The Xinhai Centenerary That May Never be?

The Party and its censors are getting rather too worked up over a few time travel entertainment dramas on TV. Of course even simple fun shows like these are political in China – getting history ‘wrong’ is a major crime of Orwellian proportions and opens a major can of worms. Getting history ‘wrong’ right in the here and now is complicated enough – what if the ‘line’ on history changes and then the show is repeated and reveals that the line has changed and….you see it’s Orwell redux in China once again so brilliantly. Oh if only old Eric Blair could have lived to see this!! And what if the person going back to the past is from the future like some Chinese version of Doctor Who – what’s the future like and the past he’s going to and….oh my brain aches (and the Doctor isn’t even human! – are Time Lords communist or just misguided but generally well intentioned alien patriots?? More censorship needed – there could be Trotskyists on Galifrey for God’s sake! Or maybe even alien Dalai Lamas!! As for China’s Communist Party – well, obviously they’re Daleks. But now this is another post altogether!! Back to the point….EXTERMINATE). And that’s just entertainment on TV…what about ‘real’ history!!!

This year I’ve moved around China a bit for work – still based in Shanghai and up in Beijing for a few days most months. Trips around my bit of the world, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuxi as well as (most importantly for this story) Nanjing. A quick slide through Guangzhou and Shenzhen en route to Hong Kong and a couple of longish trips to Taipei. In Taiwan the Xinhai centenary is well underway and everywhere on the street and in media (see previous posts here, here and here). Yet, on the mainland I’m yet to see any events or references to the downfall of the Qing, the creation of the Republic and the subsequent that led to 1949. So, as the young folk say, what gives?

Seemingly no special place for the harmony disrupting doctor this year

Some people tell me not to be paranoid – wait until the autumn, October, when the Double Ten comes along. They’re just saving themselves. Perhaps, but so far I see no indication that the PRC is planning to even mention the anniversary. Of course current historical tautology in China goes something along the lines of revolution to establish republic led by ‘well meaning patriots’ (Dr Sun etc), who got led astray by slightly less well meaning patriots (Chiang etc) but everything eventually righted itself thanks to the CPC in 1949. Not my version of history but what gets punted out of The Ministry of Truth in Beijing these days (which admittedly is an improvement on a decade ago).

My own theory at the moment is that China’s historians and politicians (communists) cannot agree on how to interpret or to present the Xinhai to the masses. A similar impasse seems to have led to the botched historical job that is the new National Museum. The problem, I suspect, is that dealing with the issue of 1911 as a progressive and necessary change means accepting the, now highly problematic, contention that upheaval, or a little suspension of harmony while things get resolved, is essential. Nobody seems to be able to deal with that whether it be in regards to Libya or Xinhai. So, best to just ignore it and find some Party anniversaries as an excuse to get out the minority dancers and the fireworks.

Flags out in 1911 in Shanghai…but not in 2011

As the year rolls on and October approaches we shall see….we are of course getting some Catherine Wheels and marches linked to the 90th anniversary of the CPC (perhaps, like my old grandfather, having a big bash for their 90th because there’s only a slim chance of making it to 100?? Let’s hope so!)

By the way would I be totally paranoid to think that actually Beijing and the Party now finds it easier to deal with the cultural Chernobyl that is Disney than Sun Yat-sen? While seemingly being completely unable to deal intellectually or ideologically with Xinhai, Shanghai seems to have rolled over and offered itself up completely willingly to a dose of American soft power via the toxic rat – have we reached the point where American culture appears less threatening to the Party than modern Chinese history (what would that old bastard Joe McCarthy have made of that) and that, in fact, the former is to be welcomed while the latter is to be run away from?

Personally of course I’ll take Xinhai, or just about anything, including obviously the trash that is Disney.