Congressional Testimony: Rowena He on the Chinese Communist Party’s Historical Revisionism

The hearing, which took place on December 5, 2024, was titled The Preservation of Memory: Combating the CCP’s Historical Revisionism and Erasure of Culture.

The Commission described the hearing as follows:

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) engages in systematic efforts to curtail historical inquiry into subjects deemed “sensitive,” such as the Tiananmen Massacre; control narratives regarding the history of the CCP; and erase the culture of repressed peoples, including Tibetans, Mongolians, and Uyghurs. Writers, artists, and independent historians are currently engaged in efforts to preserve history and language in the face of CCP repression. This hearing will highlight their efforts and examine the various tactics used by the CCP to revise history, including lawfare and the silencing of academics who offer alternatives to Party narratives.  The hearing will also explore the ways that diaspora communities are preserving their own culture and language and transmitting them to the next generation. Witnesses will offer policy recommendations.

Rowena He's testimony was livestreamed on Nov. 5, 2024. Visit the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's website to watch a recording of the hearing.

Rowena He is a senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute. She is the author of Tiananmen Exiles: Voices for the Struggle for Democracy in China and a former associate professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong until she was exiled in 2023.