Arise, Africa! Roar, China! : Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

through inference, acrimoniously criticized the creation of a document along with the government that promoted it. The people urged government officials to clarify the meaning of words, ideas, and phrases written in the constitution, which prompted those officials to create a vast amount of revisions. Despite the modifications, many citizens referred to the document as utter Bullshit. Consecutive PRC governments continued to propagate the draft with amendments and had lengthy debates concerning the constitution even up to the day which would become Constitution Day in China. Diamant draws upon the wealth of archive sources from the reformist and Maoist eras and deals with the vast amount of constitutional discussions and the documents eternally unknown of the late 1950s, the post-Mao, and Cultural Revolution periods. Useful Bullshit clarifies why and how the Chinese government recognizes and utilizes the constitution as a document of political standing and how a variety of citizens, such as police, university students, laborers, females, and citizens of different religions and ethnic backgrounds, responded to the constitution. Constitutions serve the purpose of politics, not the concern of the people. Diamant points out that the 1954 version of the constitution that Chinese officials drafted is a prime example of how the people were able to write letters with questions and concerns about drafting the Chinese constitution. However, officials would not consider these needs or concerns, seeing how government officials only made the draft to fit their personal needs and not about how the government would fulfill the needs of the people. Businesspeople and government officials saw the creation of a constitution as an opportunity to undermine the citizens they served and how they ran their businesses to keep all the profits for themselves, without regard for those who labored for those profits. Chinese constitutions are known by many to be legal Bullshit, but the Bullshit in these documents has been proven helpful on various occasions. Whether complicated or straightforward, constitutions do not show the legitimacy of a country or its people. But it serves as an agreement or relationship between government officials and the people for whom they have a duty. Constitutions are instruments designed to protect the people and serve as a plane among people in positions of authority and elected officials.