August 11， 2023

In the face of China’s continuous expansion of influence and ideology around the world, apart from the military, what theoretical weapons do democratic countries have to fight against it? Emeritus professor of California State University Los Angeles #宋永毅, professor of political science at City University of New York #夏明 introduced why it is necessary to revisit the concept of “brainwashing” during the #cold war period as a tool for analyzing China? In a seminar on “Brainwashing: Mao Zedong and China and the World in the Post-Mao Era”, more than 20 contemporary experts who know China best analyzed the past and contemporary “brainwashing”. How is the brainwashing in the era of #Mao Zedong different from the brainwashing in the era of #Xi Jinping? Why does China promote “pan-brainwashing” everywhere, declaring that “brainwashing is right and wrong, all people and groups are brainwashing and being brainwashed. Brainwashing is not fundamentally different from the industry behaviors of ‘education, communication and propaganda’ that have always existed in human society. ” Therefore, it is necessary to get to the bottom of the matter and make it clear, “Unlike propaganda, brainwashing is monopolistic, coercive, long-term, and asymmetric.”