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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Is China justified in being proud of it's history?
China has the right to be proud of its history but in order to fully understand its history it must accept the wrong doings it has done.
I don't know any country that would not be proud of its history - warts and all.
Scandinavian:
If you go to Germany it is pretty easy to find people who are ashamed of parts of the countrys history. But yeah, most people are brought up to like where they are even without significant brainwashing
Almost all nations teach pride in their history, even though many of them have little to be proud of. Myself, I view pride with great suspicion, (Pride comes before a fall), as it can easily be used to dupe either yourself or others into glossing over some of the less desirable things in one's history. Often the longer the nations history, the 'greater' it is perceived to be but also, very often in such cases there are more things that one should not be so proud of.
Now, I am English, and the history of England (intertwined as it is with that of Great Britain), is long and often illustrious but there are many chapters in which one should not be so proud, (slavery, colonialism and subjugation to name a few), however, too often people project modern morals onto former times when modern morals weren't valued in the same manner, that, I believe, is also a mistake. Acknowledge former mistakes but I see no value in feeling shame.
China has a huge history and its people have every right to be proud of that, acknowledging that long history is one thing, but to do so you must also recognise the mistakes your nation has made, (I'm not a student of Chinese history, but I would say the Cultural Revolution and the Great Famine would be two mistakes to recognise).
I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice to my daughter, and one of the reasons Miss Elizabeth rejects Mr Darcy is because of his 'enormous pride', until quite recently pride was seen as a sin, as wrong. Perhaps, we should re-visit that mind-set.
MrTibbles:
Having pride in your country isn't really a bad thing unless it's overtly obnoxious and nationalistic. The problem in China is people are "proud" of China, but they don't know why. They are proud of "5000 years of history" yet most of them only know that there is "5000 years" but they can't tell you anything that happened in those 5000 years, so they're proud of the number 5000.
Hugh.G.Rection:
Mr Tibbles, would you perchance be American?
If so I think we may have stumbled upon a historical cultural difference between our nations.
In general Americans think pride is a virtue, something to be espoused. Up until fairly recently (perhaps 70 years ago) for the English pride was a sin and viewed as a vice. I believe, the popularity of American culture and ways in recent years has lead to many if not most English adopting the American view of pride. I am not so sure that is a good thing. Feel proud, by all means, but to display pride I still see as distasteful, but then I'm old-fashioned even for my 50 years of age.
MrTibbles:
Yes, I am American. Pride can be seen as arrogance, and I agree that is distasteful. Pride, when used as "I'm better than you" isn't good. But, "proud", like the feeling you get when say a child graduates college - is that bad? "National pride" is a different beast than personal pride, as is feeling proud about the accomplishments of others.
Hugh.G.Rection:
Mr Tibbles, I largely agree, as I indicated in my reply above FEELING pride is one thing, and one I'm OK with, displaying pride in public, is quite another. When my child graduates we will go for a meal to celebrate, but my displays of pride will be limited to applause when she receives her award and private personal congratulations, and hugs. But that's just me, as I've said, the public displays are becoming the norm even in the UK.
It's real history? Or the history it teaches in school?