Recently, netizens uncovered a memorial museum dedicated to historical “treacherous officials” at Cheng Shan Tou Mountains in Shandong, China. The museum displayed the many notable treasonous officials and traitors in Chinese history accompanied by each of their “accomplishments”. However, the fact that the museum act as a memorial to traitors led to the controversy regarding whether the museum was really meant to glorify/vilify history, or just to make money as a tourist spot.
From NetEase:
Shandong–scenic area builds “Treacherous Government Official Memorial”
While visiting the Cheng Shan Tou Fuhai Scenic Area at in Rongcheng, netizens discovered a “Treasonous Official Memorial Museum”, inside containing displays of the these traitorous officials’ “achievements.” In short, very shocking/stupefying.
屠岸贾 Tu Angu: A treacherous official during the Spring and Autum Period made notable in the play Orphan of Zhao.
伯喜否 Bai Xipi: Treacherous minister during the late Spring and Autumn Period who contributed to the downfall of the State of Wu at the hands of Yue.
趙高 Zhao Gao: Official who contributed to the downfall of the Qin Dynasty.
华歆 Hua Xin: Han Dynasty official who forced the abdication of the last Han Dynasty Emperor as told in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
杨素 Yang Su: A military leader during the Sui Dynasty who was said to have contributed to the death of Emperor Wen of Sui.
来俊臣 Lai Junchen: A treacherous official during the Tang Dynasty.
潘仁美 Pan Renmei: North Song Dynasty Official vilified in novels as traitor who led to the death of Yang Ye (a heroic figure in Chinese history).
秦桧 Qin Hui: Offical during the Song Dynasty famous for causing the death of General Yue Fei.
贾似道 Jia Sidao: Another Song Dynasty official who was blamed for the downfall of the Song under the hands of the Mongols.
严嵩 Yan Song: A corrupt official during the Ming Dynasty.
和珅 He Shen: A corrupt official during the Qing Dynasty.
汪精卫 Wang Jingwei: A Chinese traitorous official who collaborated with the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Comments on NetEase:
The descendants of treacherous officials have a lot of money!
All through illegal means!
Being a treacherous official can gain fame across the land.
They charge for admission?? Kao, even this can create income? Someday I will also build a museum, call it Famous Historical Whores Museum. I hope everybody will patronize/supports me, and at the same time also welcome your criticisms.
How many loyal officials are there today? Aren’t they all treacherous officials?
Where is Lin Jiaxiang? The one in the Ministry of Transportation, the one this is bigger position than a mayor, why isn’t he in there.
Support!!! Our countrymen should remember, that he who betrays our homeland will be the stench of the people for ten thousand years!
Can we throw eggs at them?
This really is having too much money and nowhere to spend it!
What’s the big deal? Look around, how many treacherous officials does China have today?
Why a memorial dedicated to treacherous officials, isn’t this letting people’s today remember to imitate them? Don’t tell me that we don’t already have enough treacherous officials today? Still want to memorialize them, this is bullshit! Not spending the money on education, building schools, but building a shrine for treacherous officials. This is absurd, ridiculous! Chinese history was full of loyal officials and patriots, “The Xiongnu are not yet destroyed, why should I go home” [quote from famous historical hero Huo Qubing] this kind of heroic epic unsung, this kind of magnificent deed unrecognized! I don’t know what these officials in China are doing everyday, using taxpayers money as if they don’t even care. Be careful one day they themselves will be made into a wax figure and placed there [museum], then they will be the laughing stock for all!
Why not build a “corrupt officials museum”
Comments on QQ.com:
Treacherous officials’ descendants building treacherous officials’ memorial, very normal!
Looks like they want to carry on the legacy of their ancestors, become treacherous officials for generations to come!
All famous people.
Good people don’t last forever, bad deeds are remembered for a thousand years [a Chinese proverb].
Put the local officials in there.
This world is so crazy, even treacherous officials can be in memorial halls.
I am from Shandong, this thing really loses face for Shandong people.
Close it now!!!!
Good, there are so many people at present who could be selected to be in there.
My dream is to get into this museum!!!
