My partner keeps trying to read it and they keep stopping and reading me passages and then looking up actual historical fact and going wtf, this book is nonsense? Does it get better?
I don’t know I haven’t read it. I told them I’d ask here. Does it get better? Is it anti communist propaganda or is the ridiculous anti communist screed that starts this book serious off just setup for something better?
Thanks for all the good answers I showed them the whole thread and they said a lot of what you all said is in line with their understanding. So basically the first bit is a caricature of the bad parts of early Chinese communism and then that gets better but it turns misogynist instead. Fun series. They’ll continue to read because we have a lot of family and friends who LOVE the book and they want to understand why but it’s helpful to have the lens on it
You’re probably right about the intent, but I’d call that more of an obscure dig than a major smear of the actual person.
Bethune has multiple statues and memorials in China and there’s claims that he is revered by Chinese people for his dedication to them.
I’m no Sinologist so take that with a grain of salt but, if does happen to be true, then I feel like for the Chinese audience that Bethune reference wouldn’t be lost on the more historically-literate reader, at the least.
I imagine Bethune is thought of in China about the way Lafayette is thought of in the U.S., but yeah, I’m far from an expert myself.