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Strangely, all these "hot histories" share one similarity: they are all about long-ago history, far from contemporary Chinese life. The most recent one is about the Qing Dynasty, which ended in 1911. The main characters of these stories are emperors, generals, witty noblemen and beautiful women. I wonder why contemporary history, which is much closer to the lives and destiny of today's people, is not included among these popular tales, especially the history of such disasters as the 1950s Anti-Rightist Movement or the 1960s to 1970s Cultural Revolution.
Is contemporary history unimportant? Do we already thoroughly understand contemporary history? Not at all! Anyone with common sense will answer, "No!" Our contemporary history, especially the disasters of the 20th century, is well worth knowing by the Chinese people, as the real roots of these disasters have never been exposed. This history is not known to Chinese youth. If you don't believe this, just ask anyone born since the early 1980s what the Cultural Revolution or the Anti-Rightist Movement are.
The attitude toward recent disasters in its own history can best test a nation's sense of self-confidence and responsibility. A nation that avoids or denies the disasters it caused is a nation lacking self-confidence, which does not dare to face its mistakes and does not want to correct mistakes. It is also a nation that is irresponsible toward its young generation, as both Western and Eastern histories tell us; for any nation that does not remember the disasters that befell it will meet greater disasters in the future.
I learned from Feng Jicai's book, "Ten Years in the Lives of 100 People," that most people born after the 1970s do not know about the Cultural Revolution. Feng discovered that many of the people he interviewed for his book had no channel through which to learn about this tragic 10-year period. A middle-school student told him: "Our history textbook mentions the Cultural Revolution very briefly. When I wanted to learn more about it from my history teacher, my teacher said, 'You don't need to know much about it, as the College Entrance Examination certainly will not include it at all!'"
Regarding China's relations with Japan, we often stress the saying: "Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future." Certainly we should condemn the Japanese militarists for purposely tampering with history and destroying criminal evidence. However, we should also reflect on our own attitude toward history, especially the social disasters caused by human factors. Are we suffering amnesia about these events? Or do we really mean to erase people's memory of disasters?
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(Tao Dongfeng is a professor in the Chinese Department of Capital Normal University in Beijing. He is also editor-in-chief of the scholarly periodical "Culture Research." This article is translated and edited from the Chinese. @Copyright Tao Dongfeng.)
