Category: Mao Zedong

Introduction

Ideology is the most elusive concept in the whole of social science, this quote captures the difficulty in defining an ideology (McLellan 1995). We can identify ideologies based on the words used to describe them. People subscribed to the capitalism ideology will use words that express freedom of commerce and market price determination among other aspects of the ideology (Sargent 2009).

According to Glebov, Mao Zedong referred to the forceful nature in which leaders have to impose their ideologies on populations when he said, political power grows out of the barrel of a gun (1979). Mao Zedong was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party that assumed power after an arms struggle. According to Mao, the only way to gain power is to prove you are stronger and defeat the opponent in war (Glebov 1979).

Mao Zedong, the Little Red Book and Cultural Revolution

Mao Zedong was born in 1893 to peasant parents in China and served in the revolutionary army of china in 1911 (Spartacus Educational n.d.). Mao was a poet and political leader besides being the founder of the Peoples republic of China based on his ideologies of flexible pragmatism and visions viewed as utopian.

Mao wrote extensively speeches, essays and poems and published 40 poems (Liukkonen 2008). His sayings and attributions are captured in an anthology called the Little Red Book that became the main text of the Cultural Revolution. The Little Red Book is also referred to as the Chinese Bible or Mao Bible (Sachsenmaier n.d.).

Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in 1996 while serving his last decade as the Chinese Peoples Party leader. He wanted to shift the Chinese ideology development to take a more communist approach. His main aim was to make all social systems in China less elitist, an end he pursued through mobilization and staging of revolutions using urban youths (Fortunecity.com n.d.). He also set up a coalition of loyal leaders to work besides him.

The cultural revolution demonstrated the forceful nature needed to change ideological systems in place; however, the cultural revolution brought bureaucratic timidity in the government, as policy makers knew a system change outplaces all previously done work and personnel. During the revolution, in fighting within the Chinese Peoples party led by Mao factions and his successor Lins factions caused the return of normalcy in the Chinese society to delay further (Fortunecity.com n.d.).

The attempt by Lin to hijack the leadership of the ideological transformation of the Chinese society from Mao was thwarted after Lin died in 1971 he aborted his plot to assassinate Mao. Shortly after Lins death, his loyal military command was destroyed. The death of Lin as the front crusader of the Mao ideology left the Chinese people feeling used in the political power game.

Mao was interested in preserving his ideology through a suitably groomed successor to fill the gap left by Lin. During the period after Lins death and before Maos death, political backing shifted back and forth from Jiang Qing and the Zhou-Deng group.

The two factions had separate ideologies of xenophobia and a pragmatic foreign policy respectively (Fortunecity.com n.d.). During the 2-year period before Maos death in 1976, the radicals favoring Jiang Qing staged chaotic campaigns to criticize the ideologies and policies of Zhou and managed to convince Mao that such policies would eventually topple him out of power.

In order to safeguard his political power and ideology embodied in the Cultural Revolution, Mao sanctioned a formal propaganda using posters to discredit the Zhou-Deng group and later succeeded in purging the group in April 1976. The Mao ideologies were defeated after his death in September 1976 when a combination of military leaders, police and political leaders purged Maos leading followers (Fortunecity.com n.d.).

How political ideologies work

Political parties form political ideologies; however, they become autonomous after formulation. Once formed, other political groups are free to adopt the political ideologies. While political ideology reflects specific elements in a political party, it also forms a notable variable that adds to the growth and operations of a political system.

Political ideologies allow power to be legit and make it an authority. This happens when a community adopts them. What constitute ideologies are myths and symbols. Therefore, ideologies are modifiable (Cohen 1969).

Today, forceful assumption of power by political group is not common as it was in the 1960s. Most developed and developing countries of the world have adopted a democratic system of government that bases its politics on either democratic capitalism or democratic socialism. The rise of democratic government systems has meant that political groupings have to participate in an election process and win in order to assume power of ruling a country.

This fact might imply to the reader that there is no longer a need for a forceful takeover of political power as was in the case during Mao Zedongs political party takeover as the new government of China. Although literally the fact is true, there are hidden aspects of forceful realization of political power. It would be an understatement to say that current use of the gun to get political power is not as fierce as it was when Mao Zedong wrote the little red book (Gearon 2006).

It is a mistake to equate democratic elections with a change of ideology. Democratic elections allow participation by parties that subscribe to the democratic ideology; therefore, the elections only serve as rotational changes on the people in power. Different political parties hold different elements of the same democratic ideology. Therefore conflicts or oppositions arise that result to varied opinions and support during elections (Cohen 1969).

The formation of a political system that governs everything in a nation is what Mao Zedong referred to as power. A political system does not change after an election as noted in the previous paragraph. In addition, there are no defined ways of changing a political system. Such a system exists because of political ideologies and followers of a specific ideology feel that there exists no other ideology true as theirs.

One cannot therefore expect to approach an established system and change it without facing resistance. Since political systems allow individuals to rule over others, and that those holding the political ideology in place will not take lightly any thought of replacing their political system. The adversity that arises out of the firmness of the existing political system, to maintain status quo, warrants only one last option of a political system change, violent force (Glebov 1979).

Ideologies are mere belief and powerless unless they are mass accepted. They become respectable and worthy of considering when already there are a number of people subscribed to the ideology. Without political power, ideologies appear to be utopian thoughts. Proponents of political ideologies without political power describe their ideologies in terms of an ideal time when the ideologies will come into place and govern everyones way of living.

Before the communist party seized power in China, it embodied ideal communist ideologies. Its leader, Mao Zedong, appeared as an idealist. This was simply because the party envisioned a time when everyone was equal and all resources shared equally for the good of all citizens. Such an ideal environment based on the communist principles has never materialized (Sargent 2009).

In the current world, democratic ideologies are shaping up most political systems. The idea of a rule by the majority has won favor across the world. Previously, purely communist systems are allowing democratic ideas to infiltrate their base ideologies. As a result, former communist systems are now showing characteristics of a social democratic system.

The rule of the majority whether actualized or implied might have won over other ideologies because of the might held in the majority. It is plainly evident in any society that when the majorities are in favor, the minority out of favor have little they can do other than join the majority (Sargent 2009).

How Political Ideologies Retain their Power

The democratic ideology operates as a dictatorship of a few over the majority. Even though democratic system claims to be a rule of the majority, closer look at the system reveals that once elected into power, political parties and politicians run the country in the best way that will ensure they win the next election. The policies and strategies they adopt when running the country ideally should assist to boost the economy in such a way that living standards improve.

Citizens are in favor with the party when the economy is doing well. However, other than the economy, other social welfare factors dictate the favorability of a political party among the citizens of a country. These include other non-political ideologies such as religious ideologies and economic ideologies. In order for a political party to stay in favor with the majority of the citizens, it has to ensure that none of the unfavorable ideologies grows among its citizenry (Miller 1981).

To achieve the ideal setting where there is no ideological opposition, political parties campaign for and come up with laws that ban or restrict the ideologies identified as enemies of maintaining the status quo in the political system. Other than outright bans, and in an effort to remain democratic, such restrictions pass through the provided systems of changing laws.

In most democratic systems, these are parliament, and the state. Judiciary forms a dispute resolution mechanism in the case where citizens feel aggrieved by the actions of the government. However, the extent to which the citizenry can disown laws through the judiciary is limited to confinement with the countrys constitution (Miller 1981).