See Also:
- Wuhan Build 2 Million RMB Luxury Public Toilet
- Government Official Attacks 11-Year-Old Girl
- Big Mao Zedong Statue Looks Like Deng Xiaoping
Related Posts:
- A television reporter is attacked by a corrupt village official in Shandong, China. As she is being hit, other government officials stand by and do nothing. » 51 comments
- Chinese netizens sympathetic to a Deng Yujiao, a waitress who killed a government official in Hubei, China, after he tried to force her to have sex with him. » 38 comments
- Chinese respond negatively to government plans to spend 2.3 billion building a memorial museum for the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, accusing it as an image project. » 47 comments
- Chinese netizens organized a "flash" memorial event at Shanghai's People Square on Sunday, July 12, 2009 5:00pm. Updated with images and video of the event. » 46 comments
- Young girl forced into men's restroom at restaurant in Shenzhen, China by 58-year-old government official, who arrogantly dares people to do something about it. » 102 comments
Pretty TV Reporter Attacked By Shandong Village Official 
Waitress Stabs Government Official Trying To Rape Her 
Sichuan Earthquake Memorial Museum To Cost 2.3 Billion 
Shanghai Michael Jackson 1 Minute Memorial Event – 7/12 
Government Official Attacks 11-Year-Old Girl 
That’s just weird. But I absolutely want to take a look in there sometime in the future.
First, suckers. Where is Lin Biao? Or is that too recent to include?
Was also surprised to see Yuan Shikai not included, he promised to support Kang Youwei and the Guangxu Emperor during the purge of Cixi and the conservatives, and then he changed his mind…damn traitor…China would have been better off under a reformed Qing Empire…
Damn it, not first then…
…and Yuan had Song Jiaoren shot during the elections, thanks for destroying China’s best hope for electoral government in the last 100 years, shithead…
Weird! The French have Le Panthéon and we built a “treacherous officials memorial hall”? And the building just looks like a place holding funerals.
history is written by winners, so who knows anyway, I bet we know far less than we don’t about our past. if only the emperors didn’t have the habit of burning books…
Where are the more recent ones? I’m surprised the guy behind Sanlu isn’t in there…
Very interesting. Each country praises their heroes and blames their traitors. If someone think this is strange, don’t forget that all countries keeps artifacts related to their “black sheep’s” in museums. Even, there’s a wax museums with statues of war criminals.
Every effort to keep kids from astray is good. Also, it will bring some money to community.
I like Wang…too bad he’s a traitor by China’s standards
“Jia Sidao was blamed for the downfall of the Song under the hands of the Mongols”.
But the Mongol ruled China, the Yuan dynasty….
How can the one who help a dynasty be a traitor?
To Xiao Mama, the Chinese term for traitor is ‘Hanjian’ or traitor of the Han, in other words ethnic nationalism play a large part in establishing the Chinese identity, Mongols were seen as foreign invaders at that time and anyone who collaborated with them are likewise deemed as a traitor.
Cool, now we can all see all the “running dogs” (走狗) and see their crimes.
I nominate Deng Xiaoping as traitor to the true spirit of communism.
lol.
i guess thats true…
They all suck.
LOL, this is the equivalent of road-side “The Mysterious Thing”.
People really would visit these things for “fun”? WTF!!!
I mean is this thing like to the side of some temple/shrine?
What happened to The Red guards, the ones who sacrificed millions of innocent lives for the sake fo the cultural revolution? and And the tainted Milk scandal officials? They all should be there.
Joe: “the Chinese term for traitor is ‘Hanjian’ or traitor of the Han”.
You mean someone who is traitor of non-Han is not a traitor?
For example when the Mongol were ruling China, if a Han did something to overthrow the dynasty, would he be now considered as a heroe or a traitor?
I thought all Chinese were a big pluriethnic family, where all the minorities were considered Chinese…
Granted the term Hanjian evolved over the years (as it is just a general term for traitors now days), the term did come about through ethnic tensions during the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty.
As for this ‘big pluriethnic family’ or Zhonghua Minzhu, it is a fairly recent conception that was probably conjured up to prevent ethnic disunity. Nationalism is always reimagined and reinvented over the years, what we now consider as being Chinese may not be as same as the Chinese identity (ethnic, cultural, or civic) of the past.
