Chinese Mythomania

China’s ignorance about its own maps created a false history of its ancient role in South Africa

By Khanya Mtshali

"The creation of the Milky Way" by Guo Xu (1456–c.1529). 

In 2002, the South African parliament hosted an exhibition as part of the “Parliamentary Millennium Project” held in Cape Town. 

Launched by Frene Ginwala, former speaker of parliament, the project was designed “to contrast European perspectives with indigenous ones,” and “promote the recognition of shared South African identities.”
At the centerpiece of the event was a map gifted to South Africa by the People’s Republic of China. The “Da Ming Hunyi Tu” is an amalgamated illustration of the Great Ming empire. 

The bottom of the map shows an early depiction of an east African coast (now present-day Tanzania).The Korean version of the “Da Ming Hunyi Tu” from 1402.

The “Da Ming Hunyi Tu” at the exhibition was a 1402 Korean copy of the original, estimated to date back to 1389. 

Much fanfare was made about the possibilities of Chinese presence on the continent prior to the arrival of Europeans. 

Liu Guijin, China’s former ambassador for African Affairs, stated in a Q&A on the embassy’s website that the map proved that “friendly exchanges between China and Africa” went “back to ancient times.” 

He used admiral Zheng He’s expeditions along the east African coast (now Somalia and Kenya) as an example of a “time-honored” and “friendly” relationship between China and Africa.
But according to cartographer, Alexander Akin, the idea of age-old Sino-African relations is based on a conflation of historical facts related to the “Da Ming.” 

In his paper, “The Da Ming Hunyi Tu: Repurposing a Ming Map for Sino-African Diplomacy,” he argues that the depiction of an east African coast most likely derives from Middle Eastern observations of the continent. 

He lays out two possible origins of the map. 

The one cites the work of Japanese cartographic historian, Takahashi Tadashi. 

In 1963, Tadashi published “Eastward diffusion of Islamic world maps in the medieval era.” 

In it, he speculated that the “Da Ming” was based on the description of a globe given to Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, by Persian astronomer, Jamal ad-Din in 1267. 

The other source is the sailing guides taken from Muslim mariners by the Yuan government in 1287.Abraham Ortelius’s map of Africa, minutes away from being colonized by three ships on the brink of crashing into one another. Marginal improvement from the last map. 

“Traders from the Middle East were certainly moving between northeastern Africa and China well over 1,200 years ago,” says Akin in an email. 

In terms of trade and diplomacy, he said “a small number of African slaves” were “imported from Zanzibar to the court” during the Tang dynasty (618 – 907 CE).
For people who haven’t studied advanced Chinese history, Akin said it’d be easy “to assume that a Chinese map that depicts Africa in the Ming dynasty must have something to do with [Zheng He’s] missions.” 

He also attributed historical ignorance and Sinocentric assumptions for the misrepresentation of the “Da Ming” as evidence of early Sino-African exchanges.
While China’s ignorance is the result of cultural bias and human error, the repurposing of the “Da Ming” helped calm anxieties about growing Chinese presence in South Africa. 

After years of condescension and prejudice soon after the end of Apartheid, South Africa has since come to embrace Chinese investment in the country, as citizens remain uncertain of what to make of China in the midst of an unsteady economy, the Gupta leaks, and a British PR company stoking racial tensions.This 1829 map of the East African coast caused all this confusion. 

The “Da Ming Hunyi Tu” enabled China to play to the anti-imperialist and pan-African sentiments in the country. 

By leaning on its support of struggle organizations such as the Pan Africanist Congress and African National Congress (while being oblivious of the African slaves brought to China during the Tang dynasty), the country was able to reassure South Africans that unlike Europe, its relations with Africa would be defined by mutual benefit and comradeship.

Pseudologia Fantastica Sinica*

Don't believe China's lies
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Xi Jinping has a message for you: He is the grown-up in the room, and he only means well.
Don't believe a word of it.
Over the weekend, China organized what it calls the "Belt and Road Forum," a gathering of 30 countries. 

During his speech, Xi pledged money to the One Belt One Road initiative, an infrastructure project involving countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

He also urged countries to join hands with him in pursuit of globalization.
As is the case with most international forums, this was mostly a PR exercise. 

But PR matters in international relations, and the entire affair was essentially a subtweet of one man: Donald J. Trump.
Here's the picture of China that Xi is hoping his stunt will paint:
While America's economy is stagnating under Trump, China is a new rising economic superpower. While America bombs left and right, China doesn't mean any harm to anyone (unless "provoked," of course), and is pledging $100 billion for development banks. 