The countries constitution forms the principle pillar that holds the political system together. The constitution governs all that is lawful and unlawful in the country. Amendment of a constitution only happens when the majority is in favor in democratic systems. In other systems like communism, and monarchies the rulers have the power to change their countries constitutions.

Since monarchies and communist political systems already infer power to their rulers to change constitutions as it suits them, it has never occurred that a ruler has changed the overall political system from one ideology to another. In most cases, rulers only include changes that strengthen their rule as well as expand their territories. On the democratic constitution change issue, prohibition of differing ideologies ensures that amending the constitution to come up with laws biased against the existing political ideology is impossible (Miller 1981).

In all social institutions, the ruling class enjoys better living standards than the non-ruling class. Such a disparity arises out of the human need to satisfy their basic wants before they consider that of others. The satisfaction of needs and wants of the ruling class blinds them to the plight of the poor non-ruling class. This happens because the ruling class does not face the daily challenges that the non-ruling class go through. In most cases, the rulers separate their residents from the rest.

As societies advance, more social class stratification emerges. New social tensions appear out of class differences. The poor view that the rich are wealthy because of exploiting them, while the rich feel that their political power rests on their ability to be rich and therefore see the poor as a threat. When the poor are not the majority in such a system, a status quo may exist for a defined period until the poor become the majority (Gearon 2006).

When the poor are the majority, they possess enough mass will power to inverse the social class setting of resource allocation. In such societies, where the poor majority want the power to have a say in wealth creation while the rich minority do not want to let go their political power that comes with the wealth, tensions erupt in to violent struggles.

The emergence of a leader among the revolvers is a mere consequence of populations to being organized under one leadership and does not infer that the leader is the originator of the new ideology fought for by the population. For example, Mao Zedong led the 1949 war of china that led to the China Communist Party claim to power; however, he was not the originator of the communist ideology. Mao followed the ideas expressed by Lenin who fought a similar war leading the poor majority to capture power in Russia (Glebov 1979).

As previously noted the barrel of the gun in current world political setting is money. Ruling political parties are able to maintain the political system by having a tight control of what their citizenry access to in terms of ideology.

While the majority touts democracy as freedom for all, in actual practice it is a mass obedience of a political ideology that makes any differing belief questionable and in some cases punishable. Democratic systems allow indirect forcing of beliefs upon their electorate. Such forceful ways used by the ruling class ensure that there is little or no opposition to their regime (Miller 1981).

Conclusions

To sum up, political ideologies form the basis of forming political systems. Political systems offer the rulers power over their citizenry. A considerable large population has to subscribe to an ideology for it to have a meaningful influence.

The nature of belief is that its believers view each as the truth; therefore, the only way to replace political ideologies is to overthrow the regimes holding on to that ideology. Such an accomplishment is only possible through use of violent force. Mao Zedong was right arguing, Power grows out of the barrel of a gun (Glebov 1979).

Reference List

Cohen, A 1969, Custom & politics in urban Africa: a study of Hausa migrants in Yoruba towns, University of California press, Berkeley, LA.

Gearon, L 2006, Freedom of expression and human rights: historical, literal and political contexts, Sussex Academic Press, Portland, OR.

Glebov, V 1979, Maoism, words and deeds, Sterling, New Delhi.

Fortunecity.com, n.d., The Cultural Revolution. Web.

Liukkonen, P 2008, Mao Zedong (1893-1976). Web.

McLellan, D 1995, Ideology, 2nd edn, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. MN.

Miller, A S 1981, Democratic dictatorship: the emergent constitution control, Greenwood Press, Santa Clara, CA.

Sachsenmaier, D n.d., The Little Red Book. Web.

Sargent, L T 2009, Contemporary political ideologies; a comparative analysis, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.

Spartacus Educational, n.d. Mao Zedong. Web.

The situation faced by China at the beginning of the twentieth century was complicated and inauspicious. The destiny of the country was about to change after the end of the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China by Mao Zedong. Being treated like a living god during his lifetime, he has become one of the major figures in the world history of the twentieth century, and his legacy still arises numerous controversial issues. His actions and strategies have received much criticism and condemnation from both Chinese and foreign historians and common people. Investigating Mao Zedongs influence on Chinas twentieth-century development is of vital importance for understanding the specifics of his governance and analyzing its results.

The attitudes to the influence of Mao Zedongs governance on the development of China in the twentieth century are mostly controversial, as the actions of the leader were controversial too. Mao Zedong is considered a savior of China by many people as he united the country and encouraged it to get rid of the brutal dictator Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists. He transformed China from a weak country exploited by Western countries and Japan into one of the most influential world powers. During the governance of Mao Zedong, China was modernized and became much stronger than it had been before. All of these contributions make many people consider Mao Zedong national liberator and socialist prophet (Krieger 65).

In the same time, the ruthlessness and meaninglessness of many of the leaders actions create an opposite view shared by numerous people considering Mao a cruel dictator, who had a bad impact on the development of China. His inclination to brutal suppression of his enemies and mass murders has deserved a huge amount of deserved criticism (Gay 8). Besides, his politics led to one of the most severe famines in China, which resulted in nearly 15-20 million deaths caused by starvation (Karl 107). The uncoordinated violence of the Cultural Revolution set by Mao brought the incalculable number of deaths (Spence 164). The bloody methods used by the leader to retain the power caused millions of deaths and cannot be justified in any way.

The article Mao Zedong: Liberator or Oppressor of China explores the biography of the leader and his actions while being the head of the Peoples Republic of China. I liked the investigation of the roots of Maos disposition to violence found in his childhood presented in the article. However, I did not like the one-sidedness of the article. The leader is characterized as ready to use brutal means, having no compunction in torturing and executing, etc. (Lynch 11). The article illustrates the violence used by the leader to embody his ideas and explores the drawbacks of his governance. It pays very little attention to the progress made by the Peoples Republic of China during Maos governance.

The textbook appears to be more objective, as it describes both achievements and defects of Mao Zedongs governance. While determining the crimes made by Zedongs dictatorship, the textbook defines his contribution to the development of China by mentioning the reunion of China, supporting equal rights for women, eliminating economic inequality, speeding up economic development, and other positive changes made by the leader (Bentley and Ziegler 879). In my opinion, the textbook presents information about Mao Zedong in a more comprehensive and unbiased way than the article does.

The analysis of the main features of Mao Zedongs governance helps to understand the huge drawbacks of the strategies used by him to control the power and see some of the positive influences that gave China a possibility to become a world power.

Works Cited

Bentley, Jerry, and Herbert Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters, Volume 2: From 1500 to the Present, New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 2007. Print.

Gay, Kathlyn. Mao Zedongs China, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Twenty-first Century Books, 2008. Print.

Karl, Rebecca. Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2010. Print.

Krieger, Joel. The Oxford Companion to Comparative Politics, New York: Oxford University Press USA, 2012. Print.

Lynch, Michael. Mao Zedong: Liberator or Oppressor of China. History Review 43 (2002): 10-15. Print.

Spence, Jonathan. Mao Zedong: A Life, New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

Introduction to Mao Zedong’s Leadership

Mao Zedong, the great leader and founding chairman of the People’s Republic of China, also Marxist, proletarian revolutiony, strategist and also theorist, the main founder of the communist party of China the people’s liberation army. A half-century of revolution from the foundation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921 to Mao’s death in 1976, also from the agriculture to the industrial era, economic development and social changes had made great impacts on China, while Mao Zedong can be fairly regarded as the principal architect of the new nation (Schram, 2019). In this essay, JKM’s ‘Leadership in Action’ framework as an assessment tool to show Mao Zedong is truly a noteworthy, excellent leader in recent Chinese history.

