![\"yuan-tengfei-e1358177031376\"](\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2014\/09\/yuan-tengfei-e1358177031376.png\")
<\/a>\nPhoto from YouTube user Stephen Thompson.<\/p>\n
If you were to attend one of Yuan Tengfei\u2019s history lectures at Beijing\u2019s Haidian Teachers Training College, you might think that you\u2019re in the United States, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, where freedom of speech and research are guaranteed. For example, Yuan might say: \u201cDuring the first 20 years or so of the People\u2019s Republic of China the Red Terror cost more than 20 million innocent lives\u201d or \u201cThe Mao Mausoleum in Beijing should change its name to the Holocaust Museum, for there lies a man whose hands are stained with blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his lectures Yuan speaks quickly, in a strong Beijing accent. He is humorous with a love of onomatopoeia. Before starting his lessons he always writes this Chinese proverb on the blackboard: \u201cThe speaker is not guilty, the listener learns the warning.\u201d He teaches history like baking cookies, forming the material into sweet dough to feed his students with.<\/p>\n
The \u201cmost famous maverick teacher in China\u201d as the New York Times correspondent D.K. Tatlow has called Yuan, was born in 1972, though he wasn\u2019t always so famous. After graduating from Beijing Normal University he started his teaching career in the 90s while moonlighting at a cram school to help students pass the university\u2019s entrance examination.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until 2008, when his students at the school posted videos of his lectures online, that Yuan Tengfei became a famous figure. Videos of the eloquent and vivacious teacher attracted public attention and fans, as well as numerous opponents who posted comments about his critical or \u201ctraitorous\u201d views of Chinese history. Within a short time the hits on his videos reached millions.<\/p>\n
Astonishingly, as a consequence, the official CCTV invited Yuan to be a speaker on the popular history program Lecture Room. They even allowed him to give extended lectures on the Song dynasty and the contemporary history of the PRC\u2014an extremely sensitive topic.<\/p>\n
But Yuan mixes official textbook content with his own interpretation and speaks the truth in a frank and joyful way. For example, in his July 2011 lecture on Mao Zedong, he compared Mao to Hitler and Stalin and described the Cultural Revolution as the darkest era in human history. \u201cMao Zedong\u2019s greatest contribution was his death in 1976,\u201d Yuan said. \u201cShould he have died in 1949 or even 1959, history would look totally different.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 16, 2013 The most famous maveric … Continue reading