Brainwash

During another casual discussion, Vivian asked gravely, “Have you heard of the current National Education (國民教育)? It’s quite horrible!”

“Alas, I know it briefly. Brainwashing without any tactic. That’s all.” I nodded.

“I begin to worry about Euterpe and Adler…” my wife murmured.

“I know what you mean,” I said, “But, I must say the result of this kind of brainwashing exercise is often unpredictable. You know, I went through a similar program while I was in secondary school.”

“You!?” My wife was obviously surprised.

“Yes, me.” I laughed and explained, “For two consecutive years, my teacher of Chinese History was a certain Mr. Suen – and we all called him Scholar Suen (孫秀才). From all we knew, he was born and graduated from the mainland, and a die-hard fan of our Chairman Mao. Throughout that two years, twice each week, during his lessons he told us how great our home country is and what great leaders we have to guide the country through all international hassles. Remind you, it was in early 1980s - shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four!"


"Oh... I can see what it ends up," my wife looked at me jokingly.


"It's not only me, but all our classmates," I added, "In fact, as delinquent students, we just kept talking about George Orwell and Liu Shaoqi all through the lessons of our Scholar Suen!"