After the Lyceum Seminar (1)

Responding to Ms. Wang, a Chinese teacher in an American high school

Dear Ms. Wang, First of all, thank you very much for your challenging opinions!

I admire and respect your patriotism. Actually, I share your love for the country where we were born and brought up. The difference is that I don't think the CCP = the state, nor do I think it is unchanging. The Party, as it says, has always been keeping pace with the times. In 1945, the Party opposed One-Party government, and Mao published a famous article, "On the United States". It was soon changed after liberation. For decades, the Party had believed that the Planned Economy was the essential feature of socialism. However, Deng introduced the Market Economy after Cultural Revolution. If it was in the first decade of the 21st century, what I talked about in the seminar would be openly published in “Yanhuang Chunqiu” (or “China History”), a periodical run by high-level liberals inside the Party. Unfortunately, it was banned in 2016. But, why is it impossible for the Party to change again and realize the meaning of pursuing the truth and critical spirit in the future?

Now, I’d like to respond to your challenges.

l# The topic of Laogai has given foreigners a bad impression of China.

First of all, why should we be influenced by the impression of foreigners? The Americans let us learn how they persecuted indigenous peoples and black slaves in the past. So what? Did the United States perish as a result of it? Besides, the Party has said that we are confident. Any confident person will not care much about what others think.

Second, can a good impression be maintained by covering up the truth? Shanghai, China's largest city, has now been locked down for two months. The official news about Shanghai has remained positive. However, you know, it is fake. You know, a large number of foreign capital has withdrawn from China, small businesses have gone out of business, and many people are unemployed. The more you try to hide the bad side, the worse the impression, and even worse the reality.

Most importantly, I'm doing historical research, and I’m based on evidence and logic. What I show at the seminar are source materials, official publications, and academic articles. This research method I learned in the American high school is not Western specific. Didn't ancient Chinese historians say, "Write history with integrity"? In a sense, I understand your concern that some Chinese speak irresponsibly, or even lie abroad with the aim of creating a negative image of China. I strongly disagree with them. You may hear about that Chinese graduate at the University of Maryland. She criticized China’s pollution and claimed that she had to wear a mask every day in China. That was before the pandemic and she was from Kunming, a city with a clear sky and known as the spring city in China. She lied. I would have objected to her like you, if I was there.

l# China has been developing and progressing.

I'm proud of China’s rapid development. I hope our country will become even better. I will not expand on it, since it’s not very relevant to the topic I am discussing, just as the United States being the No.1 economic power, and criticizing its history of persecuting indigenous peoples are two different things.

l# It was not correct to use “camp”, as if it were the same as in the Nazi concentration camp.

First of all, I have no intention of alluding to the Nazi concentration camp. "Camp" is a neutral word. There are refugee camps, summer camps, tourist camps, etc.

But you did alert me to the linguistic aspect of politics. So, is it correct to call people “prisoners”, without a judicial process? As a matter of fact, my great-grandfather was said to work in an “engineering corp”, instead of a “prison”. My parents are from Anhui province, where there is a super large prison. It was called “White Lake Farm” for decades. Do you think such words as “engineering corp”, “farm”, and “factory” are correct replacements for “prison”?

l # Classes of Politics and History in China are not as I said.

So, what are they like?

Let’s have a quick overview and comparison. First, look at the "Introduction to General High School History Textbooks" on the official website of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. Here is the first paragraph about the guiding principle:

"The compilation of teaching materials adheres to the guiding position of Marxism, implements Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, adheres to the materialist view of history, and fully reflects the basic laws and trends of the development of human society, and guides students to strengthen their identification with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Communist Party of China, and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, thus enhancing the national pride, sense of historical mission, and strengthening the "four kinds of self-confidence.".

http://www.moe.gov.cn/fbh/live/2019/51084/sfcl/201908/t20190827_395978.html）

The United States does not have a universal textbook at all. I find the Introduction to the American History AP Exam on the website of the College Board as a substitute:

“Study the cultural, economic, political, and social developments that have shaped the United States from c. 1491 to the present. You’ll analyze texts, visual sources, and other historical evidence and write essays expressing historical arguments.”

（https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-history）

In my opinion, the different guiding principles of the history class are self-evident.

Westerners also adhered to the guiding position of Christianity in the Middle Ages. After that, there was the separation of church and state, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment, which further led to the Industrial Revolution and the flourishing of ideas and technologies.

More than a hundred years ago, Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty gave a speech at today’s Beijing University. He urged the youth to break away from hypocrisy or fake morals and put an emphasis on the true and practical things. Why shouldn’t we be wiser than he was?

Finally, thank you again for participating in the discussion. I'm willing to keep the discussion open. As an old Chinese saying goes, "The world rises and falls, and every ordinary person should shoulder their share of responsibility.” Aristotle also believed that all should care about their own city-state (polis). I hope that in the future, such discussions will take place not only in American high schools but also in Chinese high schools.