We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

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Samizdata quote of the day

It is difficult to know how seriously to take China’s red revival. Like the idea of a Cultural Revolution-themed restaurant – could the world imagine an Auschwitz Café? – to Western eyes the campaigns are almost beyond parody.

Peter Foster discussing the nauseating celebrations of the communist party in China

14 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • Vinegar Joe

    In the democratic Republic of China (Taiwan) we had a concentration camp theme restaurant.

    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2000/01/21/20751

  • “It is difficult to know how seriously to take China’s red revival.”

    It’s not a “red” revival, it’s a mutation into something more like national socialism – at least among the party; ordinary people in China (and in Taiwan) try to ignore overt politics, much as they do everywhere else.

    Incidentally, but unrelated to the above point, here in Taiwan I sometimes see little Nazi swastickers (proper ones, not the Tao and Buddhist ones) on motorbikes, helmets, cars and T-shirts.

    I however, have a T-shirt with the U.S. Airforce insignia from the B29.

  • It’s not a “red” revival, it’s a mutation into something more like national socialism

    There was never really much difference (measured by end result, culture or net outcomes) between the various the “red” and “brown” species of socialism.

  • I agree that the distinction is borderline pedantic when regarded from libertarian precepts, but that misses the nature of the PRC’s propaganda dynamic: it is predominantly nationalistic.

  • I however, have a T-shirt with the U.S. Airforce insignia from the B29.

    Top work Mike. I’m considering stencilling a Flying Tiger onto an old leather jacket.

  • Vinegar Joe and Mike:

    I have a soft spot in my heart for this Taiwanese ad.

    “Declare war on the cold front!”

  • I might do something similar myself: the Flying Tigers who served with the Chinese Nationalists against the Japanese are forgotten over here. You can see the shark’s mouth design on the p51s sent to Chiang in 1945 in this etching.

  • Correction: p40s.

  • Gon

    Man…come on !!! China politics MUST be taken down.This explians it all seriously.Watch it:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaUGgi6RowM

    Get it ?

  • veryretired

    They know they’re in trouble.

    This is the public show, like those stadiums filled with smiling, dancing children in NK.

    In private, amongst the leadership, I would bet the discussions are not so happy.

    And no songs or dances, either.

    Just that never-ending list of problems that demand solutions.

    The curse of the totalitarian state is that it has to fix all the problems it knows nothing about fixing, and still pretend they don’t exist.

    When the crash comes, it’s going to be a doozy.

  • It’s sad to think that no one is ever going to be held accountable for The Great Leap Forward. It killed upwards of 40 million, according to a recent book based on provincial government records, and it happened within living memory.

  • Paul Marks

    Mao was the largest scale mass murderer in human history (see “Mao: The Untold Story” and many other works).

    People who honour the memory of Mao are scum.

    This is true of Barack Obama’s friends and allies in the United States (many of whom have been recorded showing support for Mao) and it is also true of the regime in mainland China.

    “But Paul they are not sincere – they do not really follow Mao any more, they are more like the National Socialists, allowing private enterprise as long as it serves the goal of collective greatness…”

    I am about as comforted by the idea that the Chinese regime has developed from Marxism to Nazism as Perry is.

  • James Metcalfe

    I content myself with the knowledge that any so-called celebrations we might have been allowed to see were, like the pyrotechnic display in the 2008 Olympics, a CGI-driven fantasy.

    Fake country, fake capitalism.