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Transcript

Mao ze Dong: The Great Helmsman

By: Chris Zhang

Disclaimer

As I have been fed Chinese propaganda for my life for a very long time, This may be slightly biased. I have done what I could to make it even, but you still might notice the slight unevenness of my judging. Sorry.

Intro

I wanted to do Mao Ze Dong, because he was frequently mentioned by the media, my parents, and Chinese everywhere, yet, I didn’t know much about him.

He is worshiped and idolized in a near god-state in China, but despised by “Foreigners” (Anyone else who wasn’t Chinese).

Mao Ze Dong shall be referred to as He (capitalized) when used as a pronoun.

Biography

Early Years

  • Mao Ze Dong was born to a peasant family in ShaoShan, Hunan Province, of China on December 26th, 1893.
  • Began studies at village school when he was 8.
  • Left school to work on family farm when he was 13.
  • Returned to school at 15

The Teen Years

  • Continued studies at Chungsha (local secondary School).
  • Joined XinHai Revolution in 1911
  • He went to a community college.
  • Stood out, Mao traveled with Professor Yang Changji, His college teacher to Beijing in 1919.
  • His professor died during 1920, but He provided for Himself with a job as an assistant librarian.

The Communist Party

  • Married Yang Kaihui in 1921.
  • Went to Shanghai after a year, read a lot, and He was exposed to Communism.
  • Joined the Communist Party in June, 1921.
  • The Communist party was already engaged in war with the Kuomintang.
  • His wife and his enfant son were sent to jail as a result.
  • His wife was executed, so He married He Zizhen.

The Battles

  • There were many battles, so I will just describe the importnat ones.
  • 1927-He led the Autumn Harvest Uprising
  • Fought Kuomintang and the landlords of Hunan, lost, retreated.
  • 1934-Surrounded, so retreated by the means of swampy marshland. Known as the “Long March”
  • 1939-World War Two broke out, so the fighting ceased, as the Japanese invaded China.
  • Brief ceasefire to drive out the Japanese before continuation of the fray.
  • The U.S.A. Supported the Kuomintang, hoping to eradicate Communism, while the Soviets supported the People`s Liberation Army. Communism FOR THE WIN.

Establishment of the PRC (People`s Republic of China)

  • The People's Republic of China was established on October 1, 1949.
  • Mao Ze Dong assumed the position of Chairman, from 1954 to 1959.
  • The Kuomintang was portrayed as evil, along with the Japanese, the Americans, and just about everyone else foreign.
  • Mao lived in Zhongnanhai, near the famous Forbidden City.
  • About 2-5 million killed in the revolution.

The Korean War

  • There was already quite a bad relationship between the North and the South.
  • There was a slight skirmish that broke out into a war.
  • With the support of America and the U.N., South Korea pushed the North to China`s border.
  • The Chinese were outraged, and supported North Korea as Communist Allies.
  • The whole of the U.N. and the Americans were pushed back to the 38th parallel, where it was in the first place.
  • It was the first (and only) time in all of American history that the Americans were forced to surrender.
  • Victory for the Chinese!
  • 2 000 000 dead on the Chinese side.
  • * The Soviets also helped North Korea, but that is just a side point.

The Great Leap Forward

(1958-1962)

  • Mao based this on the Theory of Productive Forces.
  • Tried to turn China into a Modern Communist state with agriculturalization (mass agricultral development), industrialization (mass industrial development), and collectivization (forcing everyone to pool in their efforts).
  • For the first several years, much was wasted, as the food was free, along with other things.
  • The earth was misused, and all the nutrients were used up, resulting in famine, as food wasn`t saved from the previous years.
  • Homemade smelters were constructed, and failed quite miserably.
  • The result was three years of famine and hunger.
  • 40 million deaths.

The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

  • The Chairman Mao proceeded to eliminate all the landlords, killing intellectuals, and just about anyone else unsuitable.
  • Scholars were pulled out of schools for farm work which supposedly built character.
  • It lasted a long time, around ten years.
  • Popularized in Media, both foreign, and in China.
  • Mao`s personality cult was further established by this.
  • Supposedly fought bourgeois culture, and right handed politics.
  • About 3 million deaths.

Military stratigies

Stratigies to maintain the office

  • He used propaganda to maintain his rule, as it villified outsiders, providing less of a chance of international help.
  • He contiunally formed new plans and procedures, and wheter good or not (the Cultural Revolution, The Great Leap Forward), were labeled as excelling, so the people would come to believe and trust his decisions.
  • Mao fostered a personality cult, that worshipped him when he died. The mourning for his death went on for around 1 year, and a massive portrait of him still hangs in Tienanmen Square.

Successfulness of the stratigies

  • Mao`s techniques for gaining office and maintaining it were quite successful.
  • The military stratigies he used were quite basic, alothough the decisions must have been hard (between fighting 1-10, or marching 6000 miles north through marshland-The Long March).
  • Pushing and using your leadership is a great way of emphasizing it.
  • Propaganda is a very succesful way of promoting your beliefs.
  • His charisma was quite pleasing, so the rest of the stratigies worked quite well.

