“100 Years of Humiliation.“ It’s a phrase so common I think most people have unfortunately stopped listening. An essay by author Lijia Zhang in The Guardian quotes 67-year old Beijing resident Xie Fengzhi: “I want foreigners to see what China has achieved. We were called the ‘sick man of Asia’. Now we are strong and rich enough to hold such a major international event.” The Christian Science Monitor interviewed Mr. Li, also of Beijing: “The history of the last 100 years has been a history of humiliation for the Chinese. Finally we are standing up, so this is a big moment for all Chinese.”
Indeed it is. Though the CCP would probably like to amend part of Mr. Li’s statement because — officially at least — the 100 years of humiliation ended in 1949 with the founding of the PRC. The violence and avarice of foreign imperialist powers in China gets full play in the educational system and in popular culture. The dark periods of the post-liberation era…not so much. After all, the CCP’s legacy as ‘liberators’ of China from the yoke of feudalism and imperialism is an integral part of the Party’s legitimizing ideology down to the present day, a