• 歐洲之聲發刊詞 Eng
  • 關於我們 About us
  • 隱私條款 Privacy Policy
  • 提供新聞 Authors contributions
  • 連絡我們 Contact us
歐洲之聲 Sino Euro Voices
  • 首頁
  • 關注熱點

    【田牧筆談】烏魯木齊「七五事件」是一面歷史鏡子

    A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

    【淇園漫步】被掠奪的文化遺產應當物歸原主嗎?

    【田牧筆談】黑暗中的一盞明燈——劉曉波逝世5週年祭文通告

    【比爾曼自傳】第九章 愈禁愈來勁 (一)

    上一個 下一個
  • 政經論壇

    殖民地與殖民統治:中共在害怕什麼?

    【老陳時評】:獻忠又到狂潮習近平連任中國必成北韓

    【北京觀察】高瑜:永遠的張思之

    悼念張思之大律師

    烏克蘭成為歐盟候選國,普丁被打臉

    上一個 下一個
  • 人權觀察

    中共當局閉門庭審許志永「顛覆」案,被斥為荒唐「騙局」

    《蘋果日報》關閉一年後仍有七人遭拘押 / Hong Kong: One year after Apple Daily shutdown, seven still detained

    【老陳時評】:徐州鐵鏈女唐山打女人成為中共處理公共事件的流程

    八九六四,一座流動的紀念碑

    澳大利亞齊氏文化基金會 2022 年第 15 屆推動中國進步獎公告(二)

    上一個 下一個
  • 人文天下

    【老陳時評】:香港才子倪匡的醒世恒言

    談傳國璽印文

    【北京觀察】鮑彤:護法•維權•愛國——讀《耄耋律師仍少年》

    【北京觀察】高瑜:永遠的張思之

    悼念張思之大律師

    上一個 下一個
  • 歐洲風情

    【淇園漫步】「猶太母豬」宣判無罪

    「永遠不會發生」 烏克蘭抨擊用土地換和平

    Internet Censorship 2022: A Global Map of Internet Restrictions

    獻給蘇菲的白玫瑰——反抗納粹終不悔

    如影隨形,奇幻人間—《彼得.施萊米爾的奇幻故事》

    上一個 下一個
  • 文學世界

    談傳國璽印文

    【香江寄語】:文明需要力量才能戰勝野蠻

    媽媽的墓冢

    湖邊清晨

    【香江寄語】:烏克蘭原野,悲情的大地

    上一個 下一個
  • 視頻薈萃

    【胡平論政】寫在聯合國通過第2758號決議五十周年

    點起一根蠟燭(一)

    潘永忠談2021大型網絡漢藏民間國際紀念活動

    支持「中間道路」 堅持漢藏對話——全球藏漢民間共同紀念「3•10」抗暴運動記錄(一)

    Remembering Dr. Li Wenliang

    上一個 下一個
  • 專文
    • 田牧新著
    • 淇園漫步
    • 田牧筆談
    • 老陳時評
    • 胡平論政
    • 香江寄語
    • 北京觀察
    • 比爾曼自傳
    • 潤南文苑
    • 雪山下的火焰
  • 古典音樂

    精選舒伯特鋼琴古典音樂Ⅱ

    約翰斯特勞斯「春之聲」圓舞曲

    維瓦地古典音樂精選

    孟德爾松古典音樂

    布拉姆斯古典音樂精選

    上一個 下一個
  • English

    A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

    Margarete Bause:我們不允許中共質疑人權的普遍性

    Roland Kühne:為六四和所有暴力受害者點燃蠟燭

    Adhere to the June 4th Spirit and Promote Constitutional Democracy!- Global Commemoration of the 33rd Anniversary of “June Fourth”

    彼提科夫一家言 烏克蘭與台灣

    上一個 下一個
  • 首頁
  • 關注熱點

    【田牧筆談】烏魯木齊「七五事件」是一面歷史鏡子

    A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

    【淇園漫步】被掠奪的文化遺產應當物歸原主嗎?

    【田牧筆談】黑暗中的一盞明燈——劉曉波逝世5週年祭文通告

    【比爾曼自傳】第九章 愈禁愈來勁 (一)

    上一個 下一個
  • 政經論壇

    殖民地與殖民統治:中共在害怕什麼?

