China should acknowledge, heed lessons of the Cultural Revolution

May 16 was the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution, a 10-year nightmare for the Chinese nation — probably its darkest — and one of the most evil episodes in world history.

The official silence inside mainland China, however, and the discussions outside during this anniversary made me wonder: Whose revolution was it? (“50 years after the Cultural Revolution, a son awaits answers on his father’s death”; May 16)

For decades, the Communist Party has been trying to bury this memory, while the West’s interest in exposing this scar has not faded; most of the research on the revolution has been done in the West.

Ironically, the Chinese nation paid the cost, but the West learnt the lessons. This is a pity. It would be more shameful, however, if the self-deception continues.

Let us keep to our own words that “forgetting history is a betrayal, and denying a crime is to repeat a crime”.