Yuan Tengfei (; born February 8, 1972,

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

), is a historian and former history teacher in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In an article in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Yuan claims that history textbooks in China included omissions because the ruling government fears challenges to its authority, illustrating this by comparing this to the USSR: "They didn't begin telling the truth in the Soviet Union until after it collapsed, did they?" He was a popular guest in ''

Lecture Room ''Lecture Room'' is a Chinese television programme produced by China Central Television (CCTV), in which scholars from various disciplines are invited to provide lectures. It was first broadcast on 9 July 2001 on CCTV-10. In its early days, fe ...

'' of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

. Additionally, he released several books based on his history lectures in classrooms and on TV. Yuan graduated from Capital Normal University with a major in Chinese history, and taught Chinese history in various

high schools. He came to popular attention when videos of his history courses for Beijing

cram school A cram school (colloquially: crammer, test prep, tuition center, or exam factory) is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or university, univer ...

were posted online in 2008, which were made available behind the school's paywall. The videos were copied, presumably without any authorization, and posted to other free video-sharing websites. Although Yuan is not a political dissident, his lectures on modern Chinese history present sensitive topics such as the

Great Chinese Famine The Great Chinese Famine () was a famine that occurred between 1959 and 1961 in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Some scholars have also included the years 1958 or 1962. It is widely regarded as the deadliest famine and one of the greatest ...

and the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

in details that are not ordinarily covered in the history curriculum in China. In particular, he is deeply critical of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and his policies. Yuan called Mao one of the "three great despots" of the 20th century, rivalled by only Hitler and Stalin. He also once called the Mao Zedong Mausoleum in

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

"China's

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Emperor Meiji in June 1869 and commemorates those who died in service of Empire of Japan, Japan, from the Boshin War of 1868–1869, to the two Sino-Japanese Wars, First Sino-Japane ...

". His lectures on such topics became an object of government attention and attacks from leftist conservatives, including threats of lawsuits for defamation. Yuan has quit teaching position and signed contract with TaixueTV, where he broadcasts many online videos about historical topics and travelling programs.

Publications

* * *《历史是个什么玩意儿1 —— 袁腾飞说中国史上》 *《历史是个什么玩意儿2 —— 袁腾飞说中国史下》 *《历史是个什么玩意儿3 —— 袁腾飞说世界史上》 *《历史是个什么玩意儿4 —— 袁腾飞说世界史下》 *

References

External links

Yuan's lectures at Lecture Room's official website (Chinese)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yuan, Tengfei 1972 births Chinese YouTubers Educators from Beijing Writers from Beijing Capital Normal University alumni Living people People in history occupations Chinese schoolteachers