Xinjiang - a meticulous, cold-blooded genocide on an industrial scale) rightly calls to mind the Shoah, but China's no beginner. Systematic attempt to destroy a foreign culture? Check (eg. Vietnam in the 15th century). State-led, years-long ethnic cleansing? Check (eg. the Dzungar people in the 17th century).
Post edited January 16, 2021 by Dalswyn
