The author shares their experiences from three visits to China as part of an exchange programme between the African National Congress and the Chinese Communist Party. They discuss China's narrative of eradicating the social, political, and economic impact of the Century of Shame, which includes the colonial rule and civil war. The journey is marked by economic and political mishaps, such as the 'Great Leap Forward' and the Cultural Revolution.
In the course of the past few years, I have undertaken three long visits to China . All the trips were part of the exchange programme between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During these visits, the Chinese maintained the narrative that it will take them a hundred years to moderately eradicate the social, political, and economic impact of the Century of Shame.
The Century of Shame is roughly the period of the British and Japanese colonial rule and the bloody civil war between the CCP and the Chinese National Party. It was only in October 1949 that the Communists, led by Mao Zedong, founded the People’s Republic of China. This period marked the beginning of their 100-yearlong project to eradicate the Century of Shame. This journey was punctuated by both economic and political mishaps that included the ‘Great Leap Forward’ economic policy in 1958, and the Cultural Revolution of 1966. The Great Leap Forward economic policy was a plan to modernise the Chinese agricultural sector by the introduction of rural communes
China Century Of Shame Exchange Programme African National Congress Chinese Communist Party Colonial Rule Civil War Mao Zedong People's Republic Of China Great Leap Forward Cultural Revolution