뉴스레터

Mao Zedong (毛澤東)

Editor's Note: August 24, 2012 marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China. On this occasion, the NAHF offers a chance to take a look at Mao Zedong, the father of the founding of New China, in order to facilitate a better understanding of the contemporary history of China.

"I, a boy, leave home to fulfill my ambitions.
I will not return until I learn sufficiently to make my name known.
I will have my bones buried in a mulberry field or under a wild-walnut tree."

While most people fail to make their dreams come true before they perish, this boy was different. Having grown to be a burly man of a towering height, he said:

"My body is filled with the spirits of the tiger and the monkey."

The tiger represents the force of prince and dominion, and the monkey struggle and rebellion. With his leadership in constant struggle and rebellion all his life, he dismantled the traditional Chinese order and founded the New China. He is none other than Mao Zedong (毛澤東).

The Boy Who Loved Reading Outlaws of the Marsh Navigates Modern China

On December 26, 1893, Mao Zedong was born as the first son of a wealthy farmer. As a boy, he learned Chinese classics and enjoyed reading Outlaws of the Marsh, a novel featuring the people's revolt. He was inspired by Kang Youwei (康有爲) and Liang Qichao (梁啓超), advocates of revolution, and became a communist under the influence of Chen Duxiu (陳獨秀) and Li Dazhao (李大釗), the founders of the Communist Party of China (CPC). He fought in the Chinese civil war against the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) before he could establish the People's Republic of China and take office as Chairman on October 1, 1949. And he went on to navigate modern China as the supreme leader of the state and the Party until his death at age 82 of Lou Gehrig's disease at midnight on September 9, 1976.
Once he became a communist, he focused on peasant movement. In August 1927, when the United Front broke down, he started a riot and then joined forces with Zhu De (朱德) in founding the Red Army in Jinggangshan (井岡山). In 1931, he organized the Central Soviet in Jiangxi Province (江西省) and became the Chairman of the government, only to be brought down by Wang Ming (王明), who was supported by the Soviet Union and denounced Mao as a rightist. Mao tried to figure out how to gain support from the people and mobilize them in struggle.

"One cannot understand the real China without understanding its peasants and rural areas first. Had it not been for the poor peasants, the Chinese Revolution would not have been possible. One should never forget them."

In 1934, the CPC launched the 'Long March' of 12,500 kilometers. Mao gained support from his peers for his excellent combat skills and returned to the Standing Committee of the Central Politburo. On March 20, 1943, at the Central Politburo of the CPC meeting, Mao Zedong was granted the authority to make final policy decisions. At that time, while seeking 'Sinification of Marxism,' he wrote and published On Practice, On Contradiction, On Protracted War, which predicted protraction in fighting, On New Democracy, which provided the basis of 'the united front theory,' and On Coalition Government, which envisioned a new state which would follow neither the Soviet Union nor the United States but a third path.

Promotes the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Once the People's Republic of China was established, Mao attempted to convert China into a socialist state through reforms of land and economy. At first, he estimated the process to take 15 years, but all his plans took sharp turns with the success of the 1st Five-Year Plan and changes in the domestic and international political landscape. In 1956, when the Soviet Union criticized Stalin, Mao regarded himself as the new representative of communism. The next year, he launched the Hundred Flowers Campaign (百花齊放, 百家爭鳴: Let one hundred flowers bloom, let one hundred schools of thought contend) in an attempt to strengthen the system, and promoted the Great Leap Forward campaign to build a socialist society. As this experiment failed after forcing at least 20 million people into death from starvation, Liu Shaoqi (劉少奇) stepped in to control the situation. Perceiving it as threat to all of his accomplishments, Mao promoted the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution ('Cultural Revolution' in short hereinafter) to purge out capitalist roaders, claiming that Liu had betrayed revolution and communism. The Cultural Revolution, which began with My Big-Character Poster-Bombard the Headquarters by Mao on May 16, 1966, evolved into struggle for power seeking political, social, and cultural revolutions. 'The Chairman's latest instructions,' once released, were spread rapidly across the nation, and people responded with cheers in mass rallies. Mao's thought went on to expand influence, prompting the Naxalite movement in India and the 1968 movement in Europe.

Refused Old Customs and Routines, but Turned into an Idol to be Worshipped

Once he regained power through the Cultural Revolution, Mao engaged the Gang of Four, the force that would continue to promote the Cultural Revolution, and the Party's senior officials, notably Zhou Enlai (周恩來) and Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平). Maybe he wanted to believe that his arrangement would help the revolution and nation-building process continue. But, Hua Guofeng (華國鋒), who was supposed to be in charge of the process, was replaced by Deng Xiaoping, and the Gang of Four, who represented revolution, imprisoned. Mao had lost freedom, even over his body. Upon his death, even though he had pledged himself to be cremated in 1956, the Central Politburo of the CPC decided on the permanent preservation of his body for idol worship, even while his body was still warm.

"I am not a saint or a monk, nor do I want to be."

Mao, who refused old customs and routines, was mentally unstable, suffering from nervous breakdowns, and chronically dependent on sleeping pills. He believed that movement and struggle were rooted in human nature, and regarded physical labor and activities as indispensable desires for survival. As he saw it, a peaceful and serene life was boring. Convinced that people would soon forget about the true China unless they experienced suffering, he pushed people to experience physical labor and suffering on a regular basis.

The Photography of Mao Zedong at the at the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China

'God of Wealth' or 'Revolution': Which of the Mao's Symbols Will the Chinese Choose?

Following the reform and opening-up, Mao transformed himself into a god of wealth who brings in gold. Earlier this year, there was an issue in China that caused controversy over the Internet across the nation, and soon the world: the 'Bo Xilai (薄熙來) scandal' in which the Chongqing party secretary was involved in the murder of a British businessman. On March 30, when Bo Xilai faced a crisis, an online polemicist who would be considered a Mao Zedong leftist, posted an article with a incendiary title: The Cultural Revolution may not be reproduced, but society demands revolution!
"The new rightists who joined the Party after the death of Deng Xiaoping, while furtively practicing the Westernization thought, are driving the Chinese socialism into the pit of capitalism slowly but surely. The polarization has reached the highest level in the world, and the bourgeois class has risen again. Some are expecting to see another Cultural Revolution, and others dreading it. Those dreading it are dismissing the people's cries against oppression, exploitation, treachery, and bureaucracy as 'the trend of the Cultural Revolution,' and denouncing the people who question the reform into capitalism as "remnants of the Cultural Revolution." Revolution is not the preserve of Marxism. Where there is oppression and exploitation, there is rebellion and struggle. If and when one billion peasants woke up and united, they would be invincible, capable of thwarting any rebellion. It wouldn't be long before a great revolution for new political economy, unless the Party and the leadership reflected on the reform and walked toward socialism and common prosperity."
Mao had reemerged as an incarnation of revolution for some enraged people and men of ambition. His establishment as the patron saint in this manner who would protect many Chinese against their unstable life has such ambivalence. Which of the Mao's symbols, God of Wealth or Revolution, will be chosen by the Chinese today? The answer will have a significant influence on the future of East Asia.