Mao Villain

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

The method applied by Zedong focused on uniting China under one belief in order to implement communist ideas in the country, widely changing the country’s structure. (Doc 7). At his defense trial, Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro appealed to those struggling in his country. He spoke to those who hoped for a brighter future and who have been betrayed by their country. By addressing their battle, Castro urged them to fight for a better Cuba. His relentless and undying commitment ultimately granted Castro his wish for a revolution. (Doc 8). An additional document consisting of a diary entry from a Chinese citizen during the communist revolution would create a clearer vision as to how convincing Mao Zedong truly was.

The autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer written by Li Cunxin, is effective in raising awareness of the injustice the Chinese people experienced during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution and later communist policies in China. When Li’s parents got married in 1946, they were not living in poverty. However, when the Japanese invaded China during WWII and forced all the civilians into communes, Mao then kept these communes and the Li family lost their wealth—they faced injustice and marginalisation. The Chinese population were marginalised by Mao’s use of communist principles and propaganda. They were forced into believing Mao’s views—that the West (Capitalist countries) were filthy and bad, while China was good. Li’s visit to America was an eye-opener.

People were so obsessed with proving their dedication to Mao that they lost sight of how irrationally they were acting. The author of The Mao Button uses extreme hyperbole to satirize this personality worship. The entire country of China lived with a deep-seated fear that their dedication to the Chairman would be called into question, and they would not be able to prove themselves - and thus would face ridicule, or the even punishment. Indeed, a mere lapel pin was enough by which to judge someone’s patriotism.

The majority of the book looks deep into Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the main focus was Mao’s campaign was created with the simple means to destroy China’s history of hopes of a free and pure culture that would separate itself from the old Chinese culture which existed before during 1949. We will mainly focus on Liang’s treacherous life, and the obstacles he endured in spite of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, we look at the different events in which led up to the Cultural Revolution and the purpose of Mao’s culture Revolution.

Through out all of history we have seen so many heroes and villains all over the world. But one place in particular was in China, with a leader who goes by the name of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong was a well-known communist leader in china who actually lead the Chinese Communist Party. He is one of the most important people/historical figures in history. At first he was helping China at the beginning of his ruling, nut then his actions had cause China to completely fall and breakout into violence and complete chaos!! Changing the views of his people because whatever good he had done did not matter anymore from his great down fall. During his ruling though some believed that Mao

Mao’s Cultural Revolution was an attempt to create a new culture for China. Through education reforms and readjustments, Mao hoped to create a new generation of Chinese people - a generation of mindless Communists. By eliminating intellectuals via the Down to the Countryside movement, Mao hoped to eliminate elements of traditional Chinese culture and create a new form Chinese culture. He knew that dumbing down the masses would give him more power so his regime would be more stable. This dramatic reform affected youth especially as they were targeted by Mao’s propaganda and influence. Drawing from his experiences as an Educated Youth who was sent down to the countryside Down to the Countryside movement, Ah Cheng wrote The King of

It is clear that Mao’s initial goal was to gain power in China, which is demonstrated by his determination to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT) via his idiosyncratic version of communist revolution. In order to do so, Mao utilised methods he deemed most suitable for the communists and, more broadly, Chinese society. For example, unlike his Marxist predecessors, Mao believed that peasants, not urban workers, were the key to rebellion in China. Subsequently, in 1926, he organised peasant unions

Over the course of Mao’s leadership from 1949 until his death in 1976 we can see the significance of his leadership and what made him a good and bad leader. Mao had made some very good decisions to help certain groups but also made some very bad decisions that paid the price, in some cases killing millions. Due to the social and economic changes that then followed by a significant increase in the population and weak leadership that led to rebellions from 1911 that saw the end of 3500years of rule by the Chinese imperial dynasties. The social and economic chaos then led to the formation of two political parties. The CCP, led by Mao Zedong and the GMD led by Chiang Kai Shek. Mao and his party defeated the GMD in 1949 bringing Mao into power. Mao’s main goal was to turn China into a pure communist country. Over the course of Mao’s leadership he did this by making significant social, economic and political changes to the Chinese way of life. However due to his poor leadership and the faults that he made it caused people to oppose him and get in the way of his goal. That is why in 1966 Mao decided to assert his beliefs through a series of decisions, which came to be known as the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was a hard time for many people throughout China as Mao enforced many things upon them to achieve his aim of removing capitalism. Mao used the youth of China to be that

He feared the Soviet Unions “deviationism” ha tainted his Maoist communism. So he mobilized young people in china, forming the Red Guards and shutting down schools. These kids were encouraged to attack “bourgeois” and root out enemies of the system, including family members. The results of this were devastating. The economy was left struggling to survive, people and elders were mistreated for things they didn’t do, and there were as many as 30 million casualties. After explaining this and how Maos death practically saved china, the author makes this statement. “On July 28, 1976, twin earthquakes struck near the city of Tangshan…the death toll…may have exceeded 700,000 people…The chairmen for life died on September 9, just six weeks after Tangshan. It probably was no coincidence.” This quote suggests that a political reaction was connected to Maos death. Practically a conspiracy theory, the author never backs it up with any evidence, proof, or reason. This weakens the overall topic and distracts from his main

Despite the different schools of thought, it was the Hundred Flowers Campaign which led to the Anti-Rightist movement that enabled Mao to consolidate his power. Through the Anti-Rightist movement Mao was able to remove the resistance against him and suppress opposition, ultimately strengthening his control over the public. By looking through his motives, it is identifiable that Mao’s Hundred Flowers Campaign provides insight to Mao’s personality. The debate on Mao’s tensional or intentional outcome of the Hundred Flowers Campaign into the Anti-Rightist portrays that it still provided the means to gain control through the repression of

Evaluate the reasons for the success of Mao and the communists gaining support during the Chinese Civil war.

Eventually, on October 1st, 1941, Mao founded and ruled the People’s Republic of China. As leader of China, he introduced The Great Leap Forward and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, both responsible for the death of many citizens. Based on the idea of “contrapasso,” mentioned in Dante’s Inferno, Mao Zedong belongs in Circle Seven, Round One of Hell. Placed in this Circle are those who committed acts of violence against others. Mao’s attempt to modernize China’s economy

The Book I chose to review titled “The Private Life of Chairman Mao” by Dr. Li Zhisui, is something special in itself. The important aspect of the perspective this account has been recorded in is truly amazing considering the author, Dr Li, was Chairman Mao’s personal physician. Dr.Li was a big fan of Mao and the information he has shared with his in his book is important to consider when studying the personal life of the Chairman that was oh so popular in his time. I argue that although Dr.Li had somewhat of an obvious infatuation with Mao, the information shared through his book gives us a certain level of knowledge on off the records events that happened during the course of his employment for Mao that we would never of possibly been able to know if it hadn’t been published. While joyfully reconstructing his accounts with Chairman Mao, Dr. Li Zhisui takes us through a literary time portal making the audience feel connected with the Chairman in an intimate and rare kind of way.

In 1949 a powerful communist leader by the name of Mao Zedong came to power based on his idea for a, “Great Leap Forward.” This idea was meant to bring China’s economy into the twentieth century. He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history. However, the product of this revolution created a massive national shortage in vital materials and initiated a wide scale famine to China’s people (Gabriel).