While America retreats from globalization under Trump, China stands for an open, friendly world, extolling the benefits of free trade. 

While America's leader is erratic, unpredictable, and nationalistic, China's leader is a boring technocrat who only wants boring technocrat things like economic growth and development.
Of course, this is all balderdash.
America's economy could be doing much better, but it's not doing too badly, either. 

More to the point, it's still the most phenomenally productive economy on Earth, whose poorest states are richer than Germany and Sweden. 

Meanwhile, far from an economic superpower, China might as well be split into two countries that are increasingly at odds: an advanced country of 50 to 100 million people yoked to a dirt-poor country of one billion and change. 

While China has undeniably had some real growth, most of that is built on unsustainable bubbles — stock market bubbles, credit bubbles, real estate bubbles, and government-driven make-work elephant projects. 

America has historically been the world's economic engine; whatever else you may say about China, it is nowhere near a position to replace it in that role.
Meanwhile, China's concept of "peaceful rise," whereby China claims that even though its power is increasing, it doesn't intend to use it to aggravate anybody, would be met with bitter laughter in surrounding states. 

Consider its aggressive recent power grab in the South China Sea, which flies in the face of international law. 

And China claims it wants to be the good kid in the class when it comes to international institutions? I don't think so.
And on trade, while China and the United States seem to be at opposite ends, the reality is that they're the same: preaching one thing and doing something else. 

Under Donald Trump, the U.S. talks about reining in free trade, but has thus far done almost nothing of the sort. 

Meanwhile, while Xi talks a good game about free trade, China does anything but practice it. 

It engages in stringent capital controls, curtails foreign investment in its economy, and engages in massive subsidization of its export sector, from currency manipulation to soft loans to exporters from government and government-linked banks. 

Whatever the merits of free trade versus protectionism in the abstract, it cannot be said that China truly engages in free trade.

Finally, while it's true that America's leader is irrational and clownish, and China's isn't, Xi is very much a nationalist.

He has concentrated power under himself to an extent unseen since Mao, as compared to previous Chinese leaders who, while vested with autocratic powers, tended to rule more by consensus and involving the country's various stakeholders in decision-making. 

More to the point, it has been his decision for China to engage in brinksmanship in its near abroad, and he has set up a nationalistic personality cult through state propaganda that is also a throwback to China's totalitarian past.
The point is this: Whatever the problems with Trump, and whatever you think about China, don't believe the hype. 

In terms of PR, Trump is the perfect foil for China, an opportunity to suggest that America is decadent and chaotic while China's technocratic authoritarians are patiently winning the future. 

And many in the West believe this story. 

But it's not real.

* Pseudologia fantastica sinica = Chinese pathological lying = Chinese mythomania

Chinese Martial Arts: 2000-Year-Old Cultural Fraud

M.M.A. Fighter’s Pummeling of Tai Chi Master Rattles China
By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

Destroying Chinese cultural myths: Wei Lei, the tai chi master, faced off against Xu Xiaodong, the mixed martial arts fighter, in Chengdu.

BEIJING — For weeks, the mixed martial arts fighter Xu Xiaodong had been taunting masters of the traditional Chinese martial arts, dismissing them as overly commercialized frauds, and challenging them to put up or shut up.
After one of them — Wei Lei, a practitioner of the “thunder style” of tai chi — accepted the challenge, Mr. Xu flattened him in about 10 seconds.
Mr. Xu may have proved his point, but he was unprepared for the ensuing outrage.
When video of the drubbing went viral, many Chinese were deeply offended by what they saw as an insult to a cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture.
The state-run Chinese Wushu Association posted a statement on its website saying the fight “violates the morals of martial arts.” 

The Chinese Boxing Association issued similar criticism.
An article by Xinhua, the state news agency, called Mr. Xu a “crazy guy,” saying that the fight had caused people to question whether Chinese martial arts were of any use and even to ask, “What exactly are traditional Chinese martial arts?”
The reaction has been so furious that Mr. Xu has gone into hiding.
“I’ve lost everything, my career and everything,” he said in a message circulating online. 

“I think many people misunderstand me. I’m fighting fraudulence, but now I’ve become the target.”
Many people around the world assumed that this debate had long been settled. 

Mixed martial arts fighters have for years held exhibition fights against practitioners of traditional Chinese martial arts.

