What Is The Main Theme Of Chairman Mao Zedong

1449 Words3 Pages

Chairman Mao Zedong is one of the most brutal, if not the most, brutal dictator of the 20th century China. He killed more people than Stalin and Hitler combined, justified by the prospect of national progress and reversing the shame done in China by Imperial powers during the late 19th century – early 20th century. His draconian policies to rapidly industrialize China caused more than 30 million Chinese deaths. Even before his death, the international community spearhead by the American anti-communist sentiments, criticized him for all the values he represented: the evilness of a communist society. Meanwhile, at home front, he is revered like a God, due to the intense propaganda surrounding his cult of personality. Everything he did was for …show more content…

The central theme of Mao and the Chinese Revolution is Mao’s role as the dominant figure of the 20th century Communism rested on his success in linking the traditional Chinese pattern of peasant revolt with selected interpretation of Marxism-Leninism to create an effective revolutionary strategy for gaining power in a largely non-modernized country. The book introduces the western audiences to how the Chinese culture was the perfect breeding ground for its own form of Communism, eventually named by experts as Maoism. The work begins with the author’s interpretation of Mao’s life from his early years in Hunan Province, located in South Central China, to his final triumph over the Chiang-Kai-Shek, the head of the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) during the Chinese civil war, resulting in his rise to power with the official formation of the People’s Republic of China, announced at the Tiananmen Square of the Forbidden City, all done in thirteen fact-laden chapters. The central chapters of the book deal with Mao’s rise through the ranks in the Communist Party and how he both hardened and humanized the party structure, securing his position as the top commander that “led” China towards victory against the …show more content…

With everything taken into account, Dr. Li derided Mao in the book; he reprimanded him for being intolerance towards independent counsel, for his assault on individuals ' livelihood, the corruption, and hypocrisies of Mao 's internal circle. Dr. Li stated, “All of China was wearing Mao buttons and carrying his little red book and reciting his quotations and even the simplest transaction in a shop had to include a recitation from Mao’s words.” Chairman Mao’s thought was not just the country’s guiding ideology, it was its collective mantra. Mao’s Great Leap Forward had also resulted in the worst famine in human history; we know that around 25 or 30 million people died, a conservative estimate. By this time, Mao’s role as the greatest evil in modern Chinese history has been

Open Document