Correction

As a friend pointed out, a was too quick to accuse China's present governing body for the destruction of some of their history. Earlier in the blog, I stated that it was the Communists who, during Liberation in the 40's, tore down the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan. The palace was in fact pillaged by French and British troops in the Second Opium War, which occurred between 1856 and 1860. It was foreign governments seeking to open up new markets and new ports in China, and China's resistance to such exploitation, that provoked the disgraceful response of the destruction of Yuanmingyuan.

There are tons and tons of French studying abroad here in Beijing, and there are many studying here at Tsinghua. I've have not yet had the pleasure of meeting any of them, but a friend of mine who hangs out with a bunch of French students almost got in a fight with one of them when, after the about the fourth or fifth time a Frenchman mistook my friend's liberal sensibilities as representing a character that would commiserate in discussions of the American military as an imperial army or a terrorist organization, my friend finally lost his mind. The student needed only to look across the street to observe the results of his own country's historical excesses. We all have some dirt and some blood on our hands--even those hands that are always pointing fingers.