Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Livelihood Issues: Mao's Great Famine (Book Review: How Mao Killed 43 Million People in Four Years)
Literary Review ^ | September 2010 | Jonathan Mirsky/Frank Dikötter

Posted on 09/06/2010 6:06:59 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last
To: Tainan

As it is now in North Korea.


21 posted on 09/06/2010 8:23:10 AM PDT by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Mind-numbed Robot
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice"

You may not have caught the news. This is a quote which now appears on the rug in the Oval Office. The rug (commissioned by Obama) credits the quote to Martin Luther King, but this is an embarrassing error. The quote comes from a nineteenth century figure.

The rug now symbolizes Obama's incompetence, his inability to check details, his sense that 20th century civil rights leaders are the only American figures worth paying attention to, and his apparent sense that "justice" and "morality" belong to the Left exclusively.

Mao killed tens of millions? Well, he is yet another 20th century figure whom Obama likes. The quote on the rug needs to be interpreted in such a way that Mao would say it and have it work toward his murderous ends.

22 posted on 09/06/2010 8:27:18 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Mind-numbed Robot

Ok I wanna call you a name but I won’t. in the context of the article and the response which shows obambo’s “Christmas” ornament my comment was to turn around his own “favorite” quote on his rug. Dude context is a good thing. They, the left leaning, use it against the right on a daily basis I used one of his favorite quote’s to illustrate that justice will come back to him. Damn did your kid piss in yer wheaties this morn?


23 posted on 09/06/2010 8:31:05 AM PDT by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how. But bloggers do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Mrs. Don-o

Tell me if this sounds sinister to you all. My granddaughter just met a Chinese exchange student. Get this, her name is Nancy. The first thing I asked and obviously something my gd thought odd, is how does a Chinese girl get such an American name? According to her every Chinese student gets an American name when they start school and they are taught American English.

My first thought was that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, but following on that thought was that it would sure make it easier for Chinese people to take over the U.S., you know, I mean if....


24 posted on 09/06/2010 8:43:00 AM PDT by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tiki
Keep in mind that, though the Anglosphere is in an economic slump right now, English is still the most globally widespread language for commerce and technology. For example, China is now embarked on a vast Free-Trade-Zone enterprise with Nigeria. (Link) I'll bet you dollars to donuts that they're conducting their negotiations in English.

So, no, I don't think they're into invading us yet. They're busy with Africa.

25 posted on 09/06/2010 9:02:36 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on." William S. Burroughs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy; VaRepublican
You may not have caught the news

No, I did not. I saw the reports about the Oval Office redo and the slogans around the border of the seal but I must have switched channels before the point you make came up. Thanks for bringing me up to speed because this is the first I have seen of it.

I never watch Obama's speeches or press conferences because everything he says is a lie and no one challenges him. That is very irritating and I had rather avoid it. The same is true of interviews with his flaks. I just change channels during those times.

VaRepublican, as I said, I missed the news and in my old age I am getting impatient and grumpy. "Just sayin'" is a rather recent cliche which iritates me for the reasons I stated. Had I been more up to date I would have gotten your clever meaning. Sorry.

26 posted on 09/06/2010 9:25:50 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Mrs. Don-o

For the record: neither Stailn nor Hitler were in the same league as Mao when it came to mass deaths — certainly not Pol Pot. Khrushchev starved (in the Ukarine) to death more people than all of Hiter’s “fine work” accomplished...


27 posted on 09/06/2010 9:41:42 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mrs. Don-o

Mao: The Unknown Story
by Jung Chang, Jon Halliday – Illus., maps

another fine book on the black slime itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Mao-Story-Jung-Chang/dp/0679746323/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283790985&sr=8-1


28 posted on 09/06/2010 9:44:35 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mrs. Don-o

I figured I was being paranoid and my granddaughter really likes her. It sounds like she has had quite a privileged life although they are expected to work hard in school. She plays a 21 stringed instrument called the Guzheng and her mother always carries it for her because she doesn’t want her to hurt her hands and she is, of course, an only child. It will cost 1000 U.S. dollars to ship it from China but they are going to send it. They have 2 homes, one in the country and one in the city so she can attend school and come home every night instead of living at the school.
She plans to stay here for a year and then back to China for a year and then back to the U.S. to attend MIT.

She wants my gd to take her shopping and she wants to go to homecoming and the girls are trying to find her a date.


29 posted on 09/06/2010 9:47:03 AM PDT by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: PIF
Thanks for the link. Like Solzhenitsyn said (or words to this effect): for mass murder you don't need high tech, you can do it with barbed wire.

You can do it by turning off the water.

30 posted on 09/06/2010 9:49:17 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on." William S. Burroughs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: tiki

God bless your gd and God bless Nancy. I’d love to hear that Guzheng!


31 posted on 09/06/2010 9:54:41 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("You can observe a lot just by watchin' " . --- Yogi Berra)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Mind-numbed Robot

don’t know why but I knew I didn’t to respond by starting out by calling you some profane name.


32 posted on 09/06/2010 11:14:15 AM PDT by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how. But bloggers do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: VaRepublican

want, meant to include want.


33 posted on 09/06/2010 11:15:25 AM PDT by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how. But bloggers do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: VaRepublican

You were being compassionate to the old and senile. :-)


34 posted on 09/06/2010 11:30:58 AM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: tiki

Most Chinese adopt American names to fit in. Ask her what her Chinese given name is. Probably sort of sounds like Nancy.

They usually pick names that sound similar to their Chinese name.


35 posted on 09/06/2010 12:06:31 PM PDT by dhs12345
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
My grandfather grew more pumpkins than anyone else in our village!"
Then she started giggling and added "That's why they killed him."

Good anecdote. Brings three (3) things to mind:
1. Pumpkins and squash are very commonly used in the Chinese, and Taiwanese, food chain. Both for humans and livestock - pigs, goats, cows, etc. I have some growing in my small garden as I type this. Used in soups, baked, fried.
2. The laughter you mentioned is a typical sign of "more to come" nervous response.
3. For your above quote - "Nothing personal...its only business" is just as applicable to some periods of Chinese history as it is to the 'Good Fellas' that we Westerners know.

By the way...a lot of Sinophiles (Chinese apologistas) like to go on about the rich 3,000 yr. old tapestry of Chinese Culture as some kind of evidence of its 'higher evolutionary' status. B.S....a very good argument can be made that its just the same year repeated 3,000 times.

36 posted on 09/06/2010 5:30:01 PM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Mrs. Don-o

“You can do it by turning off the water.”

or the grain a la Khrushchev...


37 posted on 09/07/2010 2:54:02 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: PIF
Messing with agriculture in a manner that seriously spikes food prices (e.g. with ethanol policies, water curtailment, credit and finance issues) is the one thing, more than anything else, that can, and should, spark open revolt.

Famine is hands-down the favorite tactic of megalomaniac dictators, even more than the noose, the knife, and the gun.

38 posted on 09/07/2010 6:37:31 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("It is the duty of every patriot to protect his country from its government" - Thomas Paine)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Mrs. Don-o
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian peasants did not have guns, and by the time they knew what was happening there were so many dead, there was no one left to bury the bodies... 6 million is the conservative estimate of the number Khrushchev murdered.
39 posted on 09/07/2010 2:18:30 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy
Years ago I worked with an odd Chinese woman who tended to laugh at inappropriate times (I think this may be a Chinese thing).

This is what my SO (who's Chinese) tells me is an apologetic laugh, as in, "I'm sorry to have to say this" or "I'm sorry to have to burden you with this knowledge".

40 posted on 09/11/2010 7:09:16 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson