Timothy Cheek Looks At The CCP

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USC U.S.-China Institute

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 16

@bandygamy5898 3 жыл бұрын

These videos on the ideology in China are so nuanced and interesting.

@rlai2201 3 жыл бұрын

Part 1 “This is a well-written summary & something you won’t get from history books. I’m from Malaysia. China has traded with Malaysia for 2000 years. In those years, they had been the world’s biggest powers many times. Never once they sent troops to take our land. Admiral Zhenghe came to Malacca five times, in gigantic fleets, and a flagship eight times the size of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, Santa Maria. He could have seized Malacca easily, but he did not. In 1511, the Portuguese came. In 1642, the Dutch came. In the 18th century, the British came. We were colonized by each, one after another. When China wanted spices from India, they traded with the Indians. When they wanted gems, they traded with the Persians. They didn’t take lands. The only time China expanded beyond their current borders was in Yuan Dynasty when Genghis and his descendants Ogedei Khan, Guyuk Khan & Kublai Khan conquered China, Mid Asia, and Eastern Europe. But Yuan Dynasty, although being based in China, was a part of the Mongolian Empire. Then came the Century of Humiliation. Britain smuggled opium into China to dope the population, a strategy to turn the trade deficit around after the British could not find enough silver to pay the Qing Dynasty in their tea and porcelain trades. After the opium warehouses were burned down and ports were closed by the Chinese in order to curb opium, the British started the Opium War-I, which China lost. Hong Kong Island was forced to be surrendered to the British in a peace talk (Nanjing Treaty). The British owned 90% of the opium market in China, during that time, Queen Victoria was the world’s biggest drug baron. The remaining 10% was owned by American merchants from Boston. Many of Boston’s institutions were built with profit from opium. After 12 years of the Nanjing Treaty, the West started getting really really greedy. The British wanted the Qing government: 1. To open the borders of China to allow goods coming in and out freely, and tax-free. 2. Make opium legal in China. Insane requests, the Qing government said no. The British and French, with supports from the US and Russia from behind, started Opium War II with China, which again, China lost. The Anglo-French military raided the Summer Palace, and threatened to burn down the Imperial Palace, the Qing government was forced to pay with ports, free business zones, 300,000 kilograms of silver, and Kowloon Peninsula was taken. Since then, China’s resources flew out freely through these business zones and ports. In the subsequent amendment to the treaties, Chinese people were sold overseas to serve as labor. In 1900, China suffered attacks by the 8-National Alliance (Japan, Russia, Britain, France, USA, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary). Innocent Chinese civilians in Peking (Beijing now) were murdered, buildings were destroyed & women were raped. The Imperial Palace was raided, and treasures ended up in museums like the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris. In the late 1930s China was occupied by the Japanese during WWII. Millions of Chinese died during the occupation. 300,000 Chinese died in the Nanjing Massacre alone. Mao brought China together again from the shambles. There were peace and unity for some time. But Mao’s later reign saw sufferings and deaths from famine and power struggles. Then came Deng Xiao Ping and his famous “black-cat and white-cat” story. His preference for pragmatism over ideologies has transformed China. “This mentality allowed China to evolve all the time to adapt to the actual needs in the country, instead of rigidly bounded to ideologies. It also signified the death of Communism in actual practice in China. The current Socialism+Meritocracy+Market Economy model fits the Chinese like gloves, and it propels the uprise of China. Singapore has a similar model and has been arguably more successful than Hong Kong. Hong Kong, being the gateway to China, was riding on the economic boom in China, while Singapore had no one to gain from. In just 30 years, the CPC has lifted 800 million people out of poverty. The rate of growth is unprecedented in human history. They have built the biggest mobile network, by far the biggest high-speed rail network in the world, and they have become a behemoth in infrastructure. They made a fishing village called Shenzhen into the world’s second-largest technological center after Silicon Valley. They are growing into a technological powerhouse. It has the most elaborate e-commerce and cashless payment system in the world. They have launched exploration to Mars. The Chinese are living a good life and China has become one of the safest countries in the world. The level of patriotism in the country has reached an unprecedented height. For all of the achievements, the West has nothing good to say about it. China suffers from intense anti-China propaganda from the West. Western Media used the keyword “Communist” to instill fear and hatred towards China.

@realrhetoric 3 жыл бұрын

As a materialist, Prof. Cheek has a robust view of ideology. With his fly-on-the-wall perspective there in Vancouver, in China's biggest and most successful colony on the N. American continent, he continues here the storied hagiography of China's Revolutionary Party that Edward Snow began, allowing Westerners who don't have the resources or inclination to investigate or research on their own to understand China through the lens of ideology rather than empiricism. Rather than understanding China on its own terms, Cheek privileges a universalistic lens, and asks questions like, "Is China doing a good job of achieving Communist goals, or could it do a better job of achieving Communist goals?" never asking questions like, "Have Chinese leaders themselves actually seen their governance project as Communist?" or, "Do people actually use the ideology of Communism in China to understand themselves, or do they maintain their traditional frames composed almost entirely of particularist Chinese historical referents to understand themselves?" This makes Prof. Cheek's analysis so much easier to understand. If we had to understand China on the same terms it understands itself, we'd have to learn almost the entirety of particulars about a different civilization. Instead, we can use Prof. Cheek's universalistic categories to make it seem like what was going on in China can be expressed in exciting sounding generalities closely linked to inspiring ideological concepts. It's also helpful to know that, as recently as 2017, Dr. Cheek has been a visiting scholar at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai. So often it happens that scholars of China get banned from returning to the country because the Chinese leadership determines those scholars had published information that didn't agree with CCP propaganda. Speaking, or writing, the truth about China outside its borders can be so dangerous for professional intellectuals. Having the perspicacity to only open his mouth or put down his pen in ways that accord with Zhonganhai's priorities has allowed Dr. Creek to continue his promotion of a romanticized embellishment of ideology in China. Fetishizing Western understandings of terminology that is shared by China (albeit with completely different definitions) and then projecting those understanding on the tabula rasa of a China that remains understood only in that non-indigenous framing provides our best possible view of what China actually is, and Prof. Cheek is bold enough to call that projection by its proper name, "Xi Jinping Thought." His resume lists a Ph.D. in Chinese history, but he should also be awarded a Ph.D. in Xi Jinping thought, so skillful is he at administering it. Maintaining the notion that China is being governed ideologically, rather than by the historical principles it's always been governed by, is central to the mastery of Xi Jinping thought by a foreigner like Dr. Creek. Congratulations!

@omissamoris 6 ай бұрын

Your calling Vancouver "China's biggest and most successful colony on the N. American continent" showcases your xenophobic, ahistorical view of those who disagree with you.

@realrhetoric 6 ай бұрын

@@omissamoris 我认为你没有仔细阅读我的评论。