Today I was in a cafe near Jiangtai Lu and saw one that was rather odd to me. It was a close up of the usual Russian-built Man with a fist up, only he was a Mongol. I think. With a scarf in his fist, angrily/resolutely charging for the Chairman with droves of kinsmen and kinswomen in the background following his lead.

And the call to arms? “哈达献给敬爱的华主席.” Did the other Chairmans ever have minority-targeted propaganda as lame as this?

I actually had a conversation about this with a colleague just today in light of some interesting correspondence I received. (More on this later.)

Maybe three years ago I was being slightly sarcastic, but not just against Hua. I was being sarcastic about the way that history education, both in the USA and PRC, seems to so readily skip over Hua. I felt bad for the guy.

But as my essay in August “Why Hua Guofeng Matters…no, seriously” suggests, I have actually come to believe that Hua’s contributions have been slighted, to a degree, and it’s time we call attention to that. (More on this later as well.)

So…in answer to your question…yes, Hua is a fun topic, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a serious side to the sarcasm and I, in all sincerity, applaud your efforts to keep Hua’s memory alive and I thank you for the link.

Happy Hua Guofeng day!

In Latin, “mediocritas” was a virtue, as in Aurea Mediocritas, or The Golden Mean. Don’t know if I would go so far as to call Hua “golden,” though.