# Pictures from China



## Truman123

The Little Red Book


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## Rikurzhen

I wasn't expecting that photo when I entered this thread.

What's next, Mein Kampf?


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## Tom Sweetnam

I just took a break. I've been writing about Mao's Purge of the Sparrows, which was no doubt the most egregious example of mass murder via stupidity in human history. He loathed the little birds, and just to gaze on one made him visibly shudder. So in the 1950’s, he drafted millions of peasants to the task of purging them from the Chinese landscape.

They almost wiped the little birds out, billions of them. Then all the insects that would have been eaten by the sparrows, gorged themselves on China’s grain crop. The resulting famine cost 30 million lives. Not only was he history's greatest mass murderer, Mao was probably history's second biggest asshole to boot. Only Joseph Stalin superceded him there.

Before he died, famed political scientist, Rudolph Rummel, and many Chinese academics besides, tried to collate the butcher’s bill. It’s a seemingly unending task. The tally now stands at 140 million murdered human beings. And that’s just for Stalin and Mao. That doesn’t include all their fellow travelers.

That’s something for all you possessors of the little Red Book to be proud of, isn’t it?


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## frigidweirdo

The funny thing about the little red book is that it's become a very commercial item for selling to tourists. How ironic. 

Well not really. Mao wasn't really a Communist. He just hung with the Communists and took them over, like Stalin really. 

Mao was just an idiot, not many leaders in history have been as thick as Mao.


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## Rikurzhen

frigidweirdo said:


> The funny thing about the little red book is that it's become a very commercial item for selling to tourists. How ironic.
> 
> Well not really. Mao wasn't really a Communist. He just hung with the Communists and took them over, like Stalin really.
> 
> Mao was just an idiot, not many leaders in history have been as thick as Mao.


Right. Let me guess, real communism has never been tried.


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## Truman123

Tom Sweetnam said:


> I just took a break. I've been writing about Mao's Purge of the Sparrows, which was no doubt the most egregious example of mass murder via stupidity in human history. He loathed the little birds, and just to gaze on one made him visibly shudder. So in the 1950’s, he drafted millions of peasants to the task of purging them from the Chinese landscape.
> 
> They almost wiped the little birds out, billions of them. Then all the insects that would have been eaten by the sparrows, gorged themselves on China’s grain crop. The resulting famine cost 30 million lives. Not only was he history's greatest mass murderer, Mao was probably history's second biggest asshole to boot. Only Joseph Stalin superceded him there.
> 
> Before he died, famed political scientist, Rudolph Rummel, and many Chinese academics besides, tried to collate the butcher’s bill. It’s a seemingly unending task. The tally now stands at 140 million murdered human beings. And that’s just for Stalin and Mao. That doesn’t include all their fellow travelers.
> 
> That’s something for all you possessors of the little Red Book to be proud of, isn’t it?


Yes, the man was full of bad ideas.


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## frigidweirdo

Rikurzhen said:


> frigidweirdo said:
> 
> 
> 
> The funny thing about the little red book is that it's become a very commercial item for selling to tourists. How ironic.
> 
> Well not really. Mao wasn't really a Communist. He just hung with the Communists and took them over, like Stalin really.
> 
> Mao was just an idiot, not many leaders in history have been as thick as Mao.
> 
> 
> 
> Right. Let me guess, real communism has never been tried.
Click to expand...


Well the USSR never made it. Lenin and co were Communists but they really didn't get very far. Stalin clearly wasn't a Communist. The closest might have been Gorbachev, and his implementation led to the dissolution of the USSR.

China never was Communist. Mao wasn't then Denh XiaoPing took over and it's been a Capitalist wet dream, one state system ever since, with a nice red flag with some stars pretending. 

I'd say Communism has worked in the past, but mostly in small hunter gatherer communities, but even then it wasn't really Communism.

Proper, PROPER Communism as set out by Marx, what would be reached at the end, has probably never existed except in small communities, there are such ones, when I worked in Colorado there was a guy who was going to move into one. It takes so much trust to have everyone equal and everyone working together for a common goal, that I don't think it could happen even in a small city.


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## Truman123

Hong Kong money.


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## frigidweirdo

Truman123 said:


> Tom Sweetnam said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just took a break. I've been writing about Mao's Purge of the Sparrows, which was no doubt the most egregious example of mass murder via stupidity in human history. He loathed the little birds, and just to gaze on one made him visibly shudder. So in the 1950’s, he drafted millions of peasants to the task of purging them from the Chinese landscape.
> 
> They almost wiped the little birds out, billions of them. Then all the insects that would have been eaten by the sparrows, gorged themselves on China’s grain crop. The resulting famine cost 30 million lives. Not only was he history's greatest mass murderer, Mao was probably history's second biggest asshole to boot. Only Joseph Stalin superceded him there.
> 
> Before he died, famed political scientist, Rudolph Rummel, and many Chinese academics besides, tried to collate the butcher’s bill. It’s a seemingly unending task. The tally now stands at 140 million murdered human beings. And that’s just for Stalin and Mao. That doesn’t include all their fellow travelers.
> 
> That’s something for all you possessors of the little Red Book to be proud of, isn’t it?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, the man was full of bad ideas.
Click to expand...


