Chinese Whispers
Battling the official narrative – China's 'underground historians'
Nov 13, 2023
Ian Johnson, a Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, discusses the underground historians in China who document suppressed aspects of history. They interview survivors from Communist labour camps and keep memoirs of the Cultural Revolution. The podcast explores the significance of history in the Chinese Communist Party's rule, the concept of heroism in Chinese culture, censorship paradox, and challenges faced by underground historians.
35:25
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Quick takeaways
- Controlling the narrative of history is a key strategy for the Chinese Communist Party to maintain its ruling power.
- The underground historians in China play a crucial role in documenting alternative histories that challenge the official narrative, despite facing risks and suppression from the government.
Deep dives
The Importance of History in Chinese Politics
The Chinese Communist Party places significant importance on controlling the narrative of history to justify its ruling power. The party's official narrative presents itself as the savior of China, uniting and bringing prosperity to the country. However, the party sanitizes historical records, omitting past crises and failures, to maintain its legitimacy. Xi Jinping, learning from the USSR's fall, fears that alternative views of history could undermine the party's control, leading him to suppress and crush the underground historians documenting the hidden aspects of China's past.
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