The Tyranny of History

Bought the book The Tyranny of History - The Roots of China's Crisis by W. J. F. Jenner (The Penguin Press, 1994) in London in 1996. Am finally reading it this year. Geez. But at least I got to it eventually!

Jenner argued that China's crisis goes far deeper than the problems of its current leaders to a value system that is rooted in the autocratic traditions of China's past.

He said that China had been both held together and held back by its extreme deference to history, adding that "the history of tyranny is matched by a tyranny of history, perception and thought patterns from the past bind living minds."

"Just as the record of the past was an essential guide to how to deal with the problems of today, so the records of one's own time yet to be compiled, and their distribution of blame and praise, were something so worrying that they might even influence present actions."

"History thus play a role comparable to that of religious texts in other cultures. It is also the Last Judgment ... The rulers of dynastic China, like their present-day successors, did not have to bother about what they would look like on television news or in the next day's paper; but many of them cared what history would say about them, just as European monarchs have worried about whether their souls were heading for heaven or hell after death."

Overall point taken.

But somehow I am not sure if it is entirely true that in 2009, Chinese leaders do not care about how "they would look on television news or in the next day's paper." They probably do. But then of course there is an army of propagandists out there to make sure that they at least do not look bad.