This week we recommend the short essay "Abandon Mediocre Politics" /《废弃庸人的政治》 by Deng Tuo (邓拓) from 1957. This is a really interesting find by@alexludoboyd.
Though the essay was written over 50 years ago, it is still relevant.
Deng Tuo was Editor in Chief of 人民日报 from 1948-58. He was also an accomplished scholar and critical commentator on political issues. Today Deng Tuo is described as an "anachronistic figure infatuated with traditional culture who viewed himself as a traditional literatus, using propaganda to elevate the people culturally" - Michael McCarthy. This short essay is a good example of Deng Tuo's political commentary, and reveals the tension inherent in the role of intellectuals in Mao's China.
"This new fellowship seeks to educate the next generation of East Asia strategists and national security generalists about how technology will shape U.S.-China strategic rivalry. Just as America’s greatest strategists of the Cold War – from Henry Kissinger to Paul Nitze – were highly knowledgeable about the nuclear revolution and space and missile breakthroughs so, too, do our young strategists need to understand the technologies that matter most in Sino-American competition."
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