fuck off and get your own fake museum
Wasn’t his son the one who successfully invaded China?
It was Kublai Khan in that series. And yes, it was anachronistically fun.
He certainly invaded China successfully, by which I mean seizing and holding territory for a prolonged period. It’s possible that he didn’t get all of China and that his son managed to grab even more. I’m not an expert.
You can find swastikas all over the world, it’s only in the last eighty years or so, since Hitler adopted it because of the so-called Aryan connection. Swastikas were even used on British savings stamps between the wars, they’re found on Celtic stone crosses across Europe, and on Native American wall art in Arizona, as part of their creation stories.
Then there’s the whole Buddhist use of the symbol, as well as other Asian faiths.
It’s such a shame that an almost universal symbol that dates back millennia has been polluted and corrupted by one vile megalomaniac.
That’s the one. There have been some good movies recently about his life, too.
Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan:_To_the_Ends_of_the_Earth_and_Sea)* , was a Japanese-Mongolian joint production that was really good, though his death scene seemed to dragged on for 30 minutes.
Mongol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_(film))* a Russian/German/Kazakh movie was a good dramatization of his life before he became the great Khan.
They don’t care if you notice the censorship – they want people to know they are being censored. Mostly, the censorship isn’t about the censorship, but about building a mechanism to remind you that whenever you think or saying or writing something, you have to run your thoughts through their filter.
This has the virtue of making absolutely everything you say or do a reminder than they are in charge.
They wanted to take control of the entire exhibition and make it conform to the official version of Mongol history. From the Connaissance des Arts article linked above (Google translation):
In a press release, Bertrand Guillet testifies to the progressively malicious turn of the Chinese authorities vis-à-vis the exhibition. He mentions an injunction received to “remove from the exhibition the elements of vocabulary (the words Genghis Khan, Empire and Mongol)”. Then, in a second step, a “request for control of all [of] productions (texts, maps, catalog, communication)”. At the end of August, the Chinese authorities demand a total overhaul of the content of the exhibition and send the teams a synopsis - written by the Beijing heritage office - pruning essential mentions of Mongolian history in favor of nationalist and tendentious reinterpretations.
Does somebody have a short précis of the alternate history that they insist on? Kahn’s conquest didn’t really count, he was REALLY Chinese, etc? I’m just curious.
I think this is just the Chinese government being assholish for its own sake. Just to see if they can get people to jump through hoops they set up.
As a form of PR that is Trumpian in nature. (Do something objectionable and silly just to get noticed by the 24 hour news cycle)
I feel like, whenever somebody says, What’s in a name?, you could just reference this moment in history.
I can only imagine how annoying it must be for them that a bunch of White Nationalists appropriated the swastika.
They’re all over Asia and as far as I’ve been able to tell they occupy a place in the cultural conscience that is aware Nazis used it, but that’s not what folks first associated it with.
Visiting museums in China can be jarring. They are 90% the same as any other, so the little stuff sneaks up and surprises you. Some good, some bad, some just … different.
Food and drink kiosks everywhere. If you are thirsty or hungry in China, somebody’s ready to serve.
The maps of China have the 7 dash line more prominent than necessary.
Toddlers in open crotch pants peeing in the halls. It’s forbidden, but parents sometimes don’t care.
Chinese history is glossed over. Not sure if this is political or if they have 5000 years worth and have just given up trying to learn it all. Talking with colleagues tends to support the later.
The oddest was the exhibit that explained how humans evolved in China a million+ years ago and radiated out from there. 100% ignored Africa.
Exhibitions that emerge from China also have those same odd moments where the official line raises its head in a decidedly unsubtle manner.
I remember seeing an exhibition of the terracotta warriors a few years ago, which featured maps which very clearly contrasted the extent of the Empire during the time that the artefacts were made, with modern China, which absolutely includes Taiwan, chunks of India and all the other various land claims.
Why hasn’t Beijing denounced the John Wayne version?
How do you know they didn’t?
The concept of nationhood was a french invention designed to oppress the peoples of Brittany and Provence.
I think I would have noticed. Meanwhile, discount the conspiracy theory that Mao and Stalin plotted to have Marion Morrison aka John Wayne assassinated. Or maybe they did, but as a long-term project, with free cigarettes.
Or maybe the CCP figured THE CONQUEROR made Americans look so stupid, a nice PR stunt.
For some reason I had an affection for Mongolia back in middle school. Then I tasted Mongolian food in college and it all made sense. Yuuuuuuummmmmmmmmy.
But cousin Madeleine was quoted as saying
“Flames…flames…in the village…flames…”