Current Governmental power

  • The office is still being held by the Communist Party.
  • Mao Ze Dong is no longer in power though, as he died.
  • His reign has been in power for a long time, and the people of China has accepted the reign, as they always had.
  • The Communist rule of China is still existent, but, it isn't true Communism. Sadly, it is a corrupted version with embezling governmental workers and personal ownership.
  • Military force is no longer needed to rule China, only a bit of propaganda, and some police.
  • The current methods to maintain rule and power are successful and legit though.

Governmental Ideas

  • The Communist Ideal is that everyone should be equal, regardless of what they do or who they are.
  • Everyone should be paid the same, and everyone should do as they are told, eliminating the need for governing postions, such as police or politicians.
  • Everyone would be happy and satisfied, no matter what.
  • Unfourtuanatly, society and mankind as a whole is imperfect, and has not progressed to this degree.
  • Therefore, it is rendered impossible.

Communist/Marxist Ideas

Stratigies to obtain the office

Mao was actually a founding member, and as all the others died, the place was his.

  • Used political unrest after the fall of the Qin Era to his advantage.
  • He was quite the military genius, but his other qualities of charisma and intelligence shone much more (techinically, he took the office by force from the Kuomintang).
  • He waged war at very stratigic times, such as when the Kuomintang was planing, or when there were internal conflicts.
  • He didn`t allow his army to participate too much in any of the other conflicts, such as the figth with the Japanese, or WW2.
  • He made use of the might of propaganda.
  • He figured out the group that was the most devoted, the strongest, the ones with the least to lose, and the most plentiful ones, and he allied himself to them (the peasents).

If Mao were in Starbucks, what what he drink?

MAOcha

Mao's Ideals

  • He used gureilla warfare to achieve his means.
  • Once achieved, he held his power by doing several things:
  • He delievered a lot of propaganda, so He would be supported
  • He kept a constant flow of ideas, put in such a way, and supported by propaganda so it wouldn't be questioned.
  • Mao Zedong created his own personality cult, so He would be held up be it, and even after a failure, He could fall back on it.
  • He wrote a book filled with propaganda (Mao Ze Dong's Little Red Book, or Quotes from Chairman Mao). This book was printed 6.5 billion times, making it the world's most published book beside the Bible.
  • He also wrote two more books (Chairman Mao's Poems, and Selected Articles from Chairman Mao), which are ranked fourth and fifth most published of all time.
  • He was honored as a god, and it wasn't just His personality cult that it reflected in, anyone who 'disrespected', 'mocked', 'insulted' or wasn't polite enough was tortured and killed.
  • Mao`s ideals were upheld this way, and His ideals were to create the perfect society (an Utopian Communist one).
  • His stratigies would be very reliable and worthy in the world today, but His Ideals wouldn't be, as we have not yet developed to rid of all human desires.

The Ideals of China (currently)

  • China is more of a capitalist state now, due to Chairman Deng Xiaopeng's reforms.
  • The commerce and industry is huge in China, with it sticking its nose into international affairs as well.
  • People own property, both intellectual and physical, there is a very firm poverty line, and many live above it.
  • The rights of the citizens are many, but the rights to free speech and other sorts of freedom are slightly restricted.
  • One might assume that other rights, such as the rights to education and healthcare are also limited, but China has kept some of its Communist ideas, and stayed true in some ways.
  • I believe that China is still currently trying to follow the path of our Great Helmsman, and once the government recives more money, the true Communist style will take over, with equality for all.

Mao as a Hero

Mao as a Murderer

  • The patriots in China are all convinved that Mao is their Great Saviour.
  • To the Chinese, Mao Zedong saved the entire Chinese civilization from the evils of commerce, and the cruel, oppresive, landlords.
  • To the people in China, The Cultural Revolution, and The Great Leap Forward were extreme sucesses.
  • To the West on the other hand, Mao is a madman, a dictator, and a murderer.
  • To the West, He seperated China from the rest of the world, took away the land of the hardworkng buisnesspeople, and fed the inhabitants with vile lies.

To the Western world, Mao bloated The Cultural Revolution and The Great Leap Forward, so they seemed great.

The Truth about Mao

  • Mao was just 'an average guy' who unionized all of China after the fall of the Qin Dynasty.
  • He mad some small mistakes that may have resulted in the death of around 100 million people, but that is far overshadowed by His achievements.
  • China was brought together by His greatness!
  • Mao 'eliminated' the Kuomintang, the enemy, and the hoarding landlords.
  • He also eliminated "rightists", "intellectuals", and "capitalist-roaders".
  • Mao inspired a personality cult and a 'fan group'
  • The Cultural Revolution and The Great Leap Forward did have several benefits though.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Mao was a great Hero. He was also a mass murderer. But, no country has ever gotten powerful without some sort of internal revolution or struggle (the French Revolution, the Stalin's Russian takeover, Hitler's takeover of Germay, etc.). Mao led this revolution through China. It was only normal that there were several deaths. Thank you.

Battles, millitary coups, and other things.

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