作者：余茂春
这几天大家可能都在想，到底是谁伤害了中国人民的感情？
今天，我也来说说自己的看法。
事情起源于法国足球巨星姆巴佩（Kylian Mbappé）最近惹恼了中共。因为他说毛泽东是个独裁者。北京立刻火冒三丈，指责他“伤害了中国人民的感情“。
可是，毛泽东本来就是独裁者，他的统治造成数千万中国人非正常死亡。难道说出这个历史事实，比毛泽东当年害死那么多中国人，更伤害中国人民的感情？
这件事看起来荒唐，却正好戳破了中共多年来惯用的一套政治把戏。只要有人批评共产党，就说人家侮辱了中国；只要有人批评毛泽东，就说人家伤害了中国人民。毛泽东虽然已经死了半个世纪，但他留下的独裁体制还在，中共对毛的政治遗产更是碰都不让人碰。
“伤害中国人民的感情“这句话，大家应该早就听腻了。美国总统见了达赖喇嘛，中国人民的感情受伤了；日本首相谈到台湾，中国人民的感情又受伤了；外国政府批评中共迫害人权，中国人民的感情还是受伤了。
奇怪了！十四亿中国人真的都这么容易被伤感情吗？更重要的是，谁问过他们？
一个不让人民自由选举国家领导人、不准人民公开批评政府、连上网说几句真心话都可能惹上麻烦的政权，居然一天到晚宣称自己最了解全体中国人民的感情。这不是很可笑吗？
其实，这套说法已经用了几十年。中国媒体研究计画（China Media Project）发现，早在1959年，中共《人民日报》就在中印边界争端中拿“伤害中国人民感情“来指责印度。研究人员统计了1959年至2015年间《人民日报》的143个相关案例，发现中共用这句话骂得最多的是日本，其次是美国，而台湾和西藏问题也经常成为引爆点。
说穿了，只要有人碰到中共的政治利益，或者不接受它对历史和领土的说法，中国人民的感情就会突然受到“严重伤害“。
最离谱的例子之一，就是1989年的天安门事件。当年中共出动军队镇压屠杀要求民主改革的中国民众，美国国会对这场血腥镇压提出谴责。结果北京竟然反过来指责美国伤害了中国人民的感情。 这是什么道理？杀害中国人民不算伤害中国人民的感情，谴责杀害中国人民的暴行，反倒成了伤害中国人民感情的罪过？
这就是中共这套说词最荒谬、也最虚伪的地方。 毛泽东搞大跃进，造成一场人类历史上最严重的人为大饑荒，估计有三千万到四千五百万中国人因此丧命。接著又搞文化大革命，整个社会被折腾得天翻地覆。无数家庭被拆散，老师被学生批斗，知识分子遭到迫害，寺庙古蹟被砸得乱七八糟。到了1989年，中共又在北京向自己的人民开枪。
中共治国无方，折腾有数。目前的中国，民不聊生，失业飞涨，就业艰难，人人思润，万众躺平，遍地贪腐，无限监管，镇压空前。难道因此而受煎熬的亿万中国人民的痛苦就不算数？难道这些事情没有伤害中国人民的感情？
可是，中共偏偏不准这些人公开诉说自己的苦难。谁想追究责任，谁就可能受到打压；谁想纪念历史，谁就可能被当成政治上的寻衅滋事的人物。
所以，中共口中的“中国人民的感情“，其实有一个很奇怪的规矩，只要是外国人让中国人不高兴，中共就要替大家出头；但如果是共产党自己伤害了中国人民，那就最好闭嘴，连提都不准提，因为在中共眼中， 被肆虐几十年的中国人民是没有感情的。
姆巴佩事件就很能说明这种荒唐的地方。中国媒体忙著谴责他的所谓“辱华“言论，却不敢清楚告诉中国民众，他到底说了什么。有些中国网民连事情的来龙去脉都不知道，就被要求跟著生气。连别人讲了什么都不让你知道，却要你义愤填膺，这不是很滑稽吗？
这种愤怒，很多时候根本不是人民自己产生的，而是中共需要人民生气的时候，才刻意制造出来的。
这套把戏其实很好懂。对内，中共可以把老百姓对经济、失业、贪腐和社会不公的不满，转移到外国人身上。对外，则可以利用庞大的中国市场，逼外国政府、企业、学校、运动员和演艺界人士乖乖接受中共的政治规矩。
2019年，美国职篮休士顿火箭队总经理莫雷（Daryl Morey）发文支持香港示威者，北京马上对NBA展开抵制。其他外国企业和名人，只要在台湾、西藏等问题上说了中共不爱听的话，也可能遭到封杀。
北京的意思再明白不过，你在美国可以有言论自由，但如果想赚中国市场的钱，就得先学会看共产党的脸色。这其实就是拿生意当武器，逼自由世界接受中共的言论审查。
但是，中共这种动不动就发火的习惯，也暴露出它内心深处的不安全感。
在台湾问题、美国军事行动，以及其他国际争端上，北京经常把话说得很重，动不动就警告对方要承担“严重后果“。但很多时候，最后也只是雷声大、雨点小。嘴巴上喊得震天响，真正能做、敢做的事情却未必有那么多。
中国当然是一个有实力的大国，这一点没有人否认。但一个真正有自信的大国，何必整天为了外国人的一句话、一张地图、一个玩笑，就气得跳脚？ 一方面宣称中国已经强大起来，正在实现伟大的民族复兴；另一方面又把中国人民说得好像玻璃心一样，动不动就被外国人伤害。这两件事摆在一起，不觉得很矛盾吗？