Mao Zedong’s Vision and Decision Making During the Xi’an Incident

One of the points of ‘Leadership in Action’ framework is that leaders must see a better world and help other people see it. As a leader, the most important thing is to keep the right direction from the overall situation, striving to seek major benefits while avoiding significant drawbacks during the war. The Xi’an Incident was a political crisis that took place in Xi’an in 1936. Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Republic of China and Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT), was detained by his subordinates, Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng, to force the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party to change its policies regarding the CCP after 9-year stalemate between the two parties and the dilemma of fighting against the invasion of Empire of Japan (Taylor, 2009). Right after the incident, all the troops of the red army (which were a part of the CCP) and majority members of CCP put forward the idea of “putting Chiang Kai-shek on trial and kill him”. Meanwhile, Mao Zedong had been elected as the standing committee member of CCP at that time, strongly opposing to sentence Chiang Kai-shek and kill him (Hawkins, 2013). In this context, Mao Zedong comprehensively analyzed the current situation that the contradiction between China and Japan was the principal issue they needed to deal with.

Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek’s troop of the Republic of China could contribute significantly to the battlefield of the war while CCP’s troop was not strong enough to fight against the invasive Japanese. As a result, Mao Zedong made an important decision with the peaceful settlement of the Xi’an Incident. Chiang Kai-shek was released by the red army and the famous Kuomingtang-Communist Cooperation was established at that time, which significantly improve Chinese troop’s military capability and have great significance to the final victory of the Chinese Anti-Japanese War (Zhang, 2019). From this case, we can know that as a leader, Mao Zedong could see a better world that he successfully focused on the principal contradiction which was between China and Japan at that time though Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT were continuously suppressed the Red Army and CCP.

Mao Zedong also helped others see the better world that though a majority of CCP member was keeping against Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT, it was more paramount to let people realize that only concentrating all the efforts to fight against the invaders, they could finally reverse the war and save the nation. His wise decision to release the detained Chiang Kai-shek and reach the Kuomingtang-Communist Cooperation was the turning point to change the situation of the Anti-Japanese War.

Effective Leadership: Facilitation and Orchestration

Another important component of ‘Leadership in Action’ framework is that the most effective leaders are facilitators and Orchestrators while no one can do everything by themselves to approach the final goal. Though Mao Zedong was talent at making strategies during the Anti-Japanese war, it was more important for him to properly allocate his subordinates into the most suitable positions and functions because Mao Zedong couldn’t handle everything during the war by himself. He could figure out his subordinates’ different personalities and specialties and took the corresponding measures according to each person’s shortcomings and competitiveness.

For example, some people were not good at commanding operations during the battlefield, but they were good at logistics, Mao Zedong then promptly transferred these people from their combat positions to engage in logistics. The fact that he selected many military officers for political work from the battlefield also was an example of his personnel strategy. More specifically, Lin Biao was good at making battle strategies, but he was introverted, sometimes eccentric, not good at ideological and political work. Moreover, he was usually with a silent appearance when working with others, making his subordinates felt quite difficult to work and cooperate with him. Simultaneously, Luo Ronghuan was an excellent cadre of political and governmental works, with flexibility and firm principles on daily issues. As a result, Mao Zedong combined Luo Ronghuan and Lin Biao as ‘partner’, and after that, they made invincible tracks from Jinggang Mountain to Taihang Mountain. On the other hand, Liu Bocheng’s leadership style was cautious, considerate, he would do anything without making any mistakes while Deng Xiaoping, was bold and daring, who was likely to take risky adventures and decisions.

Mao Zedong put these two talent generals together and they could successfully complement each other’s drawbacks (Wu, 2019). They then kept a close relationship over the decades and made many important victories during the Anti-Japanese War. Furthermore, Mao Zedong’s wise allocation to these subordinates also helps promote them and accelerate their careers. As we all know, Deng Xiaoping finally became the second chair of CCP and made a significant contribution to the newly established PR China after the Cultural Revolution.

Leadership Dilemma: Democracy vs. Control

However, there is also an issue called the leadership dilemma in ‘Leadership in Action’ framework that people prefer democracy and safety, but leaders take control, reducing democracy. Though Mao Zedong provided great contributions during world war II and to the newly established China, he virtually made some significant mistakes in the later years of his regime. Besides, under Mao Zedong’s control, China was more likely to be a dictatorship regime since anyone in CCP who made criticism or opposition to Mao Zedong’s decision, he will immediately be sentenced or dismissed, whatever high position he was. For instance, China’s ‘the Great Leap Forward’ was an economic and social campaign launched by Mao Zedong and other senior leadership of CCP Central Committee from 1958 to 1962, which was a socialist construction that sought to exploit the abundant local labor force and the vigorous enthusiasm for the masses to increase industrial and agricultural production in an unrealistic way.

Because the campaign was divorced from reality, people’s enthusiasm for making agricultural production was seriously hurt after it was promoted throughout the country. Moreover, the output of the grain was unsteady, people’s willingness to produce also was significantly reduced, leading to years of famine in China. The grandiosity and problems associated with the Great Leap Forward were soon exposed and incurred lots of doubts and criticisms within and outside the party. The disagreements from inner-party particular top leadership were escalating and even split the whole party. Peng Dehuai, one of the greatest Chinese Communist military leaders and served as China’s Defense Minister at that time, was sent to the prison and dismissed from his position because of his criticism of Mao Zedong’s stubborn advocation of the Great Lead Forward. Simultaneously, CCP founding members who supported Peng Dehuai’s opinions, including Huang KEcheng, Zhang Wentian, Zhou Xiaozhou, were also implicated under Mao Zedong’s control.

As a result, the campaign of the Great Leap Forward didn’t stop on time, adversely, it prevailed over the country and significantly damage the economics and social regulations (Lu, 2017). A similar case associated with the leadership dilemma was the Great Cultural Revolution, which was a sociopolitical movement lunched by Mao Zedong from 1966 to 1976, to enforce people to learn and accept Maoism as the dominant ideology in CCP of China. The revolution damaged China’s economy and killed an estimated 500000 to 2000000 people (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019). On the other hand, from this case, we can also found that Mao Zedong’s value drove his action and take a stand, which is one of the important components of Leadership in Action framework.

Mao Zedong’s Charisma and Legacy

Though Mao Zedong made some mistakes regarding the leadership dilemma in ‘Leadership in Action’ framework, it’s no doubt that he is a charismatic leader who can influence others in great depth. Most of the time of the half-century, it is also unquestioned that Mao Zedong is a great leader of the communist revolution, though sometimes he was not totally or universally respected (Dirlik, 2012). Based on the analysis of Mao Zedong’s leadership ability, I can conclude that he is truly an excellent and noteworthy leader in recent China’s history. He could help his subordinates see a better world under emergency and paramount situation, he also could properly allocate and take good use of his subordinates in the best positions and functions, as we all know ‘One finger cannot lift a pebble’, Mao Zedong’s personnel strategy helped him achieve his goal more efficiently. Though he made some mistakes during his later years of the regime, what he contributed to the new China is invaluable. As a leader, his charism also attracted contemporary Chinese people and many foreign politicians. A lot of studies and research about his leadership strategies are continuously conducting nowadays.

