China at 70: Notable advances at a horrific cost

The 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, which was marked on Tuesday by a mass military parade in the heart of Beijing, was less a historical commemoration than a political event. The Communist party of China (CPC) has understood the power of history ever since it seized the reins in 1949: in its earliest days, it encouraged citizens to “recall past bitterness,” to make the New China all the sweeter. Xi Jinping understands history’s importance better than any leader since Mao Zedong. Not long after taking power, he warned his colleagues that “historical nihilism” was…