People’s Republic of… California? Daily Show Exposes Chinese Brainwashing!

Morgan Welch | Jun 9, 2010 1:30 pm | 3 comments | 2662 reads

Next to their reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic, California middle-schoolers now have the option to start studying Mandarin Chinese. However, the new language program has some members of the Hacienda Heights school board up in arms – what is this new Communist curriculum hiding?!

The Daily Show (hilariously) digs deeper.

With Chinese language programs booming in the US, certain “concerned parents,” like the video’s featured Theresa Masias, question the motives behind delving into Chinese culture. Maybe Americans are interested in the growing economic superpower halfway around the world?

…Nah, couldn’t be.

Of course the Chinese Government-backed Confucian Institutes are part of China’s “soft power” push, and their language teaching materials no doubt (shock, horror) tend to put Chinese culture in a positive light. What’s hilarious is that certain Californian parents seem to think mere exposure to anything resembling an alternative world view is going to wipe years of being immersed in American culture and turn their sweet little progeny into Commie automatons.

If only children were really so easy to control…

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Jerry's picture Jerry Submitted by Guest on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 17:43

This reminds me of a similar debate in our Sunday Chinese school when I was a kid growing up in Texas in the 70s and 80s - there was a huge rift between those who advocated the use of pinyin education materials, and others who insisted on sticking with zhuyinfuhao "bo po mo fo" system (the phonetic pronunciation system favored in Taiwan).

Those who advocated the use of pinyin were bitterly labeled "Communists" by the "bo po mo fo" holdouts. It got really ugly and personal.

It's bemusing (if not somewhat irksome) to see this kind of debate spreading to a wider segment of the American population, while in the meantime young Chinese people in the cities continue to make leaps and bounds in learning and speaking English.

Jerry Chan, Digital Marketing & Content Strategy Director

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