It almost reminds me of America’s national grief-fest over the loss of Ronald Reagan. The articles about Deng are flowing fast and furious, regardless of whether they make sense or not.
The latest is from People’s Daily. My favorite lines:
The success and greatness of Deng Xiaoping ultimately rest with his courage and genius by integrating the fundamental principles of Marxism with concrete practices in China, with his analysis and settlement of problems in a down-to-earth manner, with his exploration of new scope of Marxism and pioneering a new path of socialism
What a load of rubbish. If the philosophy Deng espoused resembles that of Karl Marx in any way, shape or form then I’m a….Republican! Deng was the anti-Marxist, and the Chinese are the most un-Marxist people on the planet. Why does People’s Daily publish such tripe? Who do they imagine they’re fooling??
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By Kevin
I don’t think this fools very many people in China. When I was teaching at a fairly major university in Shanghai, my students seemed absolutely apathetic–if not antagonistic–towards the required Marx examiniations at the start of the semester. Chinese are far more intelligent than the editor’s of the People’s Daily seem to think.
August 26, 2004 @ 12:38 pm | Comment
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By chriswaugh_bj
Kevin’s right, Richard. I don’t think anybody payed even the slightest bit of attention to this, it’s just a formality, like Bush talking about defending democracy. Not quite the same thing, but it’s the principle: they’ve got to do these things for form’s sake, that’s all.
August 26, 2004 @ 7:22 pm | Comment
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By Philippe Roy
In a similar line of thought: I bought a Che Guevara t-shirt in Cuba… his face is everywhere in Havana, as if him and Fidel Castro had been the best of friends. All arguments forgotten… strange how we sometimes forget history to our advantage…
August 26, 2004 @ 7:45 pm | Comment
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By richard
I buy that completely. It’s just funny, seeing them expend all this time and effort to prop up a ridiculous myth.
August 26, 2004 @ 8:02 pm | Comment
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By 403200
What, you never seen crappy propaganda before?
Hmmm. The election’s coming, yes?
August 31, 2004 @ 12:05 pm | Comment