The old ways, for all their balletic grace, lost decisively.

Known broadly as wushu, traditional Chinese martial arts include such disparate disciplines as qigong, categorized as an “internal” practice that is mostly spiritual, and kung fu, an “external” art that is practiced by the monks of the Shaolin Temple and was popularized around the world by Bruce Lee. 

There are hundreds of styles of wushu in China, and many overlap.
Tai chi, while a martial art, is viewed by many today as a spiritual breathing and balance exercise enjoyed by people of all ages, usually performed in slow motion in a quiet park instead of a fight ring.
Mixed martial arts, or M.M.A., is a “no-holds-barred” fighting style developed over the last century from fighting styles around the world. 

It began to gain popularity in the United States in the 1980s. 

While it is violent, it does have rules — including no biting, spitting or gouging.
The fight between Mr. Xu and Mr. Wei was brutal. 

As Mr. Wei circled slowly, arms outstretched in a calm tai chi defense, Mr. Xu lunged, jabbed him to the floor, then used a “ground and pound” technique to subdue him. 

It was all over in about 10 seconds.

Mr. Xu did not respond to a request for an interview sent to his personal Weibo account a few days after the fight on April 27. 

Shortly afterward, his account was taken down as the authorities rushed to try to tamp down the controversy.
A woman reached by telephone at the Battle Club in southeast Beijing, where Mr. Xu works, said he was not giving interviews. 

She declined to give her name.
On Wednesday morning, the door of the Battle Club, in the dingy basement of a high-rise, was locked. 

Photographs of Mr. Xu and other M.M.A. fighters decorated the walls of the stairwell.
An electrician lingering by a cigarette shop at the top of the stairs said he practiced wushu and had come to check out the club after hearing about the controversy. 

He said that Mr. Xu had been right to pose his challenge, even though it had infuriated people.
“No one can avoid fighting,’’ said the man, who gave only his surname, Lian, and a social media username, Ruyi.
He said defenders of the traditional martial arts were incensed that Mr. Xu had dared to say that they staged impressive performances but were ineffective fighters and that, by doing so, he had threatened their livelihoods.
Yet Mr. Xu’s ultra-aggressive assault on his tai chi rival had missed an important point, Mr. Lian added.
“The key difference between what Mr. Xu does and martial arts is that martial arts isn’t a competitive sport,’’ he said. 

“It’s not about really hurting. It’s about giving your opponent ‘face.’ And Mr. Xu’s style is about beating your opponent to near death.”

China's Creative Statistics

Chinese Province Admits to Fabricating Financial Data For Four Years
By Joseph Hincks

Worker repairs steam locomotive's parts on July 6, 2015, Fuxin, Liaoning Province, China. 
China's northeast industrial province of Liaoning falsified its fiscal data over a period of four years, local officials have said, adding to concerns over the validity of China's economic statistics.
From 2011 to 2014, fiscal revenues for Liaoning were massaged up by at least 20%, said provincial governor and Deputy Communist Party Secretary of Liaoning Province, Chen Qiufa, Bloomberg reports, citing the state-run People's Daily (link in Chinese).
Over-egging the growth figures and other acts of fraud were, according to Chen, committed by both city and county government officials in the Liaoning region who wanted to advance their careers. 

The fabricated figures impacted the central government's assessment of the economic status of Liaoning, Chen said, citing a 2016 report from the country's National Audit Office. 

The Financial Times reported that the false data led to residents paying $146 each in additional taxes, according to the state-run China Daily.
The revelation comes just days before China is scheduled to post its full-year national growth report and at a time when officials have stressed the need for more scrupulous economic reporting. According to Bloomberg, the head of China's National Bureau of Statistics, Ning Jizhe, has urged the country to increase the quality of its statistics and to crack down on fraudulent economic data.
More than 500 deputies accused of vote-buying and bribery have reportedly been purged from Liaoning's legislature. 

Last year, Wang Min, former provincial Communist party chief from 2009 to 2015, was expelled from the party in a corruption crackdown.

Chinese Mythomania

Japanese Hoteliers Refute China's Historical Fabrication
By JONATHAN SOBLE

Toshio Motoya, president of the APA Group, in Tokyo in 2015. 

TOKYO — She is the colorful face of Japan’s largest hotel chain, known for her garish fashion sense and business books with titles like “I Am a President.”
He is the darker side of the partnership: a polemicist who has leveraged the couple’s success to support contentious political causes.
Now Fumiko Motoya and her husband, Toshio, founders of APA Group, a Japanese real-estate and hotel empire, are facing a barrage of criticism in China. 

