[Dean's World] Dave Price: Mao You See Him...

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
Mao You See Him...
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1157136224.shtml


   ...now you [1]don't.

     Socialism has been reduced to a single, short chapter in the senior
     high school history course. Chinese Communism before the economic
     reform that began in 1979 is covered in a sentence. The text
     mentions Mao only once â in a chapter on etiquette.
     Nearly overnight the countryâs most prosperous schools have shelved
     the Marxist template that had dominated standard history texts
     since the 1950âs. The changes passed high-level scrutiny, the
     authors say, and are part of a broader effort to promote a more
     stable, less violent view of Chinese history that serves todayâs
     economic and political goals.
     ...
     Socialism is still referred to as having a âglorious future.â But
     the concept is reduced to one of 52 chapters in the senior high
     school text. Revolutionary socialism gets less emphasis than the
     Industrial Revolution and the information revolution.

   I find this very interesting in terms of my previous [2]post on how
   totalitarian governments control societies by controlling their
   context. Education is, of course, an essential part of that process
   and the move away from Communist indoctrination says a lot about the
   goals of the Chinese leadership: clearly, they want to join the world
   community rather than taking the path of North Korea, despite the
   inherent risks to the established power structure such a move entails.
   They have a long way to go toward being a free society, but this seems
   like a positive step. And as China's billion citizens gradually join
   Western Civ, we all benefit from the human capital and scientific
   progress they add to the equation.

References

   1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/world/asia/01china.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
   2. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1155702427.shtml