This thread is becoming very culturally charged.....
Almost every culture has done horrible things. Their own perspective is always going to be different from outsiders looking in. It is always easy to judge someone else and not self-reflect and point a finger back at yourself. Whether we like it or not, each country writes their own history books and chooses to focus on events which typically show themselves in a good light. It is extremely difficult to have a neutral point of view of an event in which you were directly involved in. As Napoleon once said....."It is the winners that write history books."
Having said that, I know what it's like to live in a highly censored and controlling society and to have your mind brainwashed by insane ideals. Until I was 10 I lived in Soviet Union (and yes I drank the communistic cool aid). I was well on my way of being a young communist in the making....reading from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia that Alexander Mozhaysky invented the first airplane. Until I came to US in 1989 I've never even heard of the Wright Brothers.
My point is, every culture chooses to suppress things about the atrocities they were involved in (i.e. British with the Colonies, US with Vietnam, Soviets with the Gulags, WWII, Afghanistan, etc....).
The big difference is when the independent press reports stories of these atrocities or when people have the freedom of speech to talk about the truth, their government does not send police after them.
Denying the freedom of speech and twisting a story in the history books are slightly different things. And in late 20/early 21st century when events like the Tiananmen Square protests were so well documented by foreign journalists.....to continue to deny the bloodshed that occurred is almost silly and laughable on one end, and ridiculously sad on the other.