Joe, you keep on making points based on the ethnic implications of 汉奸 but I don’t see 汉奸 anywhere in the description of this memorial. All I see is 奸臣. Does 奸臣 have the same implications of treachery specifically towards the *Han people* as 汉奸 does?
奸臣 literally means “treacherous officials”
The ethnic implications are responses to Xiao Mama’s first question concerning the conflict. between the Yuan and the Song.
I think this is a great idea!
Its good to remember these bastards and why they fVcked up.
On that note:
Zhao Gao… What a fvckin dick!!!!! God that guy… Man, the people he hurt and his tactics were so stupid. He was actually chopped up by his own gaurds when he went to check up on the second emperor… I say GOOD!
Liu Bang could go up there too. He was “good” only to become number one. When he got the position, he killed all the people that helped him get there. Including Han Xin, one of my favorites in the Han Dynasty….
Wow…thats amazing…
@krdr – (I might be wrong, but) I don’t think most other countries build memorials, statues, museums etc… to honour historical figures “official” history considers rebels, traitors or collaborators…
(Anybody give some examples you can prove me wrong…;)
That this “museum” has sprung up here and now in Shandong tells me one of two things..its either a shoddy and very cheesy, corny (see the melodramadic postures and facial expressions of aforementioned historical figures faces..特别 严嵩 跟 屠岸贾 ha ha)to make a quick buck, or that China has now developed to the point where the government (or private money??) can infame people long dead to serve current propaganda needs…do some “ideological work”? (Or both)Wow
Viva China and “show me the money!”
most of their deeds are debatable, take He Shen for example, yes he took bribes a lot but who didn’t at that time?? emperor Qian Long wasted exponentially more national wealth than he could ever dream and he was singled out only because the succeeding boss wanted him dead, much like when Mao didn’t like someone he put them in the anti-revolutionary squad.
same shit, different asshole.
Thank you Joe!
there lots of places like this in China, just there to have a quick buck.
What other places?
Ignorant to include people from novels into a museum like this,, it should either be for real historical people or the other. Also I imagine putting blame on someone for disasters in your country’s history is still going on today. I can imagine a couple of ten thousands of people in modern Zhong guo who are qualified to get a copy of themselves in that place but ohhh no,, that is way too modern and risky. I friggin LOVE sites like Chinasmack and the renrou sites as long as people make sure to build a solid case. I remember the cctv video of that guy and the 11 year old girl,, saw the picture some netizen posted of him as proof of who he was,, I tell you,, that guy could be any official I have ever encountered here based on that picture, drunk, fat, no manners, doing what the hell ever he wants and throwing his title and position in if he ever gets in trouble.
The whole ‘do you know who I am or who’s my father’ intimidation method is so 1800’s. Hell we might as well be slapping each other in duels with mickey mouse gloves.
I don’t think most other countries build memorials, statues, museums etc… to honour historical figures “official” history considers rebels, traitors or collaborators
Here in the States there’s lots of pit stop attractions honoring outlaws from the “Old West” … Gangsters like Capone ect. are memorialized, too. There’s also at least one museum for Lee Harvey Oswald, who killed one of the most beloved US presidents of the 20th century.
It’s insteresting.
I look forward to take a look.
Is there anything like this which is about foreigners?
Doesn’t look like it cost too much, so no issues with it. But they should locate such structures beside prisons to better make their point. It is borderline inappropriate if they do not locate these museums properly.
Wang Jingwei collaborated with Japanese because he lost his post to Jiang Jieshi during power struggle.By believing that by cooperation with Japanese, he hope to end bloodshed and ended Westerner domination of China.
Wang Jingwei was a loyal follower to Dr Sun Chong Shan( Sun Wen).What he hope was to regain his position thru Japanese support.
IMO, He Shan should not be classified as traitor. Because, he is responisible for weakening of Qing Dynasty, a non-Chinese dynasty. It was due to him that Sun Chong Shan can overthrow Manchu dynasty and set up Chinese Republic.