Wiped Away

SOON after Chairman Mao died, I went to China. That monstrous man had leveled without a trace the ancient and magnificent walls of the Forbidden City in Peking, now virtually a shantytown. I took a boat down the Yangtze. (Today, they are damming and diverting the river, so such a trip is impossible.) An old guidebook listed pagodas and other monuments along the banks. These had been pulled down in the Cultural Revolution—all there is to see now are industrial plants. Bang goes the Chinese past.

In the cause of Chinese imperialism, Mao’s successors are busy eradicating the age-old and unique monasteries and lamaseries of Tibet. Bang goes the Tibetan past, too.

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

SOON after Chairman Mao died, I went to China. That monstrous man had leveled without a trace the ancient and magnificent walls of the Forbidden City in Peking, now virtually a shantytown. I took a boat down the Yangtze. (Today, they are damming and diverting the river, so such a trip is impossible.) An old guidebook listed pagodas and other monuments along the banks. These had been pulled down in the Cultural Revolution—all there is to see now are industrial plants. Bang goes the Chinese past.

In the cause of Chinese imperialism, Mao’s successors are busy eradicating the age-old and unique monasteries and lamaseries of Tibet. Bang goes the Tibetan past, too.