Wu Guangqiang

    jw368@163.com

    CYNICISM derived from the ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics, who rejected all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex and fame instead advocating the pursuit of virtue in accordance with a simple and idealistic way of life free of all possessions.

    Some Chinese cynics have a distinct political preference: they look at everything about China’s progress with skepticism and criticism. Some extreme ones even hope to take down China.

    A friend of mine in a WeChat friend group asked a few questions, “While most Chinese feel happy and proud at news or reports about their motherland’s achievements economically, scientifically, culturally and in sports, why do some cynics always bemoan every aspect of China?” “Do they feel sad, or angry about their own nation’s achievements?” “What on earth can make them happy?”

    Indeed, I have witnessed quite a few “contemplatives” over the years, who are “of profound vision” thus are able to interpret everything about China in a “unique” way. The unique way is nothing but sophism, or more plainly put, habitual practice of calling white black.

    “Public intellectuals” and “Internet celebrities” are supposed to be neutral terms for whoever offers objective and constructive opinions or criticism on public affairs, regardless of their political preferences. But in China the titles have been conferred to a certain group of people who do nothing else but disparage and smear their own nation. And to disguise their impudence, they use sophistry in a bid to confuse and deceive the general public. They have learned what their Western mentors taught them: If you cannot convince them [the public], confuse them.

    Let’s find out what they have said over the years.

    Despite the incontrovertible fact that China has morphed from being one of the world’s poorest nations that had suffered all conceivable humiliations and hardships such as foreign invasion and occupation to one of the most powerful and respected countries, Chinese cynics obstinately turn a blind eye.

    Echoing their Western masters, they claim that any non-Western mode of social development is heretical and evil, however successful it has proved to be. To deny or distort China’s success, they adopt such tricks as exaggeration, over-generalization and confusing right with wrong.

    For instance, to belittle contemporary China’s achievements, they tirelessly extol the “beauty and virtue” of the Republic of China (1912-1949) when Kuomintang ruled China. They claimed that there was much more freedom for intellectuals as well as common people and admired how honest people were and how great the education was back then.

    Implicit in these eulogies is their attempt to deny the legitimacy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and to restore “the past.”

    Recently in the past years, cynics represented by “public intellectuals” competed for the title of the “outrageous liar.” They questioned the authenticity of Nanjing Massacre. They claimed that they would lead the way for foreign invaders when war breaks out. They insisted that such well-known heroes as Lei Feng and Qiu Shaoyun were fabricated and mocked them in public. They boasted that the Northern Warlord era when warlords carved up China was the best time in Chinese history. They thought highly of Manchukuo, the puppet regime fostered by Japanese imperialists. They beautified traitors like Wang Jingwei, who deserted to Japanese invaders and led a puppet government, calling them “heroes.” They claimed that China could do without the Diaoyu Islands.

    Chinese people will never be so naive as to buy such fair-sounding slogans as human rights and free speech that are used to cover the true aim of messing China up. China is capable of eliminating dangerous elements before they pose threat to the nation.

    (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)