You're doing an injustice to the word bad. 

Funny thing is. Mao killed perhaps 30 million Chinese people, probably way more than this. He's on their banknotes.

The Japanese probably killed far less than 30 million Chinese (still bad, but that's not the point) and they're seen as the big evil (especially for Nationalist purposes, they're the common enemy for the Chinese people, like Islam has become for the US)


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## Rikurzhen

frigidweirdo said:


> Rikurzhen said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> frigidweirdo said:
> 
> 
> 
> The funny thing about the little red book is that it's become a very commercial item for selling to tourists. How ironic.
> 
> Well not really. Mao wasn't really a Communist. He just hung with the Communists and took them over, like Stalin really.
> 
> Mao was just an idiot, not many leaders in history have been as thick as Mao.
> 
> 
> 
> Right. Let me guess, real communism has never been tried.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Well the USSR never made it. Lenin and co were Communists but they really didn't get very far. Stalin clearly wasn't a Communist. The closest might have been Gorbachev, and his implementation led to the dissolution of the USSR.
> 
> China never was Communist. Mao wasn't then Denh XiaoPing took over and it's been a Capitalist wet dream, one state system ever since, with a nice red flag with some stars pretending.
> 
> I'd say Communism has worked in the past, but mostly in small hunter gatherer communities, but even then it wasn't really Communism.
> 
> Proper, PROPER Communism as set out by Marx, what would be reached at the end, has probably never existed except in small communities, there are such ones, when I worked in Colorado there was a guy who was going to move into one. It takes so much trust to have everyone equal and everyone working together for a common goal, that I don't think it could happen even in a small city.
Click to expand...


You're so predictable.


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## Truman123

The rules for the Shenzhen metro = no fun.


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## Rikurzhen

frigidweirdo said:


> Truman123 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tom Sweetnam said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just took a break. I've been writing about Mao's Purge of the Sparrows, which was no doubt the most egregious example of mass murder via stupidity in human history. He loathed the little birds, and just to gaze on one made him visibly shudder. So in the 1950’s, he drafted millions of peasants to the task of purging them from the Chinese landscape.
> 
> They almost wiped the little birds out, billions of them. Then all the insects that would have been eaten by the sparrows, gorged themselves on China’s grain crop. The resulting famine cost 30 million lives. Not only was he history's greatest mass murderer, Mao was probably history's second biggest asshole to boot. Only Joseph Stalin superceded him there.
> 
> Before he died, famed political scientist, Rudolph Rummel, and many Chinese academics besides, tried to collate the butcher’s bill. It’s a seemingly unending task. The tally now stands at 140 million murdered human beings. And that’s just for Stalin and Mao. That doesn’t include all their fellow travelers.
> 
> That’s something for all you possessors of the little Red Book to be proud of, isn’t it?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, the man was full of bad ideas.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> You're doing an injustice to the word bad.
> 
> Funny thing is. Mao killed perhaps 30 million Chinese people, probably way more than this. He's on their banknotes.
> 
> The Japanese probably killed far less than 30 million Chinese (still bad, but that's not the point) and they're seen as the big evil (especially for Nationalist purposes, they're the common enemy for the Chinese people, like Islam has become for the US)
Click to expand...

Liberals have a love affair with mass murderers.






But they have to be liberals in order to be loved and admired.


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## Truman123

Cycling in Yangshuo.


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## Truman123

Hong Kong.


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## Truman123

Whoa!


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## Truman123

Character writing in the park.


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## Truman123

Obama's 2008 election. It reads "America changes color."


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## Truman123

Rural Hubei Province.


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## Truman123

Playing mahjong in rural Hubei.


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## Truman123

Noodle-maker.


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## Truman123

Shenzhen


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## Truman123

.


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## Truman123

Playing cards in a Shenzhen noddle shop.


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## Truman123

Tai chi in the park.


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## Truman123

Snake liquor.


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## Truman123

Armless artist, Shenzhen.


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## Tom Sweetnam

frigidweirdo said:


> Funny thing is. Mao killed perhaps 30 million Chinese people, probably way more than this. He's on their banknotes.
> 
> The Japanese probably killed far less than 30 million Chinese (still bad, but that's not the point) and they're seen as the big evil (especially for Nationalist purposes, they're the common enemy for the Chinese people, like Islam has become for the US)



Mao killed more like 80 million. But your point is well taken. I watch CCTV now and then. You can wait till hell freezes over before they'll ever acknowledge that even one person was ever murdered by the communist government.


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## Unkotare

Tom Sweetnam said:


> frigidweirdo said:
> 
> 
> 
> Funny thing is. Mao killed perhaps 30 million Chinese people, probably way more than this. He's on their banknotes.
> 
> The Japanese probably killed far less than 30 million Chinese (still bad, but that's not the point) and they're seen as the big evil (especially for Nationalist purposes, they're the common enemy for the Chinese people, like Islam has become for the US)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mao killed more like 80 million. But your point is well taken. I watch CCTV now and then. You can wait till hell freezes over before they'll ever acknowledge that even one person was ever murdered by the communist government.
Click to expand...



The younger generations are starting to get the idea.


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