“It’s simple. In the same way that anyone learning German becomes a Nazi, or anyone learning French becomes an ass___, learning Chinese has only one outcome — Communism.”
- From Aasif Mandvi’s hilarious bit on teaching Mandarin Chinese in Hacienda Heights, a town in Los Angeles County, Calif. For The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, produced by Oren Brimer and edited by Daric Schlesslman. Worth watching for Mandvi’s conversation with five smart middle-schoolers at the end of the segment.
The Los Angeles Times provides more details of the Hacienda Heights curriculum issue. More information about the Chinese government’s Chinese Language Council International, also known as Hanban, is available at the Hanban website.
Above, Aasif Mandvi points to a flash card example of Chinese language ‘propaganda’ pervading public schools in Hacienda Heights. From The Daily Show, 7 June 2010.
Thanks to Richard Burger and The Peking Duck.
