http://echinawire.com/a/Law/2015/1021/26.html

This is a depressing article, however there are so many things about this that are true.

It’s great to see someone writing about it properly and providing legitimate evidence for it.

It’s too easy for the Ch. Gov, or anyone for that matter to say that it didn’t happen because there’s no longer proof of it.

Just because previous references to certain events are erased, it doesn’t mean that those events didn’t happen.

Something that should be apparent to many people that live in China is that (as the article states) the fact that most of China’s “historical sites” are reconstructions, the originals having been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

You go to the Great Wall….its a new and improved version, you go to the Summer Palace or Forbidden city, everything has been touched up… this is normal.

However the more sceptical expats will realise that there are many things posted online that seem to be just so lacking in facts or understanding of both sides of the equation, that’s when this ‘wumao’ – 50 cent army begins to make so much sense.

The thing is that educated Chinese people are aware of this stuff as well, but with every little comment just like every little crash of the wave, the shore and their understanding of the truth gets formed into something else.

It should be noted that the Ch. Gov really doesn’t like foreigners. If they could survive and conquer the world without the help of foreigners then this would be ideal, but they can’t so they will use them until they are powerful enough to take what they want.

Chinese people… historically, and it seems now for what the government is trying to force are Xenophobic and Ethnocentric, ie. They generally don’t like foreigners and what’s more they think they are superior as compared to others.

This is not to say that ALL Chinese people are like that, there’s of course some that have a high degree of resolve that the gov. will never break, they can see through the subtle and not-so-subtle bullshit and continue to have a healthy sceptical understanding of the world around them.

However for the majority, of course they are shaped by the manoeuvring by their own government.

The fact that the Ch. Gov is buying up, or at times ‘hey did it to Mark Kitto with his highly successful expat magazines (You’ll never be Chinese” by Mark Kitto)’ When the Chinese management forcibly seized it from him, and informed editors that they should ‘write less favourably about the west, and more favourably about China.’

This also happened to the once famous ‘That’s Beijing, Shanghai…etc.’ series of magazine.  It was forcibly taken over by the government.  And the average non-sceptical foreigner is none the wiser.

I would like to remind people that being cynical is not such a bad thing, having awareness of what has happened before, of how things were stated before and how they ended up, and then knowing that these kind of situations are likely to happen again, that’s not being jaded, that’s being smart.

Let me remind people that being cynical is simply being sceptical of the integrity, sincerity or motives of others.  To do that for anyone for which you’ve already seen the history and the results of such actions and take this into consideration when judging their present and future problems should be expected, not shunned.

My point is, that these kind of things happen constantly in China, and for the average person not paying attention….which is, let’s face it, a good 80% of the population, because these individual matters rarely affect them, then it doesn’t mean anything, they won’t be able to remember it, because it simply didn’t make any impact on their lives.  However ,they’re also the ones that’s at the disadvantage when it comes to making smart future decisions.

Should you trust someone that has screwed you over 9 out of 10 times before?  The smart money would say no.  And do you know why?  Because the smart money got there from being cynical.

Then again, as this article is starting, there are just too many things that goes on in China that even your friendly neighbourhood cynic can’t catch it all.

I thank people like the author in the above article for having the integrity for standing up for what is morally correct, to hold people to their words and to present a fair image, and in that regard report on the truth.

And I’m disappointed with those that don’t.

Note to people outside of China, and to those within actually, keep an eye on the workings, save articles that you feel are important, don’t just save the links.  (I myself have saved a copy of the article from the link above fro this very reason)
Eventually you’ll be asked for proof of something that happened, yet if all you’ve got is a link, or ‘someone’s word’, or slight remembrance of an event, with no reference point to it, then it won’t be good enough to stand up the those promoting unfairness that will inevitably ask you for proof that they’ve conveniently been deleting and swaying people’s opinion to believe the opposite.