Reference

1. Dirlik, A. (2012). Mao Zedong: Charismatic leadership and the contradictions of socialist revolution. (1st ed., pp. 117) Berghahn Books.
2. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). A Brief Overview of China’s Cultural Revolution.
3. Hawkins, J. (2013). Mao Zedong
4. Lu, X. (2017). The rhetoric of Mao Zedong: Transforming China and its people. US: University of South Carolina Press.
5. Schram, S. (2019). Mao Zedong. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mao-Zedong
6. Taylor, Jay (2009). The Generalissimo. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
7. Wu, J. (2019). Mao Zedong’s personnel strategy. Retrieved from http://www.cwzg.cn/history/201904/48089.html
8. Zhang, F. (2019). The art of Mao Zedong’s strategy of making decisions. Retrieved from http://www.nfzz.net.cn/epaper/fb/300/content/2019-03/25/content_186292004.htm?from=singlemessage

As Mao Zedong said in 1976, “Some people say that China loves peace. That’s bragging. In fact, the Chinese people love struggle. I do, for one” (Mao Zedong 1967). Mao Zedong is one of the few, held most responsible for the cultural and political shift made in China during the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976. During these 10 years, Mao Zedong rose to power, and changed the face of China, as many can argue for the worst. The Cultural Revolution resulted in radical changes made to China politically, socially and economically and uncovered the backwardness of the Communist Party of China (CPOC) and its leaders. Following the beginning of the revolution, Mao Zedong and other leaders established reforms across China changing the way Chinese peasants lived among each other. Primarily, The CPOC and their, land reforms, educational reforms, the Great Leap Forward campaign of 1958, and Mao Zedong’s Five Year Plan in 1953. The Cultural Revolution forced Chinese peasants, into conflict, harsh working conditions, and limited their access to their basic human rights, making this 10 year period one of the most burdensome.

Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung is recognized as one of the most remarkable political leaders, and revolutionaries of the 20th century. Mao played an extremely significant role in leading China’s communist revolution and leading the Chinese Communist Party. He did not rise to power overnight, but gained his status gradually, which started with his attendance at a Communist Party functionary. In 1943, Mao eventually became chairman of the party where he began his mission to revolutionize China. As he became better recognized, Mao used his wife and prior connections to his advantage. His wife, Jiang Ping used a group of radical intellectuals to control the cultural realm and used Lin Biao, China’s defense minister to maintain military loyalty with a promise that it would remain Maoist.

Alongside Mao, the CPOC also played a key role in influencing China’s reforms and cultural reforms. Following the leadership of Mao, China began to undergo a process of modernization through land reform, collectivization, and industrialization. Both Mao and the CPOC focused their attention on China’s ‘bourgeois’ infiltrates within the communist party and the Chinese government. In a document issued on May 16, 1996, Mao outlined his vision of communism. The Revolution’s beginning is debated upon by historians but according to the New York Times, Mao publicized this document on May 16, 1966, the public was exposed to Mao’s ideas on the revolution, and a beginning to how their lives would be changed.

The Great Leap Forward, as promising as it sounds, was disastrous in benefiting China’s economy. In an attempt to modernize China further, Mao Zedong moved China to become a modern industrial nation to better prepare China for communism. Between 1958 and 1960, the Great Leap Forward campaign began to spread across China, specifically in large-scale rural areas. From this, the Chinese wished to incorporate labor-intensive methods to help combat their agricultural and industrial problems. Following the Soviet Model which taught the Chinese that the conversion of capital gained from the sale of agricultural products in heavy machinery was nearly impossible for them due to their dense population and lack of surplus.

Mao and the CPOC took matters into their own hands and under the commune, the system began to organize peasants into brigade teams, and communal kitchens in an attempt to organize the workplace and free women for work. As simplistic as it seemed, the Great Leap Forward resulted in one of the world’s worst famines, with an estimated 30-40 million deaths. Reflecting on the treatment of peasants, 2-3 millions of these deaths were victims that were tortured to death or summarily executed. Those who did not work hard enough were often beaten or hung, or in rare cases bound and thrown into ponds.

From an economic perspective, the hope that the Chinese could use their massive supply of cheap labor to industrialize was over. At the time, the CPOC saw grain and steel production as the foundation for economic development. Following this, the government made significant investments in large state enterprises with the expectation that the economy’s production would increase. Overall this campaign was not beneficial to the Chinese peasants especially as private holdings were banned and the famine crisis got worse. Therefore, because of this, there was no longer enough food to live off of and peasants became more deprived by the commune system. At the end of the campaign, China’s community and the economy was left worse than when it started, and Mao’s reputation began to change.

Contrary to the economy, Mao also intended to revolutionize education by establishing a new society that was less orthodox and traditional. Education was recognized not only by the communist party but by most of China as a key part of the cultural revolution and its success. Mao intended to add structure and modernization to education while preparing the next generation of skilled worked and technical personnel. Similarly, China has always been recognized by its use of propaganda and indoctrination. The traditional education of the time was based specifically on book knowledge than practical skills, mechanical memorization and dominant style teaching. Following Mao’s planning, in 1966 he issued a radical decree that abolished all University entrance examinations while allowing access to education to all children through ‘senior middle school’.

Aside from this Mao also intended to lessen academic competition because he wanted less individualistic and entrepreneurial values within his students. Starting in 1952, enrollment in China’s primary schools shot up from 51,000,000 to nearly 116,000,000 in 1965. During the same time, China moved to more moderate policies and changed its educational priorities. As the percentage in enrollment increased, the quality of education and the options for professional opportunities remained the same. These changes impacted both the primary and secondary school system, which had an even more significant influence on Universities. These educational reforms also changed the administration of schools from the bourgeois intellectuals having major control, to committees made up of soldiers, peasants, and local workers having it. At the end of Mao’s educational reforms, school discipline was eventually restored, full-time schools became a mainstay system of education, and even though the statistics proved good, Mao’s changes were not revolutionary, but more short-lived.

Leadership is a research area and a skill that is defined as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2019, p.5). Anyone has the potential ability to lead and guide other individuals, teams, or organizations, and that ability is present in many different situations whether we know it or not. However, each person is different in his/her leadership skills and has distinctive qualities and characteristics as a leader. This brings to the world a set of unique views, with people that have different strengths and weaknesses. Some people have the natural ability to act as a leader, but others have to learn and train to develop the necessary abilities. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Mao Zedong are both relatively recent important leaders from history which can be analyzed using leadership theories. While Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Mao Zedong share similarities in their leadership, Sirleaf is an interactive leader as defined through the transformational leadership theory, and Mao is a revolutionary leader as revealed in the charismatic leadership theory.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Life

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born in Monrovia and was able to incorporate perspectives from both, the Americo-Liberian culture from her mother’s side and the Indigenous-Liberian culture from her father. She says, “my feet are in two worlds” (Scully, 2016, p.27), revealing how she took advantage of her dual heritage and expressed it effectively through her leadership. After completing her education and working in the United States, she returned to Liberia to serve as Deputy Minister of Finance. In 1985, she returned to Monrovia and was involved in the general election of Liberia. However, Sirleaf spent one year in prison for giving a speech in which she insulted the members of Samuel Doe’s regime and had her life threatened by former President Charles Taylor. She constantly fought for her country and was a presidential candidate several times, to eventually become the first female president of Liberia in November of 2005. During her presidency, she led Liberia through reconciliation and recovery after the country’s civil war, as well as the Ebola crisis. She was also a key participant and shaper of women’s rights and role in peacemaking; she broke many glass ceilings by being the first female president of Liberia and the first woman to lead the United Nations regional Bureau of Africa (Scully, 2016). Overall, it is evident that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has a big impact in her country and has experiences that reveal her leadership style and traits.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Leadership

Reflecting on Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s life experiences, she comes up as a transformational and as an interactive leader. She exhibits these two leadership styles based on the six traits defined by Kirkpatrick: drive, leadership motivation, honesty, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business.

