Monday, January 28, 2019

Just Pure Chaos





How much suffering can one people bear? 

Read The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962—1976 by Frank Dikötter and you will have your answer.  

The history of China can be one of many lows; wars, famines, poor leadership, imperial occupation and exploitation. Yet The Cultural Revolution was particularly cruel. Mao simply enacted this ‘movement’ as an exercise in raw power.  He wanted to destroy his enemies, both real and perceived, to sow chaos, to throw his people into a pool of confusion, dislocation and death simply because he could.

Reading this book helps in understanding some of the absurdities and tragedies at the heart of Chinese history.  The Chinese are a dynamic people and with vibrant culture.  Yet their natural genius has been poorly harnessed for so long. This book is simply an extreme example of this at work.  How can a people experience The Cultural Revolution and not be deeply scared? 

No comments:

Post a Comment