Mao’s successors have generally avoided discussing the Cultural Revolution, while curbing attempts at a public accounting. That song was the penultimate item at the concert, according to a program reviewed by China Real Time. The billing of China’s largest state-run theater and a purported Communist Party publicity office as co-organizers fueled the perception. Among them was Ma Xiaoli, daughter of Communist revolutionary Ma Wenrui, a former labor minister who was purged and imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. After images and videos from the concert appeared online, however, many social-media users condemned the show as an attempt to glorify the Cultural Revolution and whitewash its contentious legacy.

Source: Wall Street Journal May 08, 2016 02:11 UTC