Category Archives: Culture

No Official Memorial For Chairman Mao, 40 Years After Death

a-woman-stands-in-front-of-a-giant-portrait-of-mao-zedong-at-the-gate-of-the-forbidden-city-in-beijing-on-sept-9

A woman stands in front of a giant portrait of Mao Zedong at the gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing on Sept. 9, 2016, the 40th anniversary of the death of Communist China’s founding father. AFP

Forty years after his death at the age of 82, late supreme leader Mao Zedong still presents a political dilemma to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Continue reading

Exclusive: Australia’s two biggest cities cancel Mao Zedong concerts, citing safety concerns

By Byron Kaye | SYDNEY

A statue of late Chairman Mao Zedong is pictured at Beijing University of Chemical Technology in Beijing, China, August 4, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

A statue of late Chairman Mao Zedong is pictured at Beijing University of Chemical Technology in Beijing, China, August 4, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

SYDNEY Australia’s two biggest cities Sydney and Melbourne canceled concerts commemorating the death of former Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, with one citing safety concerns, after Chinese Australians complained the content was insensitive.

The incident signifies the continued divisiveness of Mao among Chinese, both at home and abroad, four decades after his death.

In China there is a quiet resurgence in popularity toward Mao, with his image adorning banknotes and his embalmed body attracting hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors a day to Beijing. But there is also continued criticism among Chinese of his reign, under which tens of millions died.

For weeks, Chinese in Sydney and Melbourne complained that the “Glory and Dream” concerts, scheduled for September in both cities’ town halls, lionize a leader they see as responsible for millions of deaths.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for the City of Sydney said in an email that after consulting police, the council had “concerns regarding the potential for civil disturbance, patron-to-patron conflict and staff-to-patron conflict” and canceled the event.

The spokesperson said the concert organizers, who booked the venue and arranged the concerts without council involvement, had also determined that the event was “at high risk of disruption and elevated risk to personal safety”.

A spokeswoman for City of Melbourne said the concert was also canceled in that city, but declined to give a reason saying it was the decision of the organizers.

An organizer of the events, Sydney property developer Peter Zhu, said in a telephone call that he was only the “sponsor” and declined to comment further. The other organizer, a group called the International Cultural Exchange Association, did not respond to emails and calls.

Mao, who died in 1976, remains a polarizing figure in China.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-china-mao-zedong-exclusive-idUSKCN1173NZ

Embrace Australian Values Alliance:the City of Sydney is seeking advice from Foreign Affairs

Aug 29, 2016 — Press Release from Embrace Australian Values Alliance (EAVA)

-the City of Sydney is seeking advice from foreign affairs
29 August 2016

Spokesman of the Embracing Australian Values Alliance (EAVA), John Hugh said that the leading members of the EAVA held a talk with Ms. Monica Barone, CEO of the City of Sydney today on the topic of leasing Town Hall to the International Cultural Exchange Association of Australia (ICEAA) for a concert praising Mao Tse-tung, the worst mass murderer in the human history. Continue reading

Concerts Honoring China’s Chairman Mao Spark Outrage in Australia

A mother (C) shows her child pictures of former communist party leaders Mao Zedong (top L) and Deng Xiaoping (top R) in Ditan Park in Beijing

A mother (C) shows her child pictures of former communist party leaders Mao Zedong (top L) and Deng Xiaoping (top R) in Ditan Park in Beijing, June 28, 2011. AFP

Thousands of people have signed a petition to the Australian authorities to call off two concerts in honor of late supreme Chinese leader Mao Zedong, amid growing concerns over the lengthening reach of the Chinese Communist Party’s “soft power” influence overseas. Continue reading

As the School Year Begins, Chinese Dissidents’ Children Are Left Out in the Cold

Petitioners whose children have been been denied access to school protest in Beijing

Petitioners whose children have been been denied access to school protest in Beijing’s Fengtai District, Aug. 20, 2016. Photo courtesy of Ran Chongbi

As millions of Chinese schoolchildren and college students were back in class at the start of the new academic year on Monday, the children of some dissidents and critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party continue to be denied access to education, activists told RFA. Continue reading

Ma Jian Introduces Madeleine Thien: Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Monday 18th July 2016 7pm – 8pm 107 Charing Cross Road Literary Event, Chargeable Event
Madeleine Thien’s third novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, is an epic, resonant novel about the far-reaching effects of China’s revolutionary history. Spanning the decades since 1949, it tells the story of two inter-linked musical families, from the Shanghai Conservatory in the early years of Mao’s ascent to the tumult of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations, as a vibrant cast of characters deal with the Cultural Revolution’s impact on their artistic selves, personal relationships and national identity.
The daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada, Madeleine Thien is uniquely placed to tell this story, and has crafted a novel that deals with epic themes on an intimate scale, flawlessly weaving a Chinese philosophy and sensibility with Western narrative traditions.
At this exclusive event, the acclaimed author of Beijing Coma and Red Dust Ma Jian introduces us to Madeleine and her work. Joined by his wife and translator Flora Drew, Ma Jian and Madeleine will discuss Do Not Say We Have Nothing and the real-world events that it draws upon.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear one China’s most important cultural commentators in conversation with a striking and important voice in Canadian literature. Their discussion will be followed by a Q&A with the audience and a book signing.
Venue: The Auditorium at Foyles, Level 6, 107 Charing Cross Road
Tickets: FREE. Simply book below.
Please note, no physical tickets will be issued, the email confirmation you receive is proof of your booking.
Refunds
We are unable to issue refunds to customers unable to attend the event without at least 24 hours’ notice. To request a refund of your ticket purchase or purchases, email [email protected] with your details and request