A transformational leader, according to Burns, is a leader who transforms and changes society positively, prioritizes the needs of the followers, and demonstrates the 4 I’s, which are: inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Sirleaf had a passion for what she was doing which fueled her self-confidence and drive to accomplish her goals. For example, she had the desire to be an advocate for women’s rights and wanted them to have a place in society. By breaking glass ceilings, she was able to inspire young girls to do the same and believe that they could attain a managerial position in the workforce. Thus, we learn the importance of being driven towards a purpose. Sirleaf is also very change-oriented. She appointed women in government (previously a male-dominated society), adapted economic policies, and worked towards changing the roles of violence in Liberia. She transformed society, not only for women and young children but also the economic and political policies.

Interactive leadership was also a big part of Sirleaf’s leadership style, showing some typical characteristics such as being open, having positive relationships, support, and empowerment. Sirleaf was able to encourage participation from her followers because she had confidence in them that they too were working to better Liberia. Apart from working with her followers and inspiring them to do good, she also interacted with different nations to bring in new concepts/ideas into Liberia. This also reveals her human skills because she was able to communicate effectively across cultures in multiple situations.

Mao Zedong’s Life

Mao Zedong was born in 1893 in China and grew up in an environment where education was valued. However, at the age of 13, his father considered that his education was completed and he was sent to work full-time in his family’s farm. Eventually, he rebelled against his parents and left his family to continue his studies. During this, he came in contact with new western ideas, socialism, and revolutionary thought. Eventually, Mao Zedong became known as a principal Marxist theorist and soldier who led his country’s communist revolution. He was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1935 until his death and chairman of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death as well. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, which was an attempt to increase the Chinese economy but resulted in the death of millions from famine, he launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The Cultural Revolution changed the old capitalistic and traditional ways of Chinese life. It resulted in the forced removal of many people who opposed his policies, leading to deep a disorder and profound cultural and social changes in China (Spence, 2006). Mao Zedong is a controversial leader where many people have different views on him.

Mao Zedong’s Leadership

Based on Mao Zedong’s life, it is evident that he is a charismatic leader. A charismatic leader is a person who motivates their followers to effectively get things done; the followers are very dependent on their leader. Weber describes charismatic leaders as to “possess superhuman qualities or powers of divine origin that set them apart from ordinary mortals” (Wren, 1995, pp.185-186). To be this type of leader, it is very important that the person has good communication skills because they have to build a relationship with their followers that will allow them to work together.

In Mao Zedong’s case, this theory was not always used in a positive way. He seemed to have good intentions but did not always result in the way he wanted and failed as a leader in the sense that the results were detrimental to his followers. For example, the Great Leap Forward was a complete failure because it led to social and economic disaster, however, his intention was to transform the country from an agrarian economy to a socialist society. It is evident that Mao took charge in his position and wanted to enact change. This example of Mao Zedong reveals that a charismatic leader does not always have to be shown in a positive way. He failed in many ways but is still considered as a charismatic leader because he was revolutionary.

As a leader, Mao Zedong was able to adapt to different situations and was able to work with different followers. For example, during the Long March, he suffered with his men and identified with the peasants. He also wanted to better the lives of the oppressed and wanted to reform China in a political, economic, and social way. He wasn’t afraid to express his opinions and was determined to fight for change.

Comparison

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Mao Zedong are two contrasting leaders that strived to better their respective countries, with very different outcomes. Sirleaf used her skills to successfully transform her country to something better despite uncontrollable events. As a transformational leader, she mainly used her motivation and drive to enact change. She had a clear vision and laid the foundation on which Liberia can now build on. In contrast, Mao Zedong changed his country in a radical way, but the immense human costs associated with those changes, question his leadership skills because he did not have the ability to foresee the cost of his approach. Just like Sirleaf, he did have a vision, but the implementation wasn’t really smooth when looking at the results of the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution. Although Mao Zedong can be considered the father of modern China, the success of those initiatives are still debated in China. This is the reason why he is a very controversial leader; he had good intentions and wanted to better his country but wasn’t able to fully succeed.

Another difference between the two leaders is that Sirleaf was leading all the people of Liberia, while Mao was more focused on the poor and the women. Sirleaf was able to inspire all people of Liberia and make positive changes. Her followers can be seen as pragmatic survivors because they were active, critical thinkers, and effective. However, because Zedong only focused on a group, he only received support from them and not necessarily from others such as the middle/upper classes and the intellectuals. For example, he only opened schools in the rural areas to help the poor but closed city schools which would resulted in many uneducated children or sent millions to re-education camps that effectively resulted in misuse of human resources. He pushed for change but regardless of the consequences. The followers that he did have can be seen as diehard followers because they felt strongly about him and were actively engaged with him as his policies, blind to the quality or consequences of the results.

Lastly, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Mao Zedong both had the position to lead their country, however, they both used their power in two different ways. Sirleaf had socialized power because she was empowering and self-sacrificing. For example, she was willing to put herself in danger to benefit her country. Sirleaf spoke out against Doe’s regime, even though she knew her consequences; she focused on fairness, freedom, and unity. In contrast, Mao seemed more as having personalized power because he was selfish and lacked self-control. He wasn’t able to work with his whole country and was disorganized in his actions.

Despite these differences, they both were able to enact some type of change in their country and inspire their particular followers.

Implication & Conclusion

Both, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Mao Zedong had unique leadership experiences that reveal leadership lessons which are crucial and should be taken into account when leading. Sirleaf, she has shown the importance of confidence, passion for your goals, and sharing a common vision with your followers. She has also been a great example of working within a context with a disadvantage where other leaders can learn from her failures. On the other hand, Mao teaches us the importance of resilience and dedication. During his life as a leader, he was able to represent this through his commitment to his goals, for example, the Cultural Revolution that he continued to fight for his beliefs and vision. It is important for leaders in today’s world to understand these lessons because it will benefit them and their followers.

Leadership theories that have been proposed in the recent years are beneficial to whoever studies leadership, however, there are flaws that need to be considered. The biggest flaw in the current leadership theories is that they are more focused on western ideals and their cultures. This is beneficial for leaders in western countries; however, it is hard for non-western leaders to properly fit into western theories. The study of global leadership would benefit from the study of international leaders, for example, Sirleaf and Mao, because they don’t fully fit into the aspects from the theories that are studied today. Another flaw is that leadership theory are leader-centered, therefore they tend to ignore the followers or the environment in which leadership is exercised. Leadership should include three components: leader, follower, and situation. Looking at the current models, they are mostly focused on the leader and tend to forget about the other two equally important components to leadership.

China’s political reform is not the political system reform understood by many western scholars, which does not involve the change of the basic political framework, but a reform focusing on government governance or government management system. The Chinese path is characterized not only by its proven diversity, which cannot be replicated in the west but also by the fact that it is an embodiment of the global accumulation of democratic and socialist achievements. China’s rise has much to do with peace and stability. Its growing strength commands respect. This ancient and proud civilization, vast in size and large in population, has built its power on its own. The Chinese system has proven its legitimacy by history, going its own way, and is completely different from capitalist countries.

