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 CHINA . . . see: "COMMUNISM" see: "PLACES" for other related links After this notice is issued to instruct you villagers ... if there are any Christian converts, you ought to get rid of them quickly. The churches which belong to them should be unreservedly burned down. Everyone who intends to spare someone, or to disobey our order by concealing Christian converts, will be punished according to the regulation ... and he will be burned to death to prevent his impeding our program. --Boxer poster [1900], in M.J. Cohan and John Major (eds.) _History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 687. Cohan & Major explain: The Boxers, a militant secret society, swore to defend the ruling Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty and to rid China of 'foreign devils'. They besieged the foreign legation compound in Beijing from May to Aug. 1900 but were crushed by an international expeditionary force. China was then compelled to make a huge financial indemnity, mortgaging its future for years to come. - Nothing and no one can destroy the Chinese people. They are relentless survivors. They are the oldest civilized people on earth. Their civilization passes through phases but its basic characteristics remain the same. They yield, they bend to the wind, but they do not break. --Pearl S. Buck (1892—1973) American author noted for her novels of life in China; winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature. _China, Past and Present_ [1972] - The Chinese, whom it might be well to disparage less and imitate more, seem almost the only people among whom learning and merit have the ascendency, and wealth is not the standard of estimation. --William Benton Clulow (1802—1882) English clergyman. _Aphorisms and Reflections_ [1843] Frankly speaking, it is difficult to trust the Chinese. Once bitten by a snake you feel suspicious even when you see a piece of rope. --Dalai Lama [Lhama Thondup or Lhama Dhondrub] (b. 1935) Spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism. (Dalai Lama is Mongolian for "Ocean of Wisdom") Quoted in "Observer Colour Magazine" [5 April 1981]. - Much injustice has been done to China because of ignorance of Chinese conditions on the part of foreigners. Much misconception regarding things Chinese exists, and it is high time that definite steps should be taken by Chinese and others interested to bring to the attention of the world the existence of a great people with incalculable natural resources capable of bringing peace, prosperity, and happiness to mankind if properly developed and appreciated or curse and war to the world if misunderstood and mistreated. --Hin Wong, editor of the "Star of Canton" Speech to _Press Congress of the World_, Honolulu, Hawaii [1921]. - When I edged up to the subject he said "Nyet, nyet. You are a subtle man, you are trying to trap me into talking about China. They are our allies, our good relations," and here he stopped. I then said that without getting him "into the ally business," I'd like to ask just one question: what did he think of the new communes, the centers of compulsory communal living that Mao Tse-tung was forcing upon China? With this, Khrushchev made possibly the most interesting statement of the whole interview. "They are old-fashioned, they are reactionary," he said of the communes. "We tried that right after the revolution. It just doesn't work. That system is not nearly so good as the state farms and the collective farms. "You know, Senator, what those communes are based on? They are based on that principle, 'From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.' You know that won't work. You can't get production without incentive." I felt as if I were about to fall out of my chair. Here was the leader of world Communism rejecting the very core of Marxist theory. It was as if I, a life-long Christian, had said that the Golden Rule just would not work. "That is rather capitalistic," I commented, speaking of his reference to the need for incentive. "Call it what you will," Khrushchev replied. "It works." Shortly afterward the Peking government announced that the further spread of the commune system was being slowed down. --Hubert H. Humphrey (1911—1978) 38th vice-president of the United States [1965—1969] and liberal senator [1949—1965] & [1971—1978]. "My Marathon Talk with Russia's Boss" in _Life_ [12 January 1959]. - Two lots of 500 and 1,000 men each were taken out and machine-gunned. Realizing that this was a waste of ammunition, the soldiers loaded the victims on boats, took them down the river below the city, and pushed them overboard in lots of ten or twelve men tied together. The slaughter continued for four or five days. --Jay Calvin Huston, an American eyewitness of the suppression of the communist insurrection in Canton, Dec. 1927. In M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.