Originally Posted by Chapel Hill Guy
Hey moondog, thanks again for all your help in BJ.
To this point, I'm currently reading Mao, The Untold Story, by Jung Chang. I'd be amazed if it's available in China, as it's a "revisionist bombshell" as one of the blurbs on the back cover reads. But it's fascinating in its revelations of Mao's machinations and treachery, most of which are still unknown in China.
My son and I went to the Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Museum, where one wing of an entire floor is devoted to the Japanese occupation and the subsequent birth of the PRC in 1949. According to this book, most of the official story displayed there is complete fabrication.
This book is definately not available in China - though i have managed to smuggle one in! The thing is that most Chinese, even younger generations still revere Mao and cannot fathom that he had his flaws. I have factories in Southern China and interact regularly with some of my labour force (have lunch with them in the canteen etc) and basically many of the older ones will love to talk politics with you and extoll the virtues of Mao's philosophy. They have no concept of some of the things that happened such as the Great Famine etc.
I showed my secretary some of the pictures in the book and she was shocked!
By the way its true that you will never see a picture/painting/photo of Mao with his mouth open in China.....you'll have to read the book to find out why.
Another interesting experience with regards to Politics that i had was in Beijing. I think people in BJ are more opinionated and more open to learning more. Out in the bar street, i would regularly be approached by groups of university students who wanted to share a pitcher of beer with me whilst talking about various political topics. They wanted to know about everything from goings on in the Middle East to why the Falun Gong is allowed in Hong Kong and not in China (though those conversations were very hush hush - we even had to use codenames for the Falun Gong!) - and they had their own strong opinions about all these issues.
One observation i have is that the further you get away from Beijing, people tend to talk less about politics and more about the economy.