Healing the 'cancer' of the Cultural Revolution
Chinese Whispers1 Marras 2021

Healing the 'cancer' of the Cultural Revolution

It's not easy to talk about the Cultural Revolution inside China - let alone teach it. In recent years, one of the last professors to have taught the period has been hounded out of her role at a top university. Sun Peidong has now taken a post at Cornell, after Chinese journals stopped publishing her work, the university party secretary banned her lectures, and even her students turned on her - denouncing Sun as if she were an 'anti-revolutionary' of the very period she taught.

In this frank discussion, I interview Sun about academic freedom and diversity of thought on Chinese campuses; about what it was like to shed light on a taboo subject to younger generations; and why she left China. It's an indictment on modern Chinese discourse that an internationally-renowned scholar such as Sun is now lost to Chinese academia.

‘Look at China, now we have a huge impact. If we cannot handle our own social problems, what kind of impact will we leave to the whole [of] humankind?’ She asked me. And on whether China has got over the Cultural Revolution:

‘If you forbid people, professors, or students, or young generation, to have [the] opportunity to fully discover the history – and the dark side of the history – how can you imagine that our nation can move on?’

Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.


For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.


Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(122)

Why do people join the CCP?

Why do people join the CCP?

At last count, the Chinese Communist Party has 98 million members, more people than the population of Germany. Its membership also continues to grow, making it one of the most successful and resilient...

5 Helmi 202446min

Was China's economic boom 'made in America'?

Was China's economic boom 'made in America'?

Today, the US and China are at loggerheads. There’s renewed talk of a Cold War as Washington finds various ways to cut China out of key supply chains and to block China’s economic development in areas...

22 Tammi 202453min

What lies at the root of the India-China rivalry?

What lies at the root of the India-China rivalry?

India is the fifth largest economy in the world, and now has a population larger than China’s. It’s no surprise, then, that officials in Washington often see India as a powerful non-western bulwark to...

8 Tammi 202445min

Who will be Taiwan's next President?

Who will be Taiwan's next President?

Taiwan goes to the polls in just over a month. This is an election that could have wide repercussions, given the island’s status as a potential flashpoint in the coming years.The incumbent President, ...

11 Joulu 202342min

Dialect and identity: is Mandarin bad for China?

Dialect and identity: is Mandarin bad for China?

Across the span of China, a country as big as Europe, there are countless regional dialects and accents – perhaps even languages. Often, they're mutually unintelligible.The Chinese call these ‘fangyan...

28 Marras 202343min

Battling the official narrative – China's 'underground historians'

Battling the official narrative – China's 'underground historians'

Controlling history is key to the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the country. Whether it’s playing up the ‘century of humiliation’, or whitewashing past mistakes like the Great Leap Forward or t...

13 Marras 202335min

Rethinking Chinese food with Fuchsia Dunlop

Rethinking Chinese food with Fuchsia Dunlop

All cultures care about their cuisine, but the Chinese must have one of the most food-obsessed cultures in the world. It may be because we have the best food...Those listeners of Chinese Whispers who’...

30 Loka 202350min

'The mask has slipped' – Tuvia Gering on China, Israel and Hamas

'The mask has slipped' – Tuvia Gering on China, Israel and Hamas

When China brokered a historic detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier this year, it seemed that a new phase in world history – and certainly in Chinese foreign policy – had opened up. Instead o...

16 Loka 202343min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-podme-livebox
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-asiastudio
otetaan-yhdet
the-ulkopolitist
rss-hyvaa-huomenta-bryssel
rss-merja-mahkan-rahat
aihe
rikosmyytit
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
rss-aijat-hopottaa-podcast
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit