Response to book burning article "China's Son."

J B

August 24, 2006

Response to Article: China’s Son

J. Emery Davidson

ENGL 101 BO1

Responding to Burning Books

What a grand and all encompassing story! First, this evoked for me, thoughts of Ray Bradbury’s classic Fahrenheit 451. Then it reminded me of the Library of Antiquity in Alexandria, Egypt burning down –a place that was the repository for every important scroll of its day. Finally, “Mothman” in Mr. Chen’s story helped me recall, Shamans from certain African tribes, whose job it was to memorize the history of everybody in the tribe. I also found it refreshing to read that Da Chen and his family live in N.Y., in an area near my sister’s family and just up the Hudson from a heroic balladeer about man’s repression and lover of life –Pete Seeger. 

It’s good to know that back-up systems have been set in place in the event modern libraries catch fire. There are even fire suppression systems being developed, which will extinguish flames with special liquids that do not even tarnish book pages if they become squirted from the cutting-edge formula. In addition, Internet 'mirrors' are now out there for backing up information. In the event a massive data storehouse of our day- the Internet Archive, located in San Francisco, were to succumb to a disaster, back up info-gathering systems, have been installed, both in the United Kingdom and in the new Alexandria, Egypt library. The information contained in each of these mirrors, would be enough to fill books on shelves of a hundred Libraries of Congress.

This story also reminded me of some freedoms in our own country, which have been dwindling as of late. Large corporations have taken over a majority of United States newspaper and media outlets in recent years. Though they espouse to be fairly balanced, the truth may lie otherwise. Many media-connected corporations have their own agendas, which often don’t include focusing on both sides of each issue. Some media watchdogs warn that there could very well be an Internet clampdown of sorts in the near future. In the event of a “National Emergency”, Martial Law could be declared; requiring precious information to be meted out, only after approval by government overlords with special interests -not unlike the commune party secretary who burned down Mr. Chen’s beloved bookstore. In fact, in China these days the government controls all media, including the Internet with the assist of spyware developed by Cisco systems*. Even Google, whose motto was “Don’t be Evil” gave in to certain freedom of speech concessions to the Chinese government. –probably anticipating that another search engine company would reap the vast monetary profits to be had. Perhaps it would help benefit manage-mental types who would stoop to such compromises, to gaze deeply into such aforementioned mirrors, and longer reflect, before hurriedly passing such final burning judgments. 

When Mr. Chen talked about “Mothman” at the beginning of his tale; this reminded me of the power of mythology and how the most worthwhile tales endure, after being filtered through hundred of generations. Critical readers should be especially adroit, while perusing some of the newly hatched tales. In the sense of a cautionary tale itself, I think that we would do well to be more like the Mennonites, who traditionally wait until technology borne during the era of their grandfathers has been better proven, and flaws aired out, before considering many new age stories and know-how, worthy enough to be woven into the tapestry of our daily lives.

Certainly some stories were lost, but I suspect that the most important tales did endure the Phoenix flames of Ancient Alexandria, by having been singed into the memories of humanity –especially by shaman-like librarians. This is testament to the staying power of tales of biblical proportions. In the vein of “China’s Son” experience, it’s shown that though barrels of books may be burned; men’s fiery wills will not be extinguished, when that which is inscribed within their hearts, demands to remain connected with their emblazoned brain fibres. Though Mr. Chen temporarily returned to a position where only the oral histories were available, ultimately his community prevailed and with a team effort, re-scribed those most important thoughts back into written form. 

* According to the Disinformation Book of Lists