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（1）As a Chinese born and raised in a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) family, I had the unique experience of being educated both in China and US and have a “half-half” life: half in China, half in America.
（1）As a Chinese born and raised in a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) family, I had the unique experience of being educated both in China and US and have a “half-half” life: half in China, half in America.
（2）In the first half, I experienced China’s hostility against the US and a brief US-China “honey moon” in the 1980s prior to the Tienanmen Square Massacre in the summer of 1989. I thought I would have an academic life, but became an independent historian of CCP history.
（3）Now, amid all the confusions about US-China relations in the Xi Jiping era, I would like to offer some of my own experience and thoughts which I hope may add understanding about what have been going on in China. To avoid being too long, I will write several threads.
（4）Thread 1: Start with the name “China”. This English word does not reflect the Chinese term Zhong 中 Guo国. “Zhong” means “center”; “guo” “country” or “kingdom”.
（5）Throughout history China considered herself to be a civilized super power situated in the center of her part of the world surrounded by barbarians (夷) paying tributes to the Central Kingdom. This world view is deep rooted in the Chinese mentality.
（6）Fast forward to 1840, the year marked the beginning of modern history AND the starting point of “one century of national humiliation” in China. What happened in 1840? The first of the two Opium Wars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
(7)Before the war, China was closed to the outside world, essentially having no relationships with western countries. The few westerners made their way to China, mostly missionaries, were eventually expelled.
(8) Exceptions: emperor’s adviser Johann Adam Schall von Bell, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Adam_Schall_von_Bell and court painter Giuseppe and court painter GiuseppeCastiglione. Both Jesuit missionaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Castiglione_(Jesuit_painter)
(9) As a result of these defeats, China’s closed door was blown open to the west, and in came diplomats, merchants, missionaries and “adventurers” seeking wealth, dreams, or curiosities, plus all sorts of western products.
(10) While diplomats and merchants enjoyed privileges in cities, thousands of missionaries cultivated Chinese souls in poverty-stricken countryside. Beside the Bible, they also brought in modern medicine, education, charity etc.
(11) Misunderstanding, distrust, etc. rooted in the culture differences ensured conflicts which boiled up to the Boxer Rebellion started by Chinese villagers attacking churches, missionaries and Chinese converts, eventually all foreigners. https://bit.ly/2Uw9zue
(12) It was put down by Eight-Nation Alliance with the US being a member. Long story short, from 1840s and onward China suffered a series of military defeats and had to sign treaties with foreign powers, collectively referred to in Chinese history books as “unequal treaties”.
(13) Li Hongzhang, https://bit.ly/2vWbSgq the powerful politician and signer of some treaties went down in history as a “traitor”. He probably was the highest level Chinese official visited the west. In August, 1896, Li arrived in New York and stayed in Waldorf Hotel.
(14) What did China learn from those? It can be summarized into two most influential ideas or doctrines. One is proposed by Wei Yuan, author of the first world map collection (1842) in Chinese language:“Learn from the barbarians to resist the barbarians” (师夷之长以制夷”).
(15) This doctrine gave birth to the “Self-Strengthening Movement”, literally “Western Affairs Movement”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Strengthening_Movement
(16) The second one is said to be originated from Stalin and later adopted by Mao Zedong: “Lagging behind is to invite beating.” (“落后就要挨打”)
(17) Both doctrines have profound impact in Chinese mentality, and have become motivations behind and justifications for certain ideology and behavior.
(18) Not everyone agrees with them, but every Chinese has learned about them since 1949, and they are still being taught in schools, especially the secondary ones.
(19) A picture in this article posted in a popular Chinese website on December 8, 2019. Chinese characters: “Lagging behind is to invite beating”.
(20) Google translate the first paragraph of this article https://bit.ly/2WUjISN to see how Chinese people are taught in CCP’s national education system. Exactly the same way I was taught as a child.
(21) PPT of 8th grade history class. Title: First Sino-Japanese War and the overbearing tide of dividing China.
(22) Now, despite all the clashes, what was the Sino-American relationship on the people level? This is the topic of my second thread.
Thread 2: https://bit.ly/3fJvc2z