‘What is revolutionary foundation? A revolutionary foundation is something that inspires the same behavior as that of martyrs of the revolution…’ (from coursepack page102) From the ancient dynasty of the Qing dynasty to the end of 1921, the communist party of China was founded. The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949. But the party’s revolution, to a certain extent, did not quite meet the needs of the broad masses of the people. China’s personal worship and worship of Mao Zedong reached its peak during the cultural revolution. After the reform and opening up, this kind of personal worship and worship of Mao Zedong was gradually abandoned. However, in recent years, Mao Zedong has once again become a symbol of political appeal and been held high and praised. This debate pits liberals on one side and leftists and so-called Maoists on the other. Supporters of Mao Zedong say he brought stability and unity to China today. But opponents emphasize Mao Zedong brought great disaster and pain to Chinese society, people and country. Mao Zedong’s crime was that he interrupted China’s progress towards democratic constitutionalism. He introduced China to the path of class struggle and one-party rule. Mao Zedong’s great leap forward led to great famine. All the promises of democracy and constitutionalism that the communist party had made before it came to power were betrayed by him. This is in politics. On the economic front, Mao Zedong promised to develop a free capitalist economy, but a few years after the establishment of the regime, he proposed a general line of transition, which also reversed the economic commitment. Later, Mao Zedong carried out land reform and gained the support of the peasants and proletariat by equalizing the rich and the poor. But it is the peasants and the proletariat who suffer in the end. He took it away again in the form of agricultural cooperatives. So the end result was that through the transformation of the capitalists and the cooperation of agriculture, the Chinese communist party became the largest landlord and capitalist. The resulting economic disaster was the great famine of the great leap forward. Political disasters, from anti-rightists to the cultural revolution, dragged the whole Chinese people into an unprecedented catastrophe.

The Chinese communist party’s emphasis on mass mobilization was also the trigger for the great leap forward. ‘In the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, It is imperative to hold aloft the great red banner of Mao name Thought and put proletarian politics says in the command. The movement for the creative study and application of Chairman Mao, a name’s works Should be carried forward among the masses of workers, peasants, soldiers, cadres, and intellectuals. And Mao Zedong’s thoughts should be taken as the guide to action in the Cultural Revolution. ‘(from coursepack page 125) This is a power struggle within the party, a class struggle. ‘The broad sectors of workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres make up the principal forces in this Great Cultural Revolution. ‘(from coursepack page 124). This is the main part of the proletariat. Mao Zedong used public opinion to lead people to believe that what he did was right. Mao Zedong used this method to gain support and to arouse social discontent through the masses, which was the source of the revolution. The cultural revolution left confusion and humiliation in Chinese history, revealing the ugliest and most selfish extreme madness of human nature, and brought a disastrous impact on Chinese society. The strategy of eliminating capitalism is not in the interests of the people, and even affects the state.

The communist party of China has always declared that its ideal and goal is socialism. Mao Zedong’s main aim was new socialist ideas, not to provide a democratic social environment for the people. ‘Mao offered the theory of a development’ leap ‘in explicit opposition to the process of slow, Steady development advocated by the Soviet economic crowd (and by economists of any persuasion). It is postulated that is people worked with a high enough sense of purpose, All existing barriers to productivity could be shattered, A leap in social wealth and well-being could be achieved in very little time. This pursuit could be accomplished with A-activated masses. ‘Bourgeois thinkers’ within the Party as well as the go-missile bureaucrats in the localities were the main obstacles to this endeavor. Mao swept these obstacles value with one sentence, uttered as he toured Newly formed people’s communes in the summer of 1985. ‘(from’ Mao Zedong and Chine in the Twentieth-century world ‘page 102). At the call of Mao Zedong, the red guards launched a massive campaign to break up old thoughts, culture, customs, and habits, destroying a large number of Chinese cultural relics and persecuting the people. This led to serious social unrest. So the party’s revolution, to a large extent, did not quite meet people’s needs. In China, the cultural revolution is often referred to as the ‘decade of turmoil.’ The lives of many ordinary people have been turned upside down since MAO Zedong plunged China into the turmoil that destroyed communist party institutions.

Mao Zedong is one of China’s most famous figures. He led the Chinese people in expelling the Japanese Aggression. He founded China in 1949 and became its first leader. He made a whole country. Today, his portrait hangs in Tiananmen Square. He was not only a hero but also an important statesman, thinker, military strategist, diplomat, and poet. He was born on December 26, 1893, and died on September 9, 1976, in Beijing at the age of 83. His body has been preserved in Beijing’s Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong has received mixed reviews. Today’s assessment of Mao Zedong’s life is mostly positive, but not all of it. There are negative comments, too, and no one is perfect. In my opinion, Mao Zedong was a brilliant thinker, strategist, and poet in the Second Sino-Japanese War, but since the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong has made a lot of bad decisions, like the Great Leap Forward

The great leap forward, from 1958 to 1960, was led by the Chinese Communist Party, which tried to use fertile land to increase industrial and agricultural production. The construction campaign is deeply incongruous, reflecting Mao Zedong’s eagerness to achieve huge gains and benefits in a short time. Even when someone objected, he stubbornly did what he wanted and did not listen to criticism or advice.

In agriculture, Mao Zedong encouraged local cadres to go to the countryside. He made the wrong decision to overtake Britain and the United States for a short time, a decision that at the time was not in line with China’s national conditions. Those cadres who go to the countryside falsely report grain production for their own benefit, leading to false information being uploaded all over the country. Mao Zedong imposed food levies based on the overstatement of production. However, the amount of grain collected by the state according to such false reports seriously exceeded the actual output, which results in the basic level of people’s grain being used by cadres to cover the false grain output, making the people’s grain less and less The direct contradiction between the farmer and the cadre c caused a famine.

On the industrial front, Mao Zedong encouraged steel making and called on everyone to make steel. In the countryside, local steel furnaces were also built to make steel in the fields. Many people donated pots, iron, and other metals to make steel, but because the material was substandard, only a large number of scrap iron smelting, this led to great waste and polluted the environment. It takes a lot of fuel to make steel, such as coal and wood, but due to the lack of iron ore and the lack of wood fuel, people neglected their farms and went to the mountains to mine or cut down trees. This not only led to a sharp decline in food production but also a sharp decline of the forest. All this has ended in disaster for China

The disconnection of the great leap forward made the construction movement unsustainable, and Mao Zedong’s erroneous theories eventually led to famine and widespread unnatural death and disaster. As a result of the cadres’ overstatement of output and the diversion of a lot of labor during the iron-making process, large areas of crops were not harvested and large areas of land were left uncultivated. Large public canteens also wasted a large amount of food. From winter 1958 to spring 1959, Some regions began to suffer from hunger, because the Rightists were fond of exaggerating, they did things that were not true, they inflated grain production, and leading cadres everywhere were afraid of being labeled as Rightists. They kept the secret, and the Central Committee continued to praise the People’s commune. But food shortages affected even Zhong Nan Hai that year, several heads of the state live in Zhong Nan Hai, including Mao Zedong. At the local level, many families were looted and forced to collect food in order to purchase food on the basis of unrealistic data. To make up for the huge data gap, farmers’ grain rations were collected. However, the huge gap created by the screening cannot be bridged, as part of the People’s commune has used natural disasters as an excuse to reduce the amount of high-yielding food to save some rations and reduce losses. But the nationwide food shortage was irreversible.

Introduction

The social and political environment often determines how a person leads and controls the rest of their life. Human beings are compelled to follow their path by emulating what others do or looking at the current circumstances they are in. It is the society they live in that shapes humans and their actions, and it is through experience — positive or negative — that humans shape their present actions towards the world they live in. The Chinese people have experienced revolutionary change, both socially and politically throughout the 20th century. Even though the Chinese citizens tried to show their potential to the government, their liberty and freedom were always suppressed, and were never able to gain control. In Jung Chang’s autobiography, Wild Swans, changes in the political regime can influence the way generations of women in China experience their childhood and the way they participate in public life.

