Today there was a story in the New York Times about the new statute outside the National Museum on Tian'anmen Square being mysteriously removed during the night on Friday. The National Museum just re-opened after several years of restoration, and it has been a rather big deal around here, with tickets selling out in the early hours of each day. China has touted the museum as being the biggest national museum in the world, with the most exhibit space, etc etc. Another article in the NYT recently focused on the museum, stating how odd it was since it calls itself a museum of China as well as hosting international exhibits, but the exhibits carefully dance around anything to do with the Cultural Revolution or the events following that, the Tian'anmen Square massacre, or anything deviating from the current party line. In addition, they apparently somehow manage to have an entire exhibit about the Renaissance without mentioning liberty of thought and expression, hallmarks of the Renaissance.
It was a big deal when the statue of Confucius was installed outside the museum, on the east side of Tian'anmen Square, because Mao Zedong was so anti-Confucius. Along with other religions, Confucianism was suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, and its followers were persecuted. Mao encouraged the Red Guard to deface or destroy Confucian temples and artifacts. So many people were surprised when the statue was placed just across from the entrance to the Forbidden City and in Tian'anmen Square, a place so carefully controlled by the government that there are about 5 video cameras on every light pole and you must go through a metal detector and pat-down to get in, even on non-special occasions. Some Chinese hailed it as sacrilegious to Mao and his lifework, while others thought it was a step towards moving onwards and encouraging Confucian ethics in modern-day China. Apparently the former crowd won the ideological argument however, because the statue is now MIA and even the guards outside the National Museum don't know where it has gone.
Luckily I tried to go to the museum last week right before Shane came, and although the tickets were all sold out, I did see the statue and took a picture before it disappeared, maybe for good.
It was a big deal when the statue of Confucius was installed outside the museum, on the east side of Tian'anmen Square, because Mao Zedong was so anti-Confucius. Along with other religions, Confucianism was suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, and its followers were persecuted. Mao encouraged the Red Guard to deface or destroy Confucian temples and artifacts. So many people were surprised when the statue was placed just across from the entrance to the Forbidden City and in Tian'anmen Square, a place so carefully controlled by the government that there are about 5 video cameras on every light pole and you must go through a metal detector and pat-down to get in, even on non-special occasions. Some Chinese hailed it as sacrilegious to Mao and his lifework, while others thought it was a step towards moving onwards and encouraging Confucian ethics in modern-day China. Apparently the former crowd won the ideological argument however, because the statue is now MIA and even the guards outside the National Museum don't know where it has gone.
Luckily I tried to go to the museum last week right before Shane came, and although the tickets were all sold out, I did see the statue and took a picture before it disappeared, maybe for good.
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