说到底，中共真正害怕的，不是中国人民的感情受伤，而是有人不再把共产党当成中国的唯一代表。
这也解释了为什么中共特别喜欢拿中国近代史上的屈辱做文章。 十九世纪以来，中国确实受到过列强侵略、不平等条约，以及日本军国主义带来的巨大灾难。这些历史都是真的，也值得中国人记住。但问题是，中共只准中国人记住外国人对中国造成的伤害，却不准中国人自由讨论共产党自己造成的灾难。
外国人一百多年前犯下的前科，北京可以没完没了地要求道歉；共产党对中国人民造成比外国人所为多出几十倍的数千万人死亡的历史，却连公开追究都不准。这根本不是尊重历史。
只要国内经济出了问题，社会矛盾增加，或者人民对政府不满，北京就可以找个外国人来当出气筒，然后把自己打扮成捍卫民族尊严的大英雄。这套政治操作最关键的一步，就是故意把共产党和中国画上等号。
但中国就是中国，共产党就是共产党，两者根本不是一回事。
对美国人来说，这件事其实有一个很直接的教训，不要再为了行使自己的自由，而向独裁者低头道歉。北京没有权力规定美国人能说什么、大学能教什么、企业能发表什么，更没有资格决定哪些历史事实可以公开讨论。
中共现在很聪明，它不需要在美国制定法律，只要拿中国市场当诱饵，就能让不少美国机构自己替它执行言论审查。好莱坞为了中国票房修改剧本，大学怕惹北京不高兴而迴避敏感议题，企业为了生意限制员工发言，体育联盟更是动不动就为一句完全合法的政治言论公开道歉。
这才是美国人真正应该警惕的事情。一个外国独裁政权，居然可以利用商业利益，让自由社会的人自己放弃言论自由。这不是一般的外交摩擦，而是中共把自己的政治规矩一步步带进美国社会。
我们应该公开揭露中共的经济胁迫，保护因为合法言论而遭到北京报复的美国人，并且清楚告诉北京，中国市场再大，也买不到替美国人制定言论规则的权力。
更重要的是，我们必须看穿中共最大的政治谎言， 强调共产党不等于中国，共产党的利益也不等于中国人民的利益。
真正侮辱中国人民的，不是有人说毛泽东是独裁者，而是一个造成数千万中国人死亡、掩盖历史真相、剥夺人民基本自由的政党，居然还厚著脸皮，自称是中国人民感情的守护者。
北京与其整天教训全世界不要伤害中国人民的感情，不如先向中国人民交代，共产党自己到底给他们造成了多少苦难。 说穿了，中共根本不是在保护中国人民的感情，而是在拿中国人民的感情当人质。真正伤害中国人民尊严的，不是外国人批评共产党，而是共产党自己。
编辑：李晶 校对：周敏 翻译：沈美花
Mbappé Hurt the Feelings of the Communist Party, Not the Feelings of the Chinese People
Author: Miles Yu
Over the past few days, everyone has probably been wondering: who, after all, has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people?
Today, I would like to share my own perspective as well.
The incident began when French football superstar Kylian Mbappé recently angered the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because he called Mao Zedong a dictator. Beijing immediately flew into a rage, accusing him of having “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”
However, Mao Zedong was a dictator to begin with, and his rule caused the unnatural deaths of tens of millions of Chinese people. Could stating this historical fact possibly hurt the feelings of the Chinese people more than Mao Zedong causing the deaths of so many Chinese people back then?
