• MelianPretext@lemmygrad.ml
    14·
    4 days ago

    China before liberation, in reality:

    At the Soviet-Chinese frontier at Manchouli, Soviet porters helped us with our luggage. Silently they carried it into the customs station, where one of their representatives sat at a table and charged us a small sum for each piece. There was no asking for or accepting tips, no bowing and scraping. The system protected us and guarded the self-respect of the porters.

    Our luggage stamped, we turned to face—the Middle Ages. Through the years I have never forgotten the frozen expression on the face of the dark-eyed Soviet railwayman who stood watching the Chinese coolies take our luggage in charge.

    A horde of these men, clothed in rags, scrambling and shouting, threw themselves on our bags and began fighting over each piece. Five or six fell upon my four suitcases and two struggled for my small typewriter— and their action seemed all the more debased because they were as tall and strong as the tallest Americans. Finally two of them carried off my typewriter, and before I could recover from shock, all of them began running with the luggage to the waiting train. Inside, six men crowded about me, holding out their hands and scouting for money. For a moment I was paralyzed, then began to pay them generously to get rid of them. A woman passenger kept warning me that if I overpaid they would demand more. I disregarded her; then the coolies were about me, shouting, shaking their fists, threatening.

    A Chinese trainman came through the car, saw the scene, and with a shout began literally to kick the coolies down the aisle and off the train. Grasping their money, they ran like dogs.

    I stood frozen. My face must have resembled that of the black-eyed Soviet worker who had watched the scene at the customs house. Perhaps his feeling had been what mine was now: here was humanity abandoned. The victims of every whim of misfortune, these men had grown to manhood like animals, without the slightest sense of responsibility towards each other or of human fellowship. When an opportunity for gain came, they battled one another like beasts, and the losers offered no protest. Here was “rugged individualism” and the “survival of the fittest” in its most primal form.

    This scene became for me symptomatic of the social system of China, however disguised and decked out it might be. I saw it repeated in many other settings, often more polite, but always essentially the same—a life- and-death struggle in which the timid and weak went down before the ruthless and strong.

    • Agnes Smedley, Battle Hymn of China, 1944.
        • Drewfro66@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
          18·
          4 days ago

          It’s sad that in America the only way we get interesting performance art like traditional Chinese dance is because of millions of dollars from the NED/USAID to promote anticommunist propaganda. Like, if you ever wonder why there aren’t more traveling dance troupes with the reach of Shen Yun, it’s because the model is inherently unprofitable under late-stage capitalism. They can only do it because of insane government handouts.

          A functional country would have a Department of Arts and Culture, but the only arts and culture the U.S. government funds is media that benefits another goal of the U.S. state through changing public opinion.

    • bobs_guns@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      24·
      4 days ago

      It’s a mid as hell Chinese opera and dance production that’s basically a bunch of anti-communist propaganda run by the Falun Gong, who in addition to the anti-communism are well known for their homophobia, transphobia, racism (including believing that race mixing is a sin, that mixed race people should be exterminated, and that heaven is racially segregated), promotion of unfounded and harmful medical quackery and organ harvesting conspiracy theories, practice of qi gong in public parks, and probably some other whacked out things that I’m forgetting.

      • 矛⋅盾@lemmygrad.ml
        7·
        4 days ago

        qi gong/modified tai chi and meditation practices (by themselves) are at worst harmless, but unfortunately that cult uses that as a front/excuse/cover to describe and advertise as their primary activities, and they even go as far to ascribe spirituality to those activities and synthesize syncretize them into their belief system, particularly their version of faith healing.

        Like it’s not even medical quackery it’s straight up faith healing, or rather, they believe that if you come down with bodily sickness, it’s a reflection of impurity in your thoughts/belief/practices. And furthermore, you shouldn’t even touch (evil, something to do with aliens/ufos) modern medicine at all: if you believe in their cult leader enough and do the Correct Practices and think the most pure/correct Thoughts particularly about their cult leader you will be healed. If you fail to be healed through FLDF practice it means you didn’t do enough. Worse, part of that “good deeds/practices” to idk up your spirit points would be to contribute labor to cult activities (for example proselytizing, putting up flyers, writing, etc, all for no monetary pay)… in order to ‘heal’!!!

        iirc this belief system was AMONG the main reasonS they got kicked out of the PRC, family members of FLG “practitioners” lodged many complaints to the government that their loved ones were dying of colds and easily curable diseases as well as refusing cancer screenings/treatments.

        • bobs_guns@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
          5·
          4 days ago

          Yes, the qi gong is not sinister in itself, but is a mostly harmless cult recruitment activity (outside the fact that it’s recruiting for a cult.)