    【老陳時評】:獻忠又到狂潮習近平連任中國必成北韓

    【北京觀察】高瑜:永遠的張思之

    悼念張思之大律師

    烏克蘭成為歐盟候選國,普丁被打臉

    上一個 下一個
  • 人權觀察

    中共當局閉門庭審許志永「顛覆」案,被斥為荒唐「騙局」

    《蘋果日報》關閉一年後仍有七人遭拘押 / Hong Kong: One year after Apple Daily shutdown, seven still detained

    【老陳時評】:徐州鐵鏈女唐山打女人成為中共處理公共事件的流程

    八九六四,一座流動的紀念碑

    澳大利亞齊氏文化基金會 2022 年第 15 屆推動中國進步獎公告(二)

    上一個 下一個
  • 人文天下

    【老陳時評】:香港才子倪匡的醒世恒言

    談傳國璽印文

    【北京觀察】鮑彤:護法•維權•愛國——讀《耄耋律師仍少年》

    【北京觀察】高瑜:永遠的張思之

    悼念張思之大律師

    上一個 下一個
  • 歐洲風情

    【淇園漫步】「猶太母豬」宣判無罪

    「永遠不會發生」 烏克蘭抨擊用土地換和平

    Internet Censorship 2022: A Global Map of Internet Restrictions

    獻給蘇菲的白玫瑰——反抗納粹終不悔

    如影隨形,奇幻人間—《彼得.施萊米爾的奇幻故事》

    上一個 下一個
  • 文學世界

    談傳國璽印文

    【香江寄語】:文明需要力量才能戰勝野蠻

    媽媽的墓冢

    湖邊清晨

    【香江寄語】:烏克蘭原野,悲情的大地

    上一個 下一個
  • 視頻薈萃

    【胡平論政】寫在聯合國通過第2758號決議五十周年

    點起一根蠟燭(一)

    潘永忠談2021大型網絡漢藏民間國際紀念活動

    支持「中間道路」 堅持漢藏對話——全球藏漢民間共同紀念「3•10」抗暴運動記錄(一)

    Remembering Dr. Li Wenliang

    上一個 下一個
  • 專文
    • 田牧新著
    • 淇園漫步
    • 田牧筆談
    • 老陳時評
    • 胡平論政
    • 香江寄語
    • 北京觀察
    • 比爾曼自傳
    • 潤南文苑
    • 雪山下的火焰
  • 古典音樂

    精選舒伯特鋼琴古典音樂Ⅱ

    約翰斯特勞斯「春之聲」圓舞曲

    維瓦地古典音樂精選

    孟德爾松古典音樂

    布拉姆斯古典音樂精選

    上一個 下一個
  • English

    A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

    Margarete Bause:我們不允許中共質疑人權的普遍性

    Roland Kühne:為六四和所有暴力受害者點燃蠟燭

    Adhere to the June 4th Spirit and Promote Constitutional Democracy!- Global Commemoration of the 33rd Anniversary of “June Fourth”

    彼提科夫一家言 烏克蘭與台灣

    上一個 下一個
沒有結果
查看所有結果
歐洲之聲 Sino Euro Voices
沒有結果
查看所有結果
首頁 English

Yuan Tengfei: A Free Spirit in Darkness

Tienchi martin-Liao文 /Tienchi martin-Liao
2020 年 9 月 13 日
在 English, 人文天下
Yuan Tengfei: A Free Spirit in Darkness

Photo from You tube user Stephen Thompson

转换简体
分享到 Facebook分享到 Twitter分享到 Line分享到 WeChat

The most famous maverick teacher in China.

推薦新聞

A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

2022 年 7 月 6 日
【老陳時評】:香港才子倪匡的醒世恒言

【老陳時評】:香港才子倪匡的醒世恒言

2022 年 7 月 5 日

If you were to attend one of Yuan Tengfei’s history lectures at Beijing’s Haidian Teachers Training College, you might think that you’re in the United States, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, where freedom of speech and research are guaranteed. For example, Yuan might say: “During the first 20 years or so of the People’s Republic of China the Red Terror cost more than 20 million innocent lives” or “The Mao Mausoleum in Beijing should change its name to the Holocaust Museum, for there lies a man whose hands are stained with blood.”

During his lectures Yuan speaks quickly, in a strong Beijing accent. He is humorous with a love of onomatopoeia. Before starting his lessons he always writes this Chinese proverb on the blackboard: “The speaker is not guilty, the listener learns the warning.” He teaches history like baking cookies, forming the material into sweet dough to feed his students with.

