I am old, Father William/ 独坐悲双鬓 *again*

[flemmings]

Don't know how people feel about having their ljs linked, so I quote instead, from someone taking a course in Chinese history and loving it:

The other day we were talking about current events in China, spurred by a discussion of the Nobel Prize being awarded to a Chinese political prisoner. I forget how this came up, but Professor Macartney said, "And Mao Zedong was already a grown man when--how many of you know who Mao Zedong is? Raise your hands." A good half of us did. "OK, you're ahead of the other lecture," he said. "None of them knew. Actually, you're ahead of most Americans in that respect. People don't know who Mao is." It came out that he had written a book on the Cultural Revolution, which was reviewed in local papers a few years ago. The most eminent book reviewer had apparently not known who Mao was either, so she Googled the name. Unfortunately, she didn't remember how the name was spelled during the time between reading the book and writing the review. In the review she spelled it "Mae Zedong." And that was the name she had Googled, too, because she had found the image on this page. It was reproduced in the paper alongside her book review, with no apparent sense of irony.

Someone didn't know who Mao was? Someone thought it was Mae?? Well, he died in 1976. If that reviewer was, like, scraping 30 a couple of years ago-- which is young for an eminent reviewer, granted-- then, well, I suppose. 'What happened before I was born doesn't matter.' But still I boggle.

Comments

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

I suspect it falls into the Recent History Gap -- that is, anything that falls into the gap between History and Current Events doesn't get taught in school. I had one superb history teacher in high school so I got the basic facts of Bay of Pigs, Watergate, and the civil rights movement, and if it weren't for that, history would have ended in 1945. (Forgive the US-centrism; I moved in middle school). Mao just barely squeaked in under History, so I can see how someone a few years older could have missed him.

Still, Mae Zedong is hilarious.

We also had the apparently random switching between romanization systems, so I was in college before I was 100% sure that Mao Zedong and Mao Tse-Tsung were the same person.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I suppose so. And if you don't read newspapers and serious journals then you never see the name. It's just... *Mao*. Do people not even read back copies of Doonesbury any more?

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Genuinely funny! Thanks!

[paleaswater.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm all for Mae Zedong. I'm sure she would have done a fabulous job.

[avalonjones.livejournal.com]

This is the sort of thing that makes me fume and snort that human beings are plainly on their way to devolving to the point where they will be too stupid to live. And on the other hand, I would fully support Mae Zedong.

I also fully support the use of Doonesbury as an educational tool.

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

OH dear ... I don't know to laugh or cry here. Just ...oh dear.