IT is difficult In China to discuss the horrors of the cultural revolution open. The dark period from 1966 to 1976, when millions of people were persecuted, many of them to death by fanatic gangs unleashed by Mao Zedong, were patinated in official stories. Under Xi Jinping, the subject is even more taboo. He describes the reflection on the atrocities of the Mao era as a “historical nihilism” – a threat, as he sees it, at the grip of the communists on power. However, in the online discussion of American policy, the censors provide room for maneuver. When they laugh or deplore the Trumpian world, Chinese Internet users often refer to the cultural revolution. Their comments are revealing.
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