} _History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 747. Cohan & Major explain: On Stalin's orders the Chinese communists staged urban risings against the Nationalist government, which were mercilessly put down. In Canton the insurgents wore red neckerchiefs. Although they quickly threw them away, the red dye stayed on their skin and marked them out for seizure. The executions by drowning bring to mind the nayades at Nantes by French revolutionaries in Dec. 1793. In January 1952, [...] Mao ordered [a] campaign [...] called "the Five-Antis." The offences were bribery, tax evasion, pilfering state property, cheating and stealing economic information. It was aimed at private businessmen, whose property had not been confiscated, to force them to disgorge money, as well as to frighten them out of acts like bribery and tax evasion. One person involved at a high level put the number of suicides [...] as at least 200,000-300,000. In Shanghai so many people jumped from skyscrapers that they acquired the nickname "parachutes." One eyewitness wondered why people jumped into the street rather than into the river. The reason, he discovered, was that they wanted to safeguard their families: "If you jumped into the Huangpu River and were swept away so the Communists didn't have a corpse, they would accuse you of having escaped to Hong Kong, and your family would suffer. So the best way was to leap down to the street." --Jung Chang and Dan Halliday, _Mao: The Unknown Story_ [2005] China is not, as is invariably said, in transition from communism to a freer and more democratic state. It is, instead, something we have never seen before: a maturing fascist regime. --Michael Ledeen (b. 1941) American author and scholar of American foreign policy. "It's a Fascist Regime" in _National Post_ [2002] I'd love to get you On a slow boat to China. All to myself alone. --Frank Loesser (1910—1969) American songwriter. "On a Slow Boat to China" [1948 song] - If I were an Englishman, I should esteem the man who advised a war with China to be the greatest enemy to my country in existence. --Napoleon I (1769—1821) Emperor of France [1804—1815]. In Barry Edward O'Meara _Napoleon in Exile: Or, A Voice from St. Helena_ [1822]. & see: [Of China:] There lies a sleeping giant. Let him sleep. For when he wakes, he will move the world. --Charles de Gaulle (1890—1970) French soldier and statesman, President [1959—1969]. Quoted in _Life_ [7 December 1959]. - The Chinese are a great and vital people who should not remain isolated from the international community. . . . It is certainly in our interest of peace and stability in Asia and the world, that we take what steps we can toward improved practical relations with Peking. --Richard Nixon (1913—1994) American Republican statesman, President [1969—1974]. First foreign policy report to Congress [February 1970]. Omnipresent amid all the frenzy of Shanghai is that famous portrait, that modern icon. The faintly smiling, bland, yet somehow threatening visage appears in brilliant red hues on placards and posters, and is painted huge on the sides of buildings. Some call him a genius. Others blame him for the deaths of millions. There are those who say his military reputation is inflated, yet he conquered the mainland in short order. Yes, it's Colonel Sanders. --P.J. O'Rourke (b. 1947) American political satirist. _Eat the Rich_, ch. 10 [1998] [Remark to British students in China:] You shouldn't stay here too long, or you'll turn slitty-eyed. --Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1921) Consort of Queen Elizaberh II. At Beijing University, Beijing, China [March 1986]. - The following three quotes are from M.J. Cohan and John Major (eds.) _History in Quotations_, pp 866/7 [2004]: There is no sign of uneasiness among the British residents here. British businessmen mean to carry on unless physically forced to leave. They are confident that