The “most famous maverick teacher in China” as the New York Times correspondent D.K. Tatlow has called Yuan, was born in 1972, though he wasn’t always so famous. After graduating from Beijing Normal University he started his teaching career in the 90s while moonlighting at a cram school to help students pass the university’s entrance examination.

It wasn’t until 2008, when his students at the school posted videos of his lectures online, that Yuan Tengfei became a famous figure. Videos of the eloquent and vivacious teacher attracted public attention and fans, as well as numerous opponents who posted comments about his critical or “traitorous” views of Chinese history. Within a short time the hits on his videos reached millions.

Astonishingly, as a consequence, the official CCTV invited Yuan to be a speaker on the popular history program Lecture Room. They even allowed him to give extended lectures on the Song dynasty and the contemporary history of the PRC—an extremely sensitive topic.

But Yuan mixes official textbook content with his own interpretation and speaks the truth in a frank and joyful way. For example, in his July 2011 lecture on Mao Zedong, he compared Mao to Hitler and Stalin and described the Cultural Revolution as the darkest era in human history. “Mao Zedong’s greatest contribution was his death in 1976,” Yuan said. “Should he have died in 1949 or even 1959, history would look totally different.”

Yuan has also told his students that Mao’s scientific knowledge was at the level of a 4th grader, adding that people could cheat him with all kinds of lies about agriculture and steel production. Furthermore, according to Yuan, Mao was an IBM—“an international big mouth”—who said that 95% of China’s 600 million citizens were good; only 5%, or 30 million people, were bad and needed to be eliminated.

It’s hard to say whether Yuan’s teaching helps his students pass their examinations, but he does inspire young people to think undogmatically. He tells his students that both the textbooks and People’s Daily are mostly lies. The latter will only be quoted by the media in two countries: North Korea and Iran. As for the history textbook, since he was involved in editing it, he knows what he’s talking about.

Certainly, it’s incredible that Yuan has not been arrested for his “anti-party, anti-state” speeches, although he has drawn attention from officials and was threatened by some “patriotic, enraged youth,” who claimed that he defecated on their beloved “motherland.”

After he became famous in 2008, Yuan published two history books: Wind and Cloud of the Two Song Dynasties (Shanxi Normal University Press, 2009) and History is Just a Game (2009-2010), which is about contemporary China. He was accused of plagiarism and was involved in a lawsuit. Still, he earned much money through his royalties and is now on the list of the wealthiest people in China.

Yuan is a product of China’s chaotic, yet creative society. His knowledge and education are not perfect; even his straightforward critiques, although honest and inspiring, are not always tenable. Nevertheless, it is a positive sign for China that a teacher such as Yuan Tengfei can maintain his position disseminating free spirit in the dawn of darkness.

Updated on September 12, 2020

It is quite a miracle that Yuan Tengfei despite his sharp critic and history interpretation, which is divergent to the official one, is still a free man in China. He even enjoys the popularity in the public. He could travel to Taiwan and the USA in recent years. On November 23, 2019, he gave an open speech in New York. He said the past decade was not easy for him to stand against the pressure from the authority, yet he survived. He makes his living by giving public talks and publishing books.  

First published at Sampsoniaway.org on January 16, 2013.

標籤: history teacherYuan Tengfei
分享Tweet分享分享
上一篇文章

“Our love is a firm religious sentiment”: Love Behind Bars

下一篇文章

【長平筆談】:馬斯外長,羅冠聰比王毅更重要

Tienchi martin-Liao

Tienchi martin-Liao

Tienchi Martin-Liao was the columnist of the Pittsburg literature online magazine SAMPSONIA WAY. She wrote for the FEARLESS INK column – Blind Chess from May 2012 till July 2018. The articles are reposted here, some of them are updated if necessary. Most of the topics and contents are still up to date, because in China the suppression on the intellectuals and dissidents is more severe then ever. There is no freedom of expression, no freedom of press, and people go to jail when they write things that offend the authority.

