Mosher examines Xi Jinping’s “China Dream,” a national narrative taught from kindergarten through college that follows four acts: ancient civilizational greatness, humiliation by Western imperialists (led by the United States), a coming vengeance against the West, and an eventual return to global harmony under Chinese rule. Mosher draws a direct parallel to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, noting both texts frame a “great race” as historically dominant, wrongfully humbled by outsiders, and destined to reclaim its rightful hegemony while rejecting foreign ideas — in China’s case, Christianity, democracy, and human rights. The patriotic education program singles out the United States for particular blame, despite America’s actual historical record of sending missionaries, building hospitals, churches, and universities (including Beijing University) in China. Mosher systematically debunks distortions of five presidents: John Tyler is blamed for the “unequal treaty” following the British-led Opium War, though the US wasn’t a combatant; Abraham Lincoln is blamed for a treaty that actually expanded diplomatic equality and let foreigners legally learn Mandarin; the 1900 Boxer Rebellion’s rescue mission for besieged foreigners is recast as an unprovoked Western attack; Woodrow Wilson, who tried to secure Shandong’s return to China, is blamed for Japan’s broken promise instead; and FDR, who sent the Flying Tigers to aid China against Japan, is falsely accused of passively “watching the fires burn.” Most strikingly, Nixon is portrayed as having opened relations with China to provoke a Sino-Soviet nuclear war, when in fact he blocked a 1969 Soviet proposal for a preemptive nuclear strike on China’s weapons program. Mosher concludes that China’s education system must destroy America first in the hearts and minds of its people before it can be defeated economically or militarily.
1 What literary work does Mosher directly compare to Xi Jinping's "China Dream" narrative?
2 Which university does Mosher note was actually founded by American missionaries?
3 How is the 1900 Boxer Rebellion rescue mission mischaracterized in Chinese patriotic education?
4 What did Richard Nixon actually do regarding a proposed nuclear strike on China in 1969?
5 According to Mosher, what must happen to America first, in the Chinese Communist Party's strategy, before economic or military defeat?
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