Creepy pictures are circulating on the Internet in which a certain Asian first poses in front of the camera with a human embryo lying on a metal tray, and then eats it with gusto. These pictures are accompanied by chilling comments: "The practice of cannibalism is widespread in China!" Or: "The rich Chinese eat embryos!" This bike recently turned 12 years old. Time to debunk myths …
How myths are born
It is often said about the Chinese that they "eat everything that moves." This statement, by and large, is not far from the truth: indeed, the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom eat inedible - from the point of view of the European - animals (for example, cats), reptiles and insects. But this phenomenon has deep historical roots: commoners in China often went hungry, and eating all sorts of rubbish (again, from the point of view of a European or an American) helped to survive. Well, then, as they say, they got a taste.
Cannibalism in China, of course, also occurred (during the lean years), and individual episodes still occur. For this special thanks can be said to maniacs.
But if in the same Celestial Empire articles were published describing the adventures of, for example, the cannibal Dzhumagaliev from Kazakhstan, what opinion would the Chinese have about the customs of our country? And in Soviet history, cases of cannibalism during the famine in the Volga region or in besieged Leningrad were documented. But is it possible, on the basis of these tragic episodes, to assert that "Russians devour children"? Hardly. But the Celestial Empire, as they say, fell under the hand because of the unbridled imagination of a scandalous conceptual artist, whom even the Chinese themselves consider not too normal.
All for the sake of shocking
The creator of the myth "about the rich Chinese who feast on the placenta and embryos" was the famous conceptual artist from Beijing Zhu Yu. In 2000, he took part in the Shanghai Arts Festival, presenting the outrageous composition Eating people ("Eating people"). Yu showed the astonished audience photos of him eating what looked like a human embryo. The camera captured the artist, first with a tray on which a human embryo lay, and then with appetite devouring a nightmarish dish. At the same time, Zhu said that he really ate the embryo, which was allegedly stolen from one of the medical institutes.
To say that the Chinese public was horrified is to say nothing. Hotheads demanded to execute the cannibal, but Yu was well prepared for such attacks. The artist's lawyer rightly noted that there is no article for cannibalism in the Criminal Code of China (as, by the way, in Russia). This means that he did not commit any crime.
Meanwhile, the photographs hit the press and went around the world. Who exactly of the journalists launched the duck that the footage was taken in a Chinese restaurant for rich gourmet cannibals, now, probably, is not known. The main thing is that the myth has acquired more and more creepy details. In pursuit of the sensation, the sharks of the pen sprinkled one article after another, scourging the "cruel customs of the Chinese rich."
Soon the whole world knew that elite restaurants buy human embryos for $ 300 apiece, and a dish of them costs about $ 1,500. Revelations of some "fetus hunters" were published: they told how they negotiate in advance with women who are going to have an "abortion at a later date" about buying a fetus. Finally, several reporters "infiltrated" those very high-end gourmet cannibalistic restaurants and detailed the process of eating fetal meals. True, all these "ghastly revelations" and "sensational reports" were still supplied with photographs of Zhu Yu, which he presented at the Shanghai Film Festival, or pictures taken in abortion clinics.
Think for yourself, dear reader - if the practice of eating embryos is really so widespread in China, why the reporters with whom the chefs allegedly confided in the holy of holies of any restaurant - in the kitchen - could not present other photographs to the hungry audience, except for those of Zhu Yu, or clearly staged?
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Arguments and Facts
But let's put aside the arguments of common sense and move on to the facts. In 2001, creepy footage posted online and in the press caught the attention of Chinese law enforcement officials. They did not find any evidence of mass cannibalism in the Middle Kingdom. But, another skeptic reader will exclaim, corruption is also flourishing there! And devouring embryos is the lot of the local elite. Suddenly, cannibals settled in the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of China, who did everything not to surrender their fellows and hush up this case? Maybe. But in 2003, experts from Scotland Yard and the FBI Investigators arrived in China and made every effort to establish the truth in response to massive signals from citizens of Great Britain and the United States and joined in the investigation of the "terrible facts of cannibalism". But their verdict was the same as that of their colleagues from the Celestial Empire: lies and provocation. In thatthat the secret services of Britain and the United States were infiltrated by gourmet cannibals, who slowed down the investigation, probably even the most notorious skeptic would believe.
It's time to return to the creepy photos themselves. British expert Barbara Mikkelsen, having thoroughly studied the images, came to the conclusion: Zhu Yu is eating … a dummy! Made, in her opinion, from the carcass of a duck, to which the head of an ordinary doll is sewn. But against the background of the general hysteria about the "Chinese devouring embryos", the conclusions of both the intelligence officers and the forensic expert went unnoticed.
Do not believe your eyes!
Look for who benefits
But why did this duck turn out to be so tenacious? First, thanks to the statements of Zhu Yu himself. The epic artist has become so into the image of a cannibal that he periodically gives interviews in which he talks about how he and his friends feast on embryos. This is understandable: after the shocking appearance at the Shanghai Festival, people sweep away everything that comes out of the pen of this figure for fabulous sums. The previously distressed Zhu Yu became a millionaire in just a year, a guest on various shows and continues to reap the benefits of his terrible PR.
Secondly, the interest in the topic of "Chinese cannibals" is constantly fueled by journalists. Indeed, there is a "common knowledge", so why not get a fee for another "very truthful" report from the "secret gourmet restaurant"?
And finally, it's about purely Asian showdowns. "Eating babies by rich cannibals" (be it China, Japan, Thailand, etc.) is a modern version of the ancient, but flawlessly effective slander of one nation against another - the killing of babies to perform bloody rituals. You can remember how in their time the Greeks accused the Jews of this; the Romans were the first Christians; and even later, Christians - again Jews (remember the famous phrase about “Jews drinking the blood of Christian babies”?). Ancient myths have not lost their relevance to this day. But who, it would seem, needs to slander the Chinese people? Duck researchers on the "cannibal Chinese" believe that this topic is being peddled … by the Japanese! The mutual hostility of these Asian peoples towards each other is due to history (suffice it to recall the repeated attempts of Japan to enslave the Celestial Empire). And to "spoil the neighbor" once again in our age of information technologies is not difficult. Especially if the neighbor - in the person of the shocking Zhu Yu - himself gives a reason …
By the way, the Chinese did not remain in debt. Now they are actively promoting the reciprocal duck - that in Japanese grocery stores, the human placenta is openly sold, which the locals willingly eat. The reports of mass "cannibalism" of the Japanese are accompanied by heartbreaking photographs. You haven't heard anything about this yet? Then the Internet is coming to you!
By the way
Some Chinese when asked: “Is it true that the local rich eat embryos? - - answer positively. Moreover, they claim that this is an ancient custom. They will surely remember someone they know who at least once a week feasts on an embryo.
Reader, do not believe it! If a foreigner asks a Russian: "Is it true that in Siberia they drink alcohol instead of water, hungry bears roam the streets, and locals walk in Budenovkas and play balalaikas?" - in most cases, he will hear in response: "Of course, yes." And a couple more tales about birds freezing on the fly and sticks used by Siberians to fight off wolves. The Chinese love to play and shock the public no less than our fellow citizens …
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №11. Author: Andrey Leshukonsky