B) Childhood of Yu-Fang

The story starts with Yu-Fang, Jung Chang’s grandmother, who had a very agonizing childhood compared to the Bao Qin, and Jung Chang. Yu-Fang was born right at the end of the Manchu empire, which has been ruling the nation for more than two hundred years. This was also the time when the threat of the Japanese invasion was a constant reality in the region of Manchuria, which is where the family’s hometown of Yinxian is located. Right when Yu-Fang was two years old, they wrapped her feet, also known as foot binding, a practice that is done in China to modify the shape and size of their feet. Foot binding was considered a mark of beauty and a status symbol at this time, even though it causes excruciating pain. As Chang described, “My grandmother screamed in agony and begged her to stop. Her mother had to stick a cloth into her mouth and gag her.” (Chang 1991: 24). Oftentimes, this would result in stunting the women’s growth, limiting her ability to move, as well as leaving a mark of disability, a mark that is not erasable. This represented the cultural attraction towards petite, childlike women for wives, and figuratively it is a candid picture of what family’s forced on their daughters purely for financial gain — they were even willing to permanently impair her in one of the most essential human ways.

C) Problems with Foot Binding

This practice is completely unnecessary to all Chinese women, showing the mistreatment and abuse towards women during this time. Chang is illustrating all the current difficulties and issues with China, as foot binding left all females unable to live life properly. As this was during the time when China was reforming under Mao Zedong, the citizens were constantly under pressure to follow the Chinese political culture, such as valuing obedience to authority, in other words, listening to your elders. Foot binding became popular among the elite during the Song Dynasty and eventually passed on to most social classes in the Qing Dynasty, therefore having almost one hundred percent of all Chinese women having their foot bound.

D) Comparing the life of Yu-Fang and Bao Qin

On the other hand, the binding of women’s feet can be contrasted with Chang’s mother, Bao Qin’s situation: She is forced to walk across China to get to Nanjing for her military training, and it leads to her having a miscarriage on her first child. She is often seen as a woman who was capable of anything since she is able to work for the communist party of China, and also for Mao Zedong’s red army ever since she was fifteen years old, but she has not realized the struggle she is currently going through, and how broken and how unethical her culture really is. Communism completely took over Bao Qin’s life, as they “were advancing southward with unstoppable momentum” (139). Once Bao experienced her first miscarriage, her husband completely disowns her, telling her that he will no longer take care of her showing that the wife has not yet demonstrated to the husband that she is fully prepared for her role as a mother. Bao is being judged for her performance as a mother in a society that has grown to become very totalitarian — brutal, faceless, and systematic. The miscarriage indicates that Bao has just experienced the feeling of not being able to handle life anymore, as her surroundings completely take over her inner self and she is not able to process anything she does anymore.

E) The evolution of the dynastic cycle

The dynastic cycle has dominated the culture and the morality of the Chinese people. The cycle repeats as every new dynasty evolves: it rises to a political, cultural, and economic peak, and sooner or later, because of all the citizens who turned immoral, the frustrations within the dynasty, and rebellions that occurred, the dynasty would often be overthrown, and China would go through a stage known as the “Period of Disorder,” where all Chinese citizens and the ruler go through a “mental breakdown” as they are not quite sure how to continue. Eventually, the dynasty would be overthrown, and a new dynasty will develop, and this process went on for at least two thousand years. This has been a continuity for Chinese history from the early times to the present by looking at the succession of empires and dynasties, implying that there is little basic development or change in social or economic structures. In fact, this has prevented the Chinese from what they are fully capable of doing. Andrew Wedeman’s article, “China’s Corruption Crackdown: War Without End?” discusses about the anti-corruption crackdown and the most intense attack on high-level graft in the post-Mao era led by Xi Jinping, China’s president, and Communist Party Chief. Wedeman describes Jinping’s corrupt actions as it “has targeted corruption not only within the party’s political apparatus, the state’s administrative bureaucracy, and the military’s command structure, but also in the state-owned industrial, commercial, and financial sectors. Despite three decades of economic reform and marketization, the state continues to control the commanding heights of China’s economy.” (Wedeman 213).

F) The life of Jung Chang

Chang realizes that her life is greatly influenced by the Cultural Revolution and the philosophy of Mao Zedong. When she explains about being publicly tortured for promoting capitalism, her father started experiencing mental health problems, later being diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was given electric shocks and insulin injections while being tied tight onto the bed, recalling that her father had “tears in his eyes, (and) begged my mother to ask the doctor to change the treatment.” (353). Chang’s father even described how it “feels worse than death” (353). She wonders how everyone has turned into monsters, and causing all this pointless brutality, and blames Mao’s wife and also the Cultural Revolution Authority for having her father deteriorate mentally and physically each passing day. The Cultural Revolution left more serious issues with China, especially after the death of Mao Zedong.

G) Life after the Cultural Revolution

Many people were left in poverty as there was a severe generation gap as young adults were denied an education, and the terror during the Cultural Revolution has caused people to fall back on traditional personal relationships, and the government also suffered a loss of legitimacy when millions of urban Chinese became disillusioned by the obvious power plays that took place in the name of political principle during the 1970s. Women were much more heavily involved in this as they were the ones who were heavily restricted from working and having an education until the Cultural Revolution came to an end. Jung Chang describes her life that education is super important to her, and is also a way for her to have hope in herself. Right when the Cultural Revolution comes to an end, and directly right after, Mao Zedong dies, Chang rushes to get into a university to study English, and later receives a scholarship to study in England and spends the rest of her life there (citation). Chang is excited and passionate to know what happened to China during the time she was under Mao, and under communism. Right, when she received her acceptance letter into Sichuan University, she was so determined to help people, she aimed to help the other children in her family, and looked forward to helping educate her youngest brother, Xiao-fang, so he can make up for all the missed school years (457-458). She realizes the importance of being able to navigate through the complexities of the political system, as she previously wasn’t allowed under Mao Zedong’s rule.

H) A voice in society is important

Being able to have a voice in society is important. Being tightly controlled by the government is not the most successful way to control human beings, humans are often intelligent and they have different ways of expressing their emotions, such as forming an alliance to the desire cause, and also through the internet. Even back when the Cultural Revolution ended, the leaders of the revolution was still expressing their thoughts and emotions. Chang describes the time where she witnesses a political campaign when she was going through the back door of the university, and she automatically assumed it was the cultural revolution leaders who blocked the front door (465). China often restricts their citizens to see and say various types of information as they believe it’s too destabilizing for the country as large and complex as them. The Chinese believe that all individuals deserve basic standards of human dignity, but they prioritize their economic development is more than their political rights.

I) Women in Politics

The meaningful participation of women in roles in society has been an important focus on global development policy. Women’s political participation leads to democracy, suiting more citizens’ needs, and also a more sustainable future. In China, with only one gender being able to participate in any political role, from the Politburo Standing Committee to the Central Committee, there has never been a female in one of those positions. From Wild Swans, the main leaders under control are Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Zhou Enlai, and they are all male. Males usually have a more firm, more strict personality compared to females, and when it came to Mao Zedong publicly humiliating Chang for promoting capitalism, the punishment was taken too far, compared to if there was a female leader in charge, they would have gave a warning was told to do some dirty work for the government. If a male was promoting capitalism, Mao Zedong would have not publicly humiliated him, rather he would have gave a slight warning. Politics requires a balance of both males and females to reach gender equality and without that, the laws made, and punishments that are issued are not fair to either gender.

