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Lessons from China's history
PostMagShort Reads
Wee Kek Koon
Wee Kek Koon

Reflections | Anti-racism protests have seen statues toppled from the US to the UK. In China, those once celebrated also fell from favour

  • Throughout Chinese history, prominent figures have been commemorated at shrines built in their honour
  • Many have not endured, as those they remember are forgotten or destroyed as attitudes change

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Black Lives Matter protesters gather around the statue of Winston Churchill following a march through central London, in Britain, on June 21. Photo: Getty Images
Wee Kek Koon
Anti-racism protests around the world, triggered by the killing of George Floyd, an African-American, by a white police officer in the United States last month, have led to a number of public statues being toppled or defaced by protesters who denounced the racist pasts of the historical figures they depicted. In the US, statues of Confederate leaders were destroyed or vandalised.
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In the British city of Bristol, the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was thrown into the harbour. Even Winston Churchill was in danger of being taken down, quite literally, from his pedestal.

Before they met with their ignominious fates, these images hewn from stone and metal had once been the physical representation of certain qualities considered estimable by some members of the community among whom they stood. Changing circumstances and mores have felled these erstwhile heroes.

One of the ways the Chinese commemorated and celebrated their heroes was to build shrines in their honour, known as ci. They were very similar to religious buildings in their layout, with a main altar in front of a statue or some other representation of the person venerated, on which offerings of flowers, incense and victuals were placed.

Protesters throw a statue of slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol harbour, in Britain, on June 7. Photo: AP
Protesters throw a statue of slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol harbour, in Britain, on June 7. Photo: AP
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Among the famous historical figures that have dedicated shrines in China are the philosopher Confucius (551–479BC), the military commanders Guan Yu (died AD220) and Yue Fei (1103–1142), and Zhuge Liang (181–234), counsellor-in-chief of one the three kingdoms in the eponymous period.

Emperors also sponsored the construction of martyrs’ shrines (zonglie ci) as a tangible form of propaganda to educate their subjects. Venerating men who died for emperor and country, martyrs’ shrines existed to extol such virtues as loyalty, courage and moral rectitude – qualities that were helpful in bolstering the regime’s stability and longevity.

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