Seminar About Disintegrating Communist Culture Held in Sydney

SYDNEY—On June 24, the Sydney, Australia branch of The Epoch Times held a seminar called "Disintegrating Communist Party Culture" at the Illawarra Catholic Club in Hurstville, where numerous Chinese reside. The event featured Fang Yuan, chair of the Chinese Labor Party; Chen Hongxin, a scholar specializing in the problems of modern China; Ma Hengjun, a freelance scholar; Li Yuanhua, former associate professor of Beijing Normal University, Yang Jun, a well-known democracy activist based in Sydney; and Ren Zhaoxi from Taiwan. In total there were over 30 guests attending the seminar.

These six speakers analyzed various ways in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture has poisoned the minds of the Chinese people. Ren Zhaoxi recounted a shocking tale he had heard from his elder brother. Their uncle, once a battalion commander for the Kuomintang (KMT) Party, had fought in the Huaihai Campaign (a significant battle from the late '40s that ultimately determined the Chinese Civil War). "The KMT Party could never defeat the Chinese CCP, because the CCP is so adept at deception," said Ren. "When armies from both sides faced each other on the front line, the CCP used family members of KMT soldiers as decoys in the battlefield. They were forced to stand in front of communist soldiers and made to call out the names of their relatives on the other side. This tactic left KMT soldiers unable to shoot."

Ren went on to say that after half a century overseas, he returned to China to visit his relatives and on his visit he witnessed a woman being robbed. Much to his surprise, passersby simply ignored the mugging. The scene chilled him. He said that such behavior varied greatly from the Chinese traditions and customs that he had come to know from his elders. "Why have Chinese people changed so much?" asked Ren.

Li Yuanhua's presentation, "Recovering the Cultural Profundity of the Chinese Language and Ridding It of Communist Party Culture," spoke of protecting the preciousness of Chinese characters. Li pointed out that of all human languages, the Han characters form the most unique writing system. Composed of ideograms—a graphic symbol representing an idea—Li explained that the Chinese written language is characterized by the arrangement of strokes in each Han character, endowing them with deep and profound meaning. Li contrasted this to the simplified Chinese characters created by the CCP which have been stripped of this cultural spirit. Li referred to these "deformed characters" as having lost their ability to conjure a vivid image.

"Anyone learning the simplified characters has no way to experience the amazing profundity of ancient Chinese semi-divine culture," he said. "The transformation of Chinese characters only serves to ruin these ideograms passed down from ancient Chinese culture."

"I am over 60 years old and I have never heard of Chinese Communist Party culture before," replied a woman visiting from mainland China and whose relatives had urged her to attend the seminar. "I think the seminar is very good. If such a presentation could be held in mainland China, its citizens would not be so deceived. I am so glad that I got the chance to see this presentation."

Due to the success of the presentation, seminar organizers hope to arrange similar events in the near future.