Looking back helps us to look forwards. For China, as with other nations and states, understanding its history is essential to decoding its future. Yet China is notable for its selective memory and sudden historical breaks. Xi Jinping himself has quoted a Qing scholar saying that “To destroy a country, you must first destroy its history.” He was warning about ‘historical nihilism,’ relating in part to the Party’s own past, but the line could equally apply to China’s collective acts o
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