The underappreciated value of experience and its relevance today

摘要

December 26 was the anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth. The Chinese government is pursuing a campaign of dismissing foreign influences on its population and going back to its own roots. People, especially Communist Party members, were urged not to observe Christmas but celebrate the "day after", in memory of the "Great Leader". It is interesting that many people support such sentiment in China, some old and some quite young. Chairman Mao died more than 40 years ago and many people celebrating his birthday were not alive when he was born. They did not live through the "Great Leap Forward" and "Cultural Revolution" periods where, according to most estimates, between 18 million and 55 million people perished because of Mao's policies. Their nostalgic reverence for the long-gone leader is not based on actual experiences but on some perception of what reality was back then - and a profound lack of historical knowledge.