China officially ignored the 30th anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) yesterday, a sign that observers say reveals authorities' fears that bitter memories could unleash a wave of discontent.
In Beijing, the central government did not organize any commemorations for the man who established the People's Republic in 1949 and was once known across China as the "great leader" and the "great helmsman."
State TV made no mention of Mao, while the People's Daily published only two short news briefs on Internet remembrances and the construction of a new museum at his birthplace.
The Beijing Daily reported on an unofficial memorial concert held on Friday at the Great Hall of the People -- China's most recognized political building -- which hosts the annual legislative session but is often rented out for private functions.
No editorials or retrospectives were found in the capital's major newspapers.
Thousands of nostalgic Chinese, however, flocked yesterday to the Mao mausoleum on Tiananmen Square, the symbolic center of China's political power, to try to catch a glimpse of the embalmed body of their "great savior."
At his hometown of Shaoshan in Hunan Province, 6,000 to 8,000 people visited the Mao memorial museum yesterday -- nearly double the attendance figure seen on other weekends, a curator said.
Tourists bowed at the 6m bronze statue of Mao and offered floral tributes, he said.
Analysts said the government feared high-profile public ceremonies honoring Mao could revive memories of tragic moments in Chinese history initiated by the former leader and maybe spark a torrent of public anger about today's problems.
"When you talk about Mao, you cannot avoid mentioning the Cultural Revolution -- you cannot avoid the fact that tens of millions of people were starved to death," said veteran journalist Li Datong (
Gao Yu (
More and more ordinary Chin-ese, especially those who are hardest hit by the widening gap between rich and poor in the increasingly market-orientated country, are using nostalgia to protest the new harsh reality, analysts say.
They added that the tendency to look back to the Mao era with rose-tinted glasses, longing to return to the days when China may have been poorer but was also a more innocent and fairer society, is increasing.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS