Mao argued that it is enough to hit a person to teach a hundred. Now, the Chinese Communist Party has bypassed its founder, and without even reaching the severe penalties used during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), after a three-month investigation, He reprimanded and dismissed 27 employees (Including director of CCP Corporation) for the People’s School Publishing House.

their fault? He has published a series of elementary school mathematics texts accompanied by disgraceful pornography and contrary to national aesthetics. This is a cartoon – very similar to the features of a Japanese manga – that it shows Boys and girls participate in games and discussions (Obviously, the lion’s share is the numbers) which, in our eyes, probably seem completely innocent. But upon closer examination, in fact, first-cycle children’s comics crossed an unseen but ingrained boundary in even China’s tradition of opening up, reforms, and exhibitionism. Western schoolchildren.

In fact, the drawings represent – with a certain accuracy – the young people who can belong to any advanced society. So their colorful clothes appear more often Designs reminiscent of the American flag with stars and stripes; They make gestures such as showing the tongue and closing the three central fingers typical of a rapper; They chase each other and hold each other without worrying about where the skirts are flying, sometimes showing their panties; Finally, Looks like one has a tattoo on one’s ankle While the Chinese flag is drawn with a trademark error: the yellow stars are located on a red field to the right of the canvas, instead of the left.

The scandal exploded last spring, when new books began circulating on Weibo, the Chinese Twitter site, sparking harsh comments. But is it true or not that some people, who for some time are accustomed to bowing and submissive, are not ashamed of anything and Have you forgotten your country?, writes one of the many anonymous critics. With the question reaching the corridors of the Ministry of Education in Beijing, the investigation immediately began and led to the inevitable conclusion: These designs do not reflect the educational standards of the People’s Republic of China Nor do they spread a positive image of our children.

The publishing house, the largest in China, immediately issued an apology, announcing Drag texts and replace all images. But this, of course, was not enough: all the officials and designers involved in the project were called up and lost their jobs. On the other hand, in a country that, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, is transforming itself into a world power, it was hard to imagine how American comics can reach young adults’ classrooms.

We have to provide our youth Virtuous examples drawn from the millennial Chinese tradition, . books Global Times, Al Nizam newspaper that published the news for the first time. And in fact, the new comedy represents children with delicate features and modestly dressed: boys never stick their tongues out, girls wear braids. Because, as always, in the Celestial Empire, the (collective) imagination must impose itself on reality.