A “Mad Men” guide to 90 years of the Chinese Communist Party
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Is our lasting image of Zhou Enlai to be the smooth, urbane diplomat showing up for talks in Geneva in a tailored-suit, silk tie, and a fedora, exchanging quips about the French Revolution? Or will it be the Zhou Enlai standing on top of Tiananmen with a red armband and a little red book, screeching in a high-pitched hysterical frenzy, “Long Live Chairman Mao!” as hordes of fanatical teenagers chant in the square and the Chairman looks on in approval? Ed note: This is a guest post by Zhang Yajun, A.k.a. “YJ”, A.k.a. “Mrs. Granite Studio.” —————————— On June 20th, over 20,000 overseas Chinese in Paris organized a demonstration to protest against what they call an epidemic of violence and robbery against the ethnic Chinese community. As a Chinese citizen who once studied in France for a few years, I am happy to see the Chinese community speak out and demand its basic human rights in a peaceful way. Furthermore, based on my own experiences, I feel that this protest is not simply a reaction to a few individual crimes, but is related to profound race problems in French society. Chinese and other residents of Paris protesting last week against what they see as a continuing pattern of violence and crime against the Asian community in France. Possessed of a mentality that seeks to avoid trouble whenever possible, Chinese communities usually prefer to keep problems to themselves rather than seek help from police. Being perceived as physically weak also makes Chinese seem easy targets for attacks and robbery. But after keeping quiet for many decades, the Chinese community in Paris finally decided to publicly demand greater security. This First Elizabeth Edwards, now Ζhao Ζiyang…if you really want to screw over the people who wronged you, there’s nothing better than a tell-all book. Prisoner of the State, The memoirs of Ζhao Ζiyang, the result of hours of taped conversations smuggled out of China (excerpts online here), will be published this summer…just in time for June 4th. Possible embarrassing sections: “So this one time, Hu Yaobang, Deng, and I are kicking it Gangster style in NYC, and Hu is blowing coke off of this hooker’s ass, and this other girl comes up, this smoking hot black chick, and Deng says, black ass, white ass, so long as she’s smoking hot, who the f–k cares?” “When Wen Jiabao came to me for a position on my staff, he offered me sex.” “Deng Xiaoping wore lifts. Really. He’s like the unmentionable offspring of Verne Troyer and Frodo. Dude makes Tom Cruise look like Yao Ming.” “I banged Chai Ling.” “When Deng found out that we had invited the students into the Great Hall of the People, he lurched from his bed, screaming ‘This is NOT what I WANTED!’ So Deng goes to the Golden Globes later that year, posing as Jackie Today a user followed this query to the Granite Studio: “How do Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong continue to influence Taiwan and China today?” It’s obviously a complicated question, but it does recall a comment a Beijing acquaintance of mine made the first time we went to the old South Bar Street to take in the spectacle of a Sanlitun Saturday night: “This is what all of China would like if Chiang Kai-shek had won the war.” Ouch. Then I thought about it: Well, didn’t he? |
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