This year, the Chinese Communist Party kicked off its 100th anniversary by celebrating China’s economic success and ambitions to create a new world order. The festivities, of course, are carefully choreographed. For decades, the Communist Party has crushed any counter-narratives to promote a whitewashed version of Chinese history. Those who deviate from the party’s official narrative suffer retribution — and in recent days, records of that punishment have been expunged as well. 

Today, we focus on a newly revised volume of Communist Party history that aims to airbrush its past for a younger generation who have come of age in a tightly controlled social environment. And we highlight the young activists who are trying to bring attention to this whitewashing — and are getting jailed or exiled for doing so. Our guest is L.A. Times Beijing bureau chief Alice Su.

An earlier version of this episode was published July 2, 2021. 

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As Communist Party turns 100, China’s Xi rallies his compatriots and warns his critics

He tried to commemorate erased history. China detained him, then erased that too 

China offers a minority a lifeline out of poverty — but what happens to its culture?