A “Mad Men” guide to 90 years of the Chinese Communist Party
|
||||
When lunatic Mao worshipers collide with history, wacky hilarity ensues. 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? It’s amazing what people will choose to care about. As yet another CCP film/wankfest (“Red Army Expedition East”) commences production, the actor selected to play the role of heroic, young-ish Mao is causing a bit of a stir. Zhang Tielin, the 53-year old actor perhaps most well-known for playing various and sundry Manchus, has been deemed insufficiently Chinese to play the role of the Great Helmsman-in-training because Zhang is a British citizen. Oh, the horrors. As usual, the nationalist nitwit brigade has been in a tizzy over this scandalous situation. Peter Foster reports on the uproar in the Telegraph: “It’s an insult to Chairman Mao. I strongly protest and suggest that the relevant State Administration authorities intervene,” said one contributor to ifeng.com, the news website of China’s Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV. “It is not enough to resemble Mao in outlook and temperament,” said another on a site called the Voice of China, “the actor must be politically qualified in terms of identity. Otherwise it will be a blasphemy to Mao and will hurt the feelings of billions of Chinese.” Leaving aside that there are only one billion (and change) of Chinese, does it really matter? After all, looking at the Another classic attempt to “explain and understand” China from the CIA/NSC archives, this one is like some sort of unholy mash-up of John King Fairbank, Max Weber, Henry Luce, Edward Said, and the KMT propaganda department…but there is some useful archival footage as well as interviews with seminal American “China watchers” such as Theodore White and Pearl Buck. Huge h/t to my fellow historian G.T. |
||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Jottings from the Granite Studio - All Rights Reserved
|
||||