China’s Cultural Revolution Through Eyes of Journalist Morley Safer

Natalie Liu, July 02, 2016 9:22 PM
Morley Safer

“60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer arrives for Walter Cronkite’s funeral at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue in New York, July 23, 2009. Safer died in May 2016.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the official launch of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution by the Chinese government. Continue reading

China Clamps Down on Memorial Events Ahead of Tiananmen Crackdown Anniversary

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A group of activists from the eastern Chinese province of Shandong gathers to mark the anniversary of the 1989 military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, May 15, 2016. Photo courtesy of an activist.

Authorities in China have placed dozens of rights activists and dissidents under house arrest after they tried to mark the 27th anniversary of the 1989 military crackdown on student-led democracy protests on Tiananmen Square, while others have been ordered to leave town ahead of the politically sensitive June 4 anniversary.

Police in the eastern province of Shandong are holding retired university professor Sun Wenguang under house arrest after he tried to meet up with around 10 fellow veterans of the 1989 pro-democracy movement to mark the bloodshed that left an unknown number killed in the crackdown by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops.

Sun said his house arrest started after he and around 10 other activists made plans to hold a public discussion event marking the Tiananmen Square democracy movement and the subsequent crackdown on a local square.

The square was quickly cordoned off by police officers in four vehicles, who whisked Sun back to his home and placed him under house arrest, he told RFA.

“[My fellow activists] tried to come to my house, but there were about four police officers standing guard outside who wouldn’t let them in,” he said.

“Then more people arrived and they pushed their way through, and we held a brief event [in my home], and recorded it on video,” Sun said.

Beijing dinner blocked

In Beijing, police also prevented a group of activists from eating dinner together to mark the anniversary, they told RFA.

Around a dozen scholars, former officials and democracy activists had planned to get together to mark the June 4 anniversary a few weeks early, to avoid tight security in the Chinese capital at that time of year, Beijing democracy activist Zha Jianguo said.

“A couple of days beforehand, they contacted us to say we mustn’t go, and then on [May 19] there were a couple of police officers outside my door who tried to stop me leaving,” Zha said.

“I managed to push past them, but they just followed me.”

Former agricultural official Yao Jianfu said he hadn’t set out for the dinner after he received a message from police ordering him not to attend.

Bao Tong, a former aide to late premier Zhao Ziyang, whose ouster came at the height of the 1989 student movement, said he had no choice but to comply with the order.

“You have to comply; if they want to sentence you to jail, then that’s what they’ll do,” Bao said. “If they say ‘don’t go and eat dinner together,’ then if you do go, they’ll just bring you back again.”

Forced ‘vacation’ for Bao

Bao said in an earlier interview that police have also told him he must leave town with them on a forced “vacation” over the anniversary period.

“I think I’ll be going somewhere else, but where, I don’t know,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “They told me to prepare my things, including medications and the like, but there has been no final confirmation.”

Meanwhile, members of the Tiananmen Mothers victims campaign group said they would be marking the anniversary with a visit to their loved ones’ graves.

Zhang Xianling, who lost her 19-year-old son Wang Nan during the crackdown, said she hasn’t heard from police, who usually accompany the family, about the arrangements yet.

“They haven’t started surveillance yet, nor have they been in touch for a chat,” Zhang said. “In previous years, they would have done so by now; I hope they’ve changed the way they do things this year.”

“But just because they haven’t come yet doesn’t mean they’re not coming at all.”

In the 26 years since the bloodshed, the group has repeatedly called for a reappraisal of the student-led democracy movement, which the government has styled a “counterrevolutionary rebellion.”

They want a public apology, compensation, the release of details of the crackdown held in secret by the government, and the political rehabilitation of victims and their families.

Zhang said she hopes to visit the Wan’an cemetery in a westerns suburb of Beijing, where her son’s ashes are held.

“We are old, and we are dying one by one, or getting sick, but that won’t stop us from carrying out memorial activities and from protesting,” she said.

“We are determined to keep doing that.”

In the central province of Hunan, activists from Zhuzhou city said they were called into a police station for questioning after they planned to wear black clothes with slogans commemorating June 4.

“The police … warned us not to carry out any activities of that kind,” activist Guo Sheng said following the questioning.

The death toll from the night of June 3-4, 1989, when PLA tanks and troops entered Beijing, clashing at times with civilians armed with makeshift weapons, remains unknown to this day.

While the Chinese government once put the death toll at “nearly 300,” it has never issued an official toll or list of names. Other estimates run in the thousands.

A 2009 map published by the Tiananmen Mothers listed more than 250 names garnered from confirmed eyewitness accounts and hospital records of those known to have died in the days after June 3.

Reported by Hai Nan for RFA’s Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/china-tiananmen-05262016142624.html