Ominous much?
Yeah. That’s what I thought, too.
I am on my way to a big, new Buddhist temple when I see this old dude doing his martial arts practice in front of yet another of the Googolplex of statues, memorials and bas relief sculptures dedicated to communist revolutionary heroics that slather the nation like gushing treacle. If the PRC would spend one tenth as much on clean water as they do on propaganda, I swear they’d have – like – ten percent more clean water, obviously.
Agitprop works!“
To be clear, he didn’t have to practice here. Tangshan is rife with plazas and squares and inexplicably abandoned plateaus of concrete where he could work out. He’s gotta feel some kind of connection to this hunk of pseudo history. Maybe it’s the stately (not starving) peasants or the powerful weapons or the earnest forthright motion of the soldiers he likes. Or more likely, he relishes the shadow he casts here, long and tall and echoing their pose making him a big man in something even bigger than himself.
But seriously, I have no problem with patriotism. Go ahead. Love your country. I mean, old dudes posing in front of flags is no novelty here in the USA.
Take it as a sign.”
Only, elderly Chinese who are gung-ho about the Chinese government (and, believe me, there are a lot of them) really puzzle me. Looking at this guy’s age, he was a baby during Mao’s stupidity induced famine, a young man during the brutal cultural revolution and a youth when the government refused to help the hungry and desperate city where citizens crushed under the great earthquake. He has absolutely no reason to love his government, except, possibly, the fact that they’ve finally stopped hurting him?
Regardless, take it as a sign. The Chinese people are some of the kindest, most generous folks in the world. But the government is bristly for a fight and plenty of brainwashed citizens will be behind them all the way.
Hey! Agitprop works!