Their twin projects — business and conservative politics — collided this week in an uproar over historical books promoted at APA’s chain of 370 budget hotels, in which such publications are often distributed to rooms in much the same way as Gideon Bibles in American hotels.
The furor over the books, which promote the claim that Japanese forces did not massacre Chinese civilians in Nanjing in 1937, has prompted a rebuke from Beijing and threats of a boycott by Chinese travelers.
The number of foreigners visiting Japan reached a record 24 million last year, fueled in large part by a surge of visitors from China looking for good food, clean air and quality shopping. 

Despite continued tensions with its neighbor, Japan has embraced the tourist rush in its effort to look for economic growth drivers, with many retailers hiring Chinese-speaking sales clerks. 

Last year, Japan approved plans to legalize casinos, with Chinese gamblers partially in mind.
The Motoyas have shown how fraught that embrace can be. 

APA’s stance has touched off anger online in China and condemnation from official media outlets, along with calls for Chinese travelers to take their business elsewhere.
APA has been unrepentant. 

In a statement, it said that “historic interpretation and education vary among nations,” but it defended Mr. Motoya’s claims about Nanjing.
“Therefore, we have no intention to withdraw this book from our guest rooms,” the company said, adding that “no one-sided pressures” would force it to change its mind. 

APA invited readers to correct any inaccurate statements “so that we can seriously study about them.”
The Motoyas may not be as well known as another politically minded hotelier, Donald J. Trump, nor are their midmarket properties as gilded. 

But in Japan, they come close to being stars. 

Ms. Motoya, in particular, has embedded herself in popular culture though books, television appearances and an intermittent singing career.
Wearing the fanciful hats that are her trademark, Ms. Motoya appears in advertisements for APA’s hotels and “APA president” merchandise like curry and rice crackers. 

She judges televised karaoke contests sponsored by the company, and a CD of her singing nostalgia-tinged songs can be purchased on APA’s website.

While Fumiko Motoya represents the APA brand in public, her husband writes essays and books.

“As political patrons, they can’t be ignored,” said Tamotsu Sugano, an author who has researched Japanese patriotic groups. 

“They spread money everywhere.”
The Motoyas have used a fortune estimated to be in the billions of dollars to court and support politicians from the center-right establishment to the fringe. 

Guests at their long-running wine parties have included Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister, according to a record of an event in 2005 that includes a photograph and was circulated by APA at the time.
A Japanese magazine, Shukan Gendai, has estimated that Mr. Motoya, who serves as president of the overall APA Group while Fumiko leads the hotel division, is Japan’s fourth-richest person, with assets worth 220 billion yen, or about $1.9 billion. 

Shukan Gendai made its calculation based on tax records and on published APA documents, but because the company is privately owned, its disclosures are scarce and a precise figure is difficult to obtain.
The Motoyas hail from Fukui, a rural area on the Sea of Japan, where they met while working at a small local credit union, according to Ms. Motoya’s autobiography. 

They built APA from a small operation beginning in the 1970s, starting with real-estate sales before moving into hotels for budget-conscious business travelers. 

In 2015, they expanded to the United States by buying a 200-room former Hilton hotel in Woodbridge, N.J.
Patriotic literature has long been a staple, if odd, amenity at APA hotels in Japan. 

Much of it is written by Mr. Motoya, who uses a pen name but acknowledges authorship.
The books and articles describe an historical universe where Japan fought nobly in World War II and in which its alleged "atrocities" were invented by Chinese propagandists. 

The accounts differ sharply from those of Chinese "historians".
One piece of literature that was featured for years was an essay by a former air force general, Toshio Tamogami, which won a prize in an APA-sponsored contest in 2008. 

In it, Mr. Tamogami claimed that Japan had been duped into attacking the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941, in a plot he said was hatched by Communists inside the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The latest controversy was touched off by a video on the internet. 

Posted by a couple describing themselves as an American woman and a Chinese man who stayed at an APA hotel, it shows excerpts from a book by Mr. Motoya refuting the Nanjing massacre fable and the forcible recruitment of women into wartime Japanese military brothels. 

The video spread quickly through the Chinese internet this week, generating outrage and promises of a boycott.
For its part, the Japanese government appears to want to keep its distance. 

The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, declined to comment on the APA books when asked on Wednesday, saying only that Japan and China should seek “forward-looking” ways to cooperate.