Posted on 06/28/2005 5:19:44 AM PDT by OESY
Mao Tse-tung may be dead, but the survival of his legacy remains important to the "pragmatic" rulers of China. This presumably is why they banned the June issue of our sister publication, The Far Eastern Economic Review, for carrying a review of a book that reveals the extent of Mao's crimes during his 1949-1976 rule.
"Mao: The Untold Story" is by Jung Chang, author of "Wild Swans," the 1990s best seller that introduced readers world-wide to the horrors of Mao's 1967-76 Cultural Revolution. Her new book is co-written with her husband, the historian Jon Halliday. It was reviewed for the Review by Jonathan Mirsky, whose reporting in his days as East Asia editor for the Times of London is well remembered in Beijing.
The China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation -- the official distributors of foreign publications in China -- last week informed Dow Jones, publishers of the Review and this newspaper, that inclusion of the book review would keep the June issue of the monthly magazine off newsstands. An article on trafficking in endangered species was also deemed offensive.
"It may seem strange that Beijing is so sensitive to criticism of Mao after all this time," says Hugo Restall, editor of the Review. "But then consider that, despite tremendous economic progress, China's political system is still pretty close to where it was half a century ago -- and look at the disasters like the Cultural Revolution that followed.
"Naturally, the country's leaders want to conceal from their own people and the rest of the world just how vulnerable China is to political instability," Mr. Restall went on. "The tools in their arsenal range from the subtle, such as recruiting businessmen to speak on their behalf, to the crude, like banning magazines."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
BTTT
What about our own Gang of Three - Hill, Billary, and a person to be air brushed later?
Fascist barbarians (Hitler, mussolini etc) get the condemnation they deserve pretty much. But what's it with leftist barbnarians getting away lightly?? Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro, Kim yong il etc are no less execrable.
I recommend changing the title to "Mao.....No One Gives A Crap Other Than Being Glad He Is Dead"
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