It’s very nice for you to spend the summer in China reporting and let the world or at least the U.S. know what is happening in China. Keep up with the good work.

Before coming to UIUC as a grad student, I had spent 7 years in Shanghai. Based on my knowledge, you guys still have a lot of work to do with China’s history and culture. Here are a couple of things I want to point out.

First, the “Culture Revolution” in the 1970s’ should not be judged without its historical context. At that time the newly formed PRC were only around 20 years old. The country had to rebuild from the debris resulted from the WWII and the civil war. Meanwhile, we had to fight against the penetration of bourgeois libertinism. In that sense, the “Culture Revolution” can’t be totally wrong.

Second, there is and only is one China on the earth that is P.R. China. Taiwan is a part of China. Therefore, you should pay attention that Taiwan could only be used corresponding to China mainland. Please keep that in mind in your following work.

Third, during my 7 years in Shanghai, I have seldom seen any posters or banners, or anything of that kind, “urging people to joined the Armed Forces” (as used in your report). And the toy you saw might have been one single store. So it’s unsupported to infer that China is playing some military “cards”. What’s more, China has reduced the term of military service from three years to two years. Isn’t that against your inference?

Anyway, keep up with the good work. You guys are doing great.