{"id":4679,"date":"2008-07-09T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indiauncut.com\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2008-07-09T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-09T11:00:00","slug":"airbrushing-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiauncut.com\/airbrushing-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbrushing History"},"content":{"rendered":"
Salil Tripathi<\/a>, responding to my post “Goodbye Mao, Hello Olympics”<\/a>, points me to an old piece he wrote in the New Statesman<\/i><\/a>:<\/p>\n A history textbook that revels in globalisation, praises the role of the New York Stock Exchange and stresses the importance of J P Morgan and Bill Gates may sound like required inspirational reading for the American classroom, especially when a figure as significant as Chairman Mao merits barely a passing mention.<\/p>\n But the book in question is being used in Shanghai’s state schools. It is a rewriting of history so brazen that it could be possible only under a regime already highly practised with the airbrush. Socialism merits a single chapter, less space than the industrial revolution, and Chinese communism before the economic reforms of 1979 gets just one sentence. Yes, one sentence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Salil also points out in his email to me:<\/p>\n The FEER<\/a> issue (June 08) in which I interviewed Ma Jian was banned, and destroyed, by the Chinese. Ma Jian’s (and my) crime? That he wanted people never to forget Tiananmen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Tiananmen? What’s that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Salil Tripathi<\/a>, responding to my post “Goodbye Mao, Hello Olympics”<\/a>, points me to an old piece he wrote in the New Statesman<\/i><\/a>:<\/p>\n A history textbook that revels in globalisation, praises the role of the New York Stock Exchange and stresses the importance of J P Morgan and Bill Gates may sound like required inspirational reading for the American classroom, especially when a figure as significant as Chairman Mao merits barely a passing mention.<\/p>\n But the book in question is being used in Shanghai’s state schools. It is a rewriting of history so brazen that it could be possible only under a regime already highly practised with the airbrush. Socialism merits a single chapter, less space than the industrial revolution, and Chinese communism before the economic reforms of 1979 gets just one sentence. Yes, one sentence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Salil also points out in his email to me:<\/p>\n\n
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