Chinese state media on Friday Sep 09,2016 marked the 40th anniversary of the death of the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, with articles praising him, but President Xi Jinping visited a school and did not mention the day. Mao, who died in 1976, remains a divisive figure.
His image adorns banknotes and his embalmed body attracts hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors a day to Beijing.
While the ruling Communist Party has acknowledged Mao made mistakes, there has yet to be an official accounting for the chaos of the Cultural Revolution when Mao declared class war, or the millions of deaths from starvation during the 1958-61 Great Leap Forward, a failed attempt at rapid industrialisation.
The Hunan Daily, the main party paper in Mao’s home province in the south of China, carried a small article on its front page proclaiming “Chairman Mao, the people cherish your memory”, but banished to its fifth page a longer article about him.
The party’s official People’s Daily carried several pictures of him on its Weibo microblog along with a collection of some of his most well-known quotes and asked people to name their favourite
Mao has become a potent symbol for leftists within and without the party who feel three decades of market-based reform have gone too far, creating social inequalities like poverty and graft.
In lauding Mao, they sometimes seek to put pressure on the current leadership and its market-oriented policies.
A day earlier, a small group of Mao fans attended the opening of a calligraphy and art exhibition about him in Beijing.
“Chinese people, the broad masses of the Chinese people, in their hearts, have never forgotten Mao Zedong. They will remember him forever. And they still promote his principles,” artist Yao Weidong told “So if there are corrupt officials, we use Mao Zedong Thought to defeat them. We all remember very clearly. Most of us have not forgotten Chairman Mao.”
About Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung(Dec 26,1893 - Sep 09,1976)
Mao was born on 26 December 1893 into a peasant family in Shaoshan, in Hunan province, central China
After training as a teacher, he travelled to Beijing where he worked in the University Library.
It was during this time that he began to read Marxist literature.
In 1921, he became a founder member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and set up a branch in Hunan.
In 1923, the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party had allied with the CCP to defeat the warlords who controlled much of northern China.
Then in 1927, the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek launched an anti-communist purge.
Mao and other communists retreated to south east China.
In 1934, after the KMT surrounded them, Mao led his followers on the 'Long March', a 6,000 mile journey to northwest China to establish a new base.
The Communists and KMT were again temporarily allied during eight years of war with Japan (1937-1945), but shortly after the end of World War Two, civil war broke out between them.
The Communists were victorious, and on 1 October 1949 Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
Mao and other Communist leaders set out to reshape Chinese society. Industry came under state ownership and China's farmers began to be organised into collectives. All opposition was ruthlessly suppressed.
In 1958, in an attempt to introduce a more 'Chinese' form of communism, Mao launched the 'Great Leap Forward'. This aimed at mass mobilisation of labour to improve agricultural and industrial production. The result, instead, was a massive decline in agricultural output, which, together with poor harvests, led to famine and the deaths of millions. The policy was abandoned and Mao's position weakened
In an attempt to re-assert his authority, Mao launched the 'Cultural Revolution' in 1966, aiming to purge the country of 'impure' elements and revive the revolutionary spirit. One-and-a-half million people died and much of the country's cultural heritage was destroyed.
In September 1967, with many cities on the verge of anarchy, Mao sent in the army to restore order.
Mao appeared victorious, but his health was deteriorating. His later years saw attempts to build bridges with the United States, Japan and Europe.
In 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited China and met Mao,signalling a policy of opening China which was furthered under the rule of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1992).
Mao died on September 09,1976.
A controversial figure, Mao is regarded as one of the most important individuals in modern world history and is also known as a theorist, military strategist, poet and visionary
One of Mao’s most famous dictums was that political power came from the barrel of a gun, and the People’s Liberation Army remains the party’s house guard despite calls for it to shift loyalty to the government instead. In addition to retaining a monopoly on force at home, the PLA has become a growing force in regional and even global military affairs. With 2.3 million members, it is the world’s largest standing military, although plans call for it to shrink by 300,000
Mao was succeeded as Paramount Leader by Hua Guofeng (1976–1978), who was quickly sidelined and replaced by Deng Xiaoping
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