a communist government would find the cooperation of the British import merchants indispensable to keep up the standard of living among the Chinese population. --Ward Price, foreign correspondent of the "Daily Mail," Shanghai, Christmas 1948; in Noel Barber _The Fall of Shanghai_ [1979] p.150. & see: Three Chinese boys in long white gowns served cocktails, followed by a meal consisting of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and rhubarb pie. Not more than a hundred yards away a full orchestra of rifles and machine-guns was making so much noise that speech was frequently impossible. --David Middleditch, Shanghai [25 May 1949] The Brits keep up standards as the Chinese communists take over the city. & see: Have rejoined the Fleet. God save the King! --Lieutenant Commander John Kerans RN [31 July 1949]. Kerans brought the badly damaged frigate HMS Amethyst down the Yangtse past Chinese communist batteries in an exploit that was undoubtedly heroic but that signified the withdrawal of the British presence from China after more than a century of imperialist control. - [After taking a tour of the Far East:] I have seen the future of much of the Pacific Rim, and I am scared out of my mind. One quarter of the population of the planet, certainly about 1.2 billion Chinese, are about to transform their standard of living, and in the process, wreck a large proportion of the globe. --John Sergeant British architect. _Newsweek_ [9 May 1994] - Wu folk are excited when they give birth to a daughter, But it's not because they hope that she'll run a family house. They wash her young complexion in peachflower water, And pray at her young movements men's lust will be aroused. She's only aged eleven when she puts in rouge and powder, While at twelve she's coaxing tunes from silken strings. Her hair, at fourteen years, is tumbling down her shoulders And her moth's-antennae eyebrows can bewitch. Mama permits herself — a smile of satisfaction. She'll fetch a thousand — silver — to the ounce, When the highest class of customers come seeking her in marriage And do not spare expense to buy a beauty from the South ... The client is delighted. He observes to the mother, 'In no way can one reckon that a thousand is too much!' Let tonight become the night that decides a lifetime's love. How he piles the golden hairpins and the bangles up. And up! ... Off they go, then, unconcerned, with no feelings for their kin. Once a chick's become a grown-up, well — she makes her own way. Money is what matters. Flesh and blood mean nothing. For you, and me, and all of us, the mere thought of this is hateful. --Shao Changheng 'Selling a Daughter' (late 17th century) _Qing shiduo_ (Qing Bell of Poesy) - We want to be masters of our own destiny. We need no gods or emperors. We do not believe in the existence of any savior. We want to be masters of the world and not instruments used by autocrats to carry out their wild ambitions. We want a modern lifestyle and democracy for the people. Freedom and happiness are our sole objectives in accomplishing modernization. Without this fifth modernization all others are merely another promise. --Wei Jingsheng [January 1979] in James D. Seymour _The Fifth Modernization: China's Human Rights Movement 1978- 1979_ [1980] p.50. (For these thoughts Wei was jailed for 15 years.) end page | CALAMITIES - CALM | CALUMNY - CANADA | CANCER - CAPITAL PUNISHMENT | CAPITALISM | CAREFREE - CARPE DIEM | CARTER (JIMMY) - CATS & DOGS | CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES - CENSORSHIP | CERTAINTY - CHANGE | CHANGING (ONE'S MIND) & CHANGING TIMES | CHARACTER | CHARACTER ASSASINATION - CHEERFULNESS | CHEER UP! - CHILDHOOD | CHILDREN | CHILDREN'S RHYME | CHINA | CHOCOLATE - CHRISTIANITY | CHRISTMAS | CHURCH - CIGARS | CIRCUMSTANCES & CITIES | CIVILITY - CIVIL RIGHTS | CLARITY - CLEVER | CLOTHES - COFFEE | COLD - COLORS | COMEDY | COMFORT - COMMON SENSE | COMMUNICATION | COMMUNISM | COMPANIONSHIP - COMPASSION | COMPETITION - COMPLIMENTS | COMPOSERS - CONDUCTORS | CONFESSION - CONQUEST | CONSCIENCE - CONTENTED | CONTEXT - CONVERSATION | CONVICTION & COOKING | COOLIDGE - CORPORATIONS | CORRUPTION - COURAGE | COURT - COWS | CREATIVITY - CRIME | CRIME & PUNISHMENT - CROOKS | CRITICISM & CRITICS | CROWD (THE) - CUBA | CULTURE - CYNICS | | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The Reviews | |
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