As absurd as this incident seems, it has exposed a political trick that the CCP has habitually used for years: whenever someone criticizes the Communist Party, they say that person is insulting China; whenever someone criticizes Mao Zedong, they say that person is hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. Although Mao Zedong has been dead for half a century, the dictatorial system he left behind remains intact, and the CCP treats Mao’s political legacy as strictly off-limits.
Everyone must be sick and tired of hearing the phrase “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” by now. When the President of the United States meets with the Dalai Lama, the feelings of the Chinese people are hurt; when the Prime Minister of Japan mentions Taiwan, the feelings of the Chinese people are hurt again; when foreign governments criticize the CCP for human rights abuses, the feelings of the Chinese people are still hurt.
How strange! Are 1.4 billion Chinese people really that easily hurt? More importantly, who ever asked them?
A regime that does not allow its people to freely elect their national leaders, forbids them from publicly criticizing the government, and where even speaking a few honest words online can get them into trouble, actually claims day in and day out that it best understands the feelings of the entire Chinese people. Isn’t that laughable?
In fact, this rhetoric has been used for decades. The China Media Project (CMP) found that as early as 1959, the CCP’s People’s Daily used “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people” to accuse India during the Sino-Indian border dispute. Researchers tallied 143 relevant cases in the People’s Daily between 1959 and 2015, discovering that the country the CCP scolded most frequently with this phrase was Japan, followed by the United States, while the issues of Taiwan and Tibet also frequently served as flashpoints.
To put it bluntly, as soon as anyone touches upon the CCP’s political interests, or refuses to accept its narrative on history and territory, the feelings of the Chinese people suddenly suffer “severe injury.”
One of the most outrageous examples was the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. Back then, the CCP deployed troops to suppress and massacre Chinese citizens demanding democratic reforms, and the U.S. Congress condemned this bloody crackdown. As a result, Beijing actually turned around and accused the United States of hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. What kind of logic is this? Massacring the Chinese people does not count as hurting the feelings of the Chinese people, while condemning the atrocity of massacring them becomes the crime of hurting their feelings?
This is the most absurd and hypocritical part of the CCP’s narrative. Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward, causing the worst man-made famine in human history, in which an estimated 30 million to 45 million Chinese people perished. He then launched the Cultural Revolution, turning the entire society upside down. Countless families were torn apart, teachers were struggled against and humiliated by their students, intellectuals were persecuted, and temples and historical relics were smashed to pieces. Then, in 1989, the CCP once again opened fire on its own people in Beijing.
The CCP has no competence in governing the country, yet endless ways to torment the people. In today’s China, people have no means to make a living, unemployment is skyrocketing, finding a job is difficult, everyone is dreaming of “running” (emigrating abroad), the masses are “lying flat” (opting out of the rat race in quiet protest), corruption is everywhere, surveillance is limitless, and repression is unprecedented. Does the suffering of hundreds of millions of Chinese people enduring this torment not count? Haven’t these things hurt the feelings of the Chinese people?
Yet, the CCP specifically forbids these people from publicly speaking out about their suffering. Whoever tries to hold anyone accountable faces suppression; whoever tries to commemorate history risks being treated as a political troublemaker guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
Therefore, the “feelings of the Chinese people” in the CCP’s mouth actually follow a very strange rule: as long as a foreigner makes Chinese people unhappy, the CCP steps up to champion their cause; but if the Communist Party itself hurts the Chinese people, then it is best to shut up and not even mention it—because in the eyes of the CCP, the Chinese people, who have been ravaged for decades, have no feelings.
The Mbappé incident clearly illustrates this absurdity. Chinese media were busy condemning his so-called “anti-China” remarks, yet they dared not clearly tell the Chinese public what he actually said. Some Chinese netizens didn’t even know the full story before being demanded to join in the anger. Not letting you know what someone else said, yet demanding that you be filled with righteous indignation—isn’t that ridiculous?
In many cases, this anger does not arise from the people themselves at all, but is deliberately manufactured by the CCP whenever it needs the people to be angry.
This trick is actually very easy to understand. Domestically, the CCP can redirect ordinary people’s dissatisfaction with the economy, unemployment, corruption, and social injustice onto foreigners. Internationally, it can use the massive Chinese market to force foreign governments, corporations, universities, athletes, and entertainers to obediently accept the CCP’s political rules.