相關文章

A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death
English

A Light in the Darkness – Announcement on the 5th Anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s Death

2022 年 7 月 6 日
【老陳時評】:香港才子倪匡的醒世恒言
人文天下

【老陳時評】:香港才子倪匡的醒世恒言

2022 年 7 月 5 日
談傳國璽印文
人文天下

談傳國璽印文

2022 年 7 月 5 日
【北京觀察】鮑彤:護法•維權•愛國——讀《耄耋律師仍少年》
人文天下

【北京觀察】鮑彤:護法•維權•愛國——讀《耄耋律師仍少年》

2022 年 6 月 29 日
【北京觀察】高瑜:永遠的張思之
人文天下

【北京觀察】高瑜:永遠的張思之

2022 年 6 月 29 日
悼念張思之大律師
人文天下

悼念張思之大律師

2022 年 6 月 29 日
下一篇文章
【長平筆談】:馬斯外長,羅冠聰比王毅更重要

【長平筆談】:馬斯外長,羅冠聰比王毅更重要

美中博弈德國成焦點(上篇)——謝志偉大使談王毅訪歐後德國的答卷

美中博弈德國成焦點(上篇)——謝志偉大使談王毅訪歐後德國的答卷

美中博弈德國成焦點(下篇)——謝志偉大使談王毅訪歐後德國的答卷

美中博弈德國成焦點(下篇)——謝志偉大使談王毅訪歐後德國的答卷

熱門文章

Yuan Tengfei: A Free Spirit in Darkness

Yuan Tengfei: A Free Spirit in Darkness

2020 年 9 月 13 日
彭帥成為全球新聞焦點(附錄:彭帥微博原文)

彭帥成為全球新聞焦點(附錄:彭帥微博原文)

2021 年 11 月 23 日
【田牧筆談】黑暗中的一盞明燈——劉曉波逝世5週年祭文通告

【田牧筆談】黑暗中的一盞明燈——劉曉波逝世5週年祭文通告

2022 年 7 月 4 日
1989-2022 從自由的勝利到專制的反撲

1989-2022 從自由的勝利到專制的反撲

2022 年 6 月 27 日
談傳國璽印文

談傳國璽印文

2022 年 7 月 5 日
北明:讓自由之火從血泊中升起來!

北明:讓自由之火從血泊中升起來!

2022 年 6 月 6 日
牧野聖修:紀念六四天安門事件33周年發表談話

牧野聖修:紀念六四天安門事件33周年發表談話

2022 年 6 月 14 日
歐洲之聲

歐洲之聲網站根植於歐陸,創刊於庚子年新冠疫情席捲全球之際。數據化時代早已來臨,面對浩瀚的知識和信息海洋,太容易迷失方向。作為長年的媒體工作者,本網刊願為華語世界的讀者傳送平實可靠的資訊,也為追求民主、自由、人權的有識之士及愛好文藝的友朋提供寫作發文的平台。祈望這裡成為志同道合者共同耕耘的園地。

分類

  • English
  • 人文天下
  • 人權觀察
  • 北京觀察
  • 古典音樂
  • 墨爾本夜語
  • 專文
  • 政經論壇
  • 文學世界
  • 未分類
  • 歐洲風情
  • 比爾曼自傳
  • 淇園漫步
  • 潤南文苑
  • 田牧新著
  • 田牧筆談
  • 老陳時評
  • 胡平論政
  • 視頻薈萃
  • 關注熱點
  • 雪山下的火焰
  • 香江寄語
  • 歐洲風情
【淇園漫步】「猶太母豬」宣判無罪

【淇園漫步】「猶太母豬」宣判無罪

2022 年 6 月 16 日
「永遠不會發生」 烏克蘭抨擊用土地換和平

「永遠不會發生」 烏克蘭抨擊用土地換和平

2022 年 5 月 26 日

適用電子郵件訂閱網站

輸入你的電子郵件地址訂閱網站的新文章,使用電子郵件接收新通知。

關注我們

沒有結果
查看所有結果
  • 首頁
  • 關注熱點
  • 政經論壇
  • 人權觀察
  • 人文天下
  • 歐洲風情
  • 文學世界
  • 視頻薈萃
  • 專文
    • 墨爾本夜語
    • 香江寄語
    • 胡平論政
    • 北京觀察
    • 潤南文苑
    • 淇園漫步
    • 老陳時評
    • 雪山下的火焰
  • English
  • 古典音樂
  • 田牧新著

© 2020 歐洲之聲 Sino Euro Voices.

歐洲之聲網站使用 cookie 為您提供更好的使用體驗, 請閱讀我們的 隱私權政策,通過使用表示您確認並同意我們的政策。