The CCP's Attempts to Erase Culture and Control History Explored at Hearing

(Washington)—Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), held a hearing to explore efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to curtail historical inquiry into subjects deemed “sensitive,” such as the Tiananmen Massacre; control narratives regarding the history of the CCP; and erase the culture of repressed peoples, including Tibetans, Southern Mongolians, and Uyghurs. 

Commissioner Uzra Zeya, the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, and Representatives James P. McGovern (D-MA), Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Zack Nunn (R-IA), and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) joined the chairs at the hearing. The Chairs lauded Representative Wexton's influential work on human rights in China and her many contributions to the CECC, as she is retiring from Congress this year.

In his opening statement, Representative Smith said that the work of the CECC “is part of a grand project that seeks not only to protect the innocent from the cruelty of the Chinese Communist Party but to preserve memory—the memory of the Chinese people writ large, undistorted by the propaganda narratives of the CCP, the memory of ethnic groups whose unique cultural, linguistic, and religious identities are under threat of erasure, and, above all, the memory of individuals, who the Party would blot into oblivion.” 

In his statement for the hearing, Senator Merkley noted that “the people in China still possess [an] innate impulse to remember. They strive to safeguard memories in their own spaces .… But they may also be subject to acts of transnational repression by Chinese authorities for daring to speak out. Several of our witnesses have their own diaspora stories to tell. I hope to learn about ways we can help. As an example, my Southern Mongolian Human Rights Policy Act, introduced with Senator Dan Sullivan, has a section encouraging the Smithsonian Institution and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences to explore ways to support the efforts by Southern Mongolians, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Hong Kongers to preserve their cultural heritage.” 

Rowena He of the University of Texas (Austin), and a former associate professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong until banned in 2023, said in remarks about her own experience after the Tiananmen Massacre, “After 1989, I thought that was the end—they had guns, they had tanks, they had propaganda machines, and most importantly, they can erase and revise history … but after the White Paper Movement I saw a reconciliation of different generations finally fighting together for historical truth … so 1989 was not an ending after all …. History will witness the Tiananmen spirit and now the Hong Kong spirit as the power of the powerless …. I know we are going to win the war to preserve historical memory, I know history is on our side.”  

Julian Ku, Faculty Director of International Programs and Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at Hofstra University, discussed how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) manipulates the U.S. legal system through “lawfare,” using the example of ongoing litigation over Stanford University’s possession of the personal diaries of one of Mao Zedong’s secretaries.  To address the PRC’s “asymmetric lawfare,” Dr. Ku recommended that “Congress could enact something similar to the SPEECH Act, which protects U.S. defendants from foreign defamation judgments that do not meet U.S. free speech standards. Such action could deter some of these asymmetric lawfare techniques.” 

Rishat Abbas, President of Uyghur Academy International, detailed his organization’s work trying to preserve Uyghur language and culture despite “the Chinese government aggressively implementing policies of assimilation … and criminalizing Uyghur culture and religious belief …. With funding from and collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Institute of Peace …, Uyghur diaspora community leaders are [seeking] to ensure that the next generation of Uyghur youth abroad learn the language and preserve the core of Uyghur culture.” 

Geshe Lobsang Monlam is an ordained Tibetan monk and founder of Monlam Tibetan IT Research Center. He testified about the significant challenges faced by Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet to preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage.  He detailed his work to create “a suite of linguistic tools and resources that serve both traditional scholars and the wider Tibetan community. The Grand Tibetan Dictionary is the most extensive Tibetan dictionary ever compiled. It brings together classical texts, regional dialects, and contemporary usages … through a collaborative effort of Tibetans [editors] from different schools and walks of life.”   

Temulun Togochog is a young U.S.-born Southern Mongolian activist and freshman in the Honors Program at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey. She urged the U.S. Congress to pass Senator Merkley’s legislation, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Policy Act (S. 5305), and asked that Congress “take immediate action to defend the rights of six million Southern Mongolians.  I plead with you to fight against the systematic oppression so I may one day return to my homeland with my family, so my parents can embrace their family members and visit their beloved land.” 

The CECC's hearing webpage contains statements by CECC Commissioners, witness statements and policy recommendations, and an archived hearing video for the hearing “The Preservation of Memory: Combating the CCP’s Historical Revisionism and Erasure of Culture.”