In 2019, when Daryl Morey, General Manager of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, tweeted in support of Hong Kong protesters, Beijing immediately launched a boycott against the NBA. Other foreign companies and celebrities, as long as they say things the CCP dislikes regarding issues like Taiwan or Tibet, also risk being blacklisted.
Beijing’s message could not be clearer: you can have freedom of speech in the United States, but if you want to make money in the Chinese market, you must first learn to take your cues from the Communist Party. This is, in essence, weaponizing business to force the free world to accept the CCP’s censorship.
However, the CCP’s habit of flying off the handle at the slightest provocation also exposes its deep-seated insecurity.
On the Taiwan issue, U.S. military operations, and other international disputes, Beijing frequently uses harsh rhetoric, constantly warning the other side that it will bear “serious consequences.” Yet in many cases, it ends up being all thunder and no rain. They shout loud enough to shake the heavens, but what they can actually do—or dare to do—is not necessarily that much.
China is certainly a major power with strength; no one denies that. But why would a truly confident major power get bent out of shape all day over a single sentence, a map, or a joke from a foreigner? On one hand, it proclaims that China has grown strong and is achieving the great rejuvenation of the nation; on the other hand, it portrays the Chinese people as having “glass hearts,” easily hurt by foreigners at every turn. Putting these two things side by side, doesn’t that seem contradictory?
At the end of the day, what the CCP truly fears is not that the feelings of the Chinese people will be hurt, but that people will no longer regard the Communist Party as the sole representative of China.
This also explains why the CCP is particularly fond of making an issue out of China’s modern history of humiliation. Since the 19th century, China indeed suffered aggression from foreign powers, unequal treaties, and immense catastrophes brought by Japanese militarism. All of this history is true and deserves to be remembered by the Chinese people. The problem, however, is that the CCP only allows the Chinese people to remember the harm inflicted on China by foreigners, while forbidding them from freely discussing the disasters caused by the Communist Party itself.
For offenses committed by foreigners over a hundred years ago, Beijing can endlessly demand apologies; for the history of the Communist Party causing tens of millions of Chinese deaths—dozens of times more than what foreigners did—it does not even allow public accountability. This is not respecting history at all.
Whenever domestic economic problems arise, social conflicts intensify, or the people grow dissatisfied with the government, Beijing can find a foreigner to serve as a punching bag, and then dress itself up as a great hero defending national dignity. The most crucial step in this political manipulation is deliberately equating the Communist Party with China.
But China is China, and the Communist Party is the Communist Party; the two are fundamentally not the same thing.
For Americans, there is actually a very direct lesson in this: stop bowing down and apologizing to a dictator for exercising your own freedom. Beijing has no authority to dictate what Americans can say, what universities can teach, or what businesses can publish, let alone the qualification to decide which historical facts can be publicly discussed.
The CCP is very clever now. It does not need to enact laws in the United States; simply by using the Chinese market as bait, it can get quite a few American institutions to enforce censorship on its behalf. Hollywood alters scripts for the Chinese box office, universities avoid sensitive topics for fear of displeasing Beijing, corporations restrict employee speech for the sake of business, and sports leagues publicly apologize at the drop of a hat over a completely lawful political statement.
This is what Americans should truly be vigilant about: a foreign dictatorial regime can actually use commercial interests to make people in a free society voluntarily surrender their freedom of speech. This is not ordinary diplomatic friction; this is the CCP bringing its own political rules into American society step by step.
We should publicly expose the CCP’s economic coercion, protect Americans who face retaliation from Beijing for lawful speech, and clearly tell Beijing that no matter how big the Chinese market is, it cannot buy the power to set speech rules for Americans.
More importantly, we must see through the CCP’s biggest political lie, and emphasize that the Communist Party does not equal China, and the interests of the Communist Party do not equal the interests of the Chinese people.
What truly insults the Chinese people is not someone saying Mao Zedong was a dictator, but a political party that caused the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese people, covers up historical truth, and deprives the people of their basic freedoms, yet still has the audacity to style itself as the guardian of the Chinese people’s feelings.
Rather than lecturing the whole world all day not to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, Beijing would do better to first account to the Chinese people for how much suffering the Communist Party itself has inflicted upon them. To put it bluntly, the CCP is not protecting the feelings of the Chinese people at all—it is holding the feelings of the Chinese people hostage. What truly hurts the dignity of the Chinese people is not foreigners criticizing the Communist Party, but the Communist Party itself.
Editor: Li Jing Proofreader: Zhou Min Translator: Shen Meihua
