What's up with Taiwan and Chiang Kai-shek?

[CELTICEMPIRE]

That was in the early 2000s.

I think who the Taiwanesse people want to honor or not to honor is best left to the Taiwanesse people, who doubtless have a much more in-depth appreciation of the nature and impact of Chiang's rule and what benefit it had or did not have for them (many of them having actually lived through Chiang's rule), than people living in Quebec/Ontario (depending) or in Kentucky.

That's fair enough, I just really wanted to see the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.

Notice where? What exposure are you getting to high school history curricula? How many college classes on twentieth century history have you sat in on? Or does "noticed", here, just mean "assumed, based on what others have told me"?

High school was pretty balanced, my history teacher actually made us learn about Chinese history. In college (and I went to a small Southern college that is one of the more conservative educational institutions) the atrocities of Communist regimes were always downplayed.

 

[Traitorfish]

High school was pretty balanced, my history teacher actually made us learn about Chinese history. In college (and I went to a small Southern college that is one of the more conservative educational institutions) the atrocities of Communist regimes were always downplayed.

So you're working with a sample size of two?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

How exactly were the atrocities downplayed? Do you mean they gave the full context and didn't dwell on the gory details that get blow flowing to the freedom member? Or do you just mean they didn't demonstrate the kind of moral outrage of your favorite media outlets?

 

[CELTICEMPIRE]

So you're working with a sample size of two?

I took multiple college classes. It's also what I get from people I talk to who have an interest in China.

How exactly were the atrocities downplayed? Do you mean they gave the full context and didn't dwell on the gory details that get blow flowing to the freedom member? Or do you just mean they didn't demonstrate the kind of moral outrage of your favorite media outlets?

It's kind of like "Oh yeah, some people died, but look at the increased literacy rates." This is used to defend the actions of many dictators. The positives are emphasized and the negatives are downplayed. But for any dictator associated with the right (and Chiang Kai-shek wasn't that right-wing) is only referred to in a negative light.