MCLC: Yan Lianke on amnesia (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Thomas123 <bate888 at gmail.com>
Subject: Yan Lianke on amnesia (1)
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Yan Lianke’s essay cannot be allowed to pass without response. It is a
disorganized diatribe similar to the material that used to emanate from
SDS megaphones in the 1970’s on USA campuses.

 
Without addressing his statements line-by-line, here are a few issues that
deserve comment:

 
Yan Lianke has been reading too many computer manuals. Yan's claims that
the hand of government can “erase” or “delete memory”, “block memory
channels” and “re-format brains” are an insult to human dignity. So is the
claim that the government is using “memory deletion” to turn the younger
generation into “selective memory automatons.”

 
Management and administration of education is not a Chinese state
monopoly, nor can it be called “state administration of education with
Chinese characteristics” without one’s tongue firmly in one’s cheek. Yan
Lianke references kindergarten as if it were a Chinese invention. Before
attributing all the regimentation and controls that are part of
kindergarten (and the rest of the educational system) to the Chinese state
apparatus, it would be wise to remember where the concept of modern
education arose: early 1800’s in Germany where the need to train an
obedient and disciplined labor force was important for economic
development. As I used to ask my students:  what are the first things you
learn in school? The answers: Be Punctual; Stand By Your Desk; Salute the
Flag. Then, sit down and be quiet. These are not Chinese inventions;
credit the Germans.

 
Political maturity does not come at birth, although Yan Lianke seems to
think it does. Most people can remember little enough about their family
life before age four; most learn almost nothing of political significance
before their teens. This is not amnesia. Amnesia cannot occur unless there
is a memory to lose. Political maturity arrives at different stages of
life for different people. I was born in 1943. I can remember when Ike was
elected President; I can remember a Weekly Reader article about the
division of Vietnam in 1954; I can remember when President Kennedy was
elected. But these are isolated political events that were without context
and were small facts that held no personal significance to me. I learned
of no other significant political events that occurred during my young
life and, thus, had no memories to erase. Studies have shown that most
people in the West do not begin to read newspapers until around the age of
14-15 years old, and then only to look at the comics or glance at the
sports page. In China (based on my experience teaching at Southwestern
University of Finance and Economics 2008-2012) few people in China have
the time to read a newspaper or watch TV until they have passed their
university exams (or not) and are no longer spending 18 hours per day
studying for exams. For the average 18 year old in China, there is no
political memory to erase and, thus, no amnesia.

 
I must add this: after settling in to university life, my students (born
1984-1995) displayed remarkable curiosity as to what was going on around
them, and quickly developed a high degree of political knowledge. Whether
through the internet or state media outlets, my students were
well-familiar with issues such as bird flu epidemics; HIV cover-ups; the
melamine-tainted baby formula scandal; June 4, 1989; air pollution
problems; the social and economic disasters of the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and early
‘70s, etc.

 
Yan Lianke observes from the periphery of what he calls
“state-administered amnesia with Chinese characteristics,” but nowhere in
his essay does he give it a rigorous definition. Perhaps at some point he
hit the wrong button and inadvertently deleted the definition from his
brain and blocked his own memory channels.

 
These comments are not to deny that information controls existed in China
in the past and continue to exist; but certainly it would be only fair to
acknowledge the positive progress that has been made steadily in the
country over the past decades. Today collective memory is being restored,
not deleted. Post-1949 Chinese history is more accessible in China today
than at any time since the 1950's. This is a fact.

 
It is good that MCLC attributes articles reproduced in the list. If one
goes back several years and reviews those articles attributed to NYT, one
will find a consistent negative bias against the Chinese government and,
to paraphrase Sun Saiyin, may be guilty of frequent publishing of
“extremely misleading and irresponsible” material. In the case of Yan
Lianke’s article, NYT notes that the writer is based in Beijing and that
the essay from which the English material was adapted was written in
Chinese. Where was it originally published, then? Could it be that it was
published right under the noses of those state administrators with their
fingers on the “Delete” button?

 
Thomas Bate