J) Life after Mao

As Chang leaves her old memories behind in China and continues her next chapter in Europe, she takes in a sense of authority and empowers and embraces her female identity. She understands and continues to think about how corrupt and evil society is to the Chinese culture, and is super relieved that she made the decision to move away from China, so she can reside in a place that will treat her with equal opportunities. She even felt that the nation would improve if Mao Zedong was not ruling the country. After Mao’s death, Chang described what he left behind, such as a “brutalized nation, but also an ugly hand with little of its past glory remaining or appreciated.” (496). Mao Zedong has corrupted the whole Chinese nation in which ways are indescribable, for example, “mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion.” (496). There was no way to even realize if these emotions were genuine, if they sincerely loved Mao, or if they were just trained to take pride in the ruler at all times. Chang described this act as “Weeping for Mao was perhaps just another programmed act in their programmed lives.” (496).

K) Conclusion I

In synthesis, during childhood the previous generation suffered through corruption, torchure, and evilness; the new generation suffered through gender inequality and communism. While China’s government is still tightly controlled and maintained, obedience to elders, respecting the Chinese political institution, and prioritizing the economic reforms prior to political rights remain the same from the past.

L) Final Remarks

The lives of Bao Qin and Jung Chang differed from the life of Yu-Fang in various ways. All of these changes represent the improvement of representing women in Chinese society. The social condition, in which Bao Qin and Chang lead their lives, provided them with more freedom as compared to the life of Yu-Fang. Bao Qin and Chang played an active role in the field of politics. The differences in the position of women during the period of Yu-Fang and Chang, bring forth the improved social conditions, in which the women of China are leading their lives since the late nineteenth century.

Every strong leader aims to have his people acknowledge, respect, and honor his authority. This did not change in the case of Mao Zedong. He wanted to rule China in a fashion that made him out to be worshipped by his people. Mao was a revolutionist; he became the head of the Communist Party (CCP) in China in 1949 up until it became known as the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which is what China is still represented as today. Mao is the man behind the creation of the People’s Republic of China, since the PRC is still functioning today, one would say that Mao did an excellent job of establishing a more unionized Chinese government. This paper aims to examine Mao Zedong and the Communist Party in China by discussing the flow of important events, Mao’s achievements as a politician, as well as a brief examination of the Chinese White Paper.

Shortly after the end of World War II, conflict erupted, and a civil war broke out between the Nationalist Party and the CPP, this war lasted from 1940-1949. Although the conflict had been on and off, the tension could not be withstood because the trouble was too significant for the political stability of the people. However, after the announcement of the intention by Mao Zedong, the leader of the CPP, on forming the People’s Republic of China, the costly civil war came to an end. Meanwhile, there was an ongoing revolution that had been organized by a group of people in 1911. Also, this governmental upheaval was completed by the creation of the People’s Republic of China[footnoteRef:2]. [2: Cheek, Timothy, and David W. Blight. Mao Zedong and China’s Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martins Press, 2003.]

There was a lot of mismanagement of resources as well as corruption prior to Mao coming into power which angered many individuals making them want to have a revolution that would bring in a real communist leader. Also, certain policies and global tensions that had taken root between the United States and the Republic of China were disturbing the peace and the efforts that could allow the two nations to talk. President Truman believed that just as the Taiwan people, who became so obsessed with a revolution and whose efforts were watered down, the people of China would find themselves in the same situation. Therefore, the confidence of U.S.diplomatic ties would still return, even after the Communist Revolution was still strong. The charges that Truman had lost China were strong among the people of the U.S. but he continued to defend himself by expressing optimistic ideas that things would change eventually.

Mao Zedong was highly motivated to start a revolution by hearing the Japanese in the case of Manchuria. The invasion by the Japanese made Mao Zedong feel that he had the responsibility for his country and that he would protect the people and establish a strong nation because they had to defend themselves. There was no way in which the people could have come together to protect themselves because there was a political structure that was in power and its representatives did not want to engage themselves in the ideas of Mao Zedong. Nationalist leaders were selfish and corrupt, embezzling the resources of people so that they only enriched themselves through greed. In the meantime, Mao, as well as his peers, fears grew stronger each day, and they felt the need to launch a revolution to save the country. The internal solution to the Japanese threat could not be sought without getting the leaders out of power[footnoteRef:3]. [3: Schwartz, Benjamin Isadore, and Zedong Mao. Chinese communism and the rise of Mao. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2015.]

True communism had to be protected in the republic. Leaders in power made undemocratic policies, and the U.S. was also a threat because it had come in to support Japan in its intention to invade China. The Chinese White Paper that was published by the government of Truman came in to escalate the political tensions in communist China both globally and locally. However, Mao did not take this with ease and felt that he had to do something that would save the country. In the White Paper, the United States stated its explanation for its actions in the past in the Chinese region. It further stated that the Chinese would not be supported because they had not been cooperating enough with the Truman government and the civil war in China was a sign of this. The United States was blaming the non-cooperation of China for the lack of a ceasefire in the Chinese civil war. The United States, therefore, stated that it could not help the Republic of China if Japan decides to invade it. However, it was the wish of the U.S. that Japan invaded the People’s Republic of China because of their non-cooperation. This was some sort of punishment for the People’s Republic. Taiwan was in the same situation as China, and the U.S. did not prevent Japan from invading Manchuria.

The United States of America was not impressed by the people of the Chinese mainland who embraced communism. The United States had and has always been advocating for capitalism encouraging the creation and amassing of wealth by individuals for economic growth of the region. Therefore, the United States of America started to withdraw from China when the mainland fell to communism and welcomed it so that its economy would be based on communism. Thus, in 1949, the United States suspended all the diplomatic ties that it had with the Chinese people. This relationship between the U.S. and the Chinese people had lasted for decades but it was cut short because of the differences in ideology[footnoteRef:4]. Mao Zedong felt that his people were imitating the Soviet Republicans moving toward a revisionist direction. He did not like the fact that people did not have the much-needed quality of ideological purity, but they were rather reaching for expertise. More so, the Great Leap Forward that was engineered and initiated by Mao Zedong failed terribly from 1958 to 1960, causing his position in the government to weaken. An economic crisis also followed, and the region was heading towards the wrong direction in all perspectives as far as economy, politics, and culture were concerned. [4: Mao Zedong. ‘The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party.’ Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (Beijing, 1967) (2017): 305-334.]

Massive youth mobilization took place and the current leaders were taken to task over their values that Mao Zedong described as bourgeois. Mao Zedong, therefore, sought the ways in which he would smoothly and aggressively reassert his authority by attacking the party leadership that was reigning at that particular time. The only important thing then was to gather together people who would help him launch the attack in a well-orchestrated manner. The first individual was Lin Biao, the defense minister, and Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing. As a result, a cultural revolution was launched when the plenum met at the central committee. This Cultural Revolution was like no other. People were needed for demonstrations and picketing to cause a revolution and force the anti-communist leaders out of their positions. School children were needed as youths who are violent to demonstrate and call for the people to heed the ideologies of Mao Zedong. Therefore, Mao closed schools and got children out for demonstrations.[footnoteRef:5] [5: Jonathan Mirsky. Livelihood Issues. Archived September 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Literary Review]

Furthermore, Mao led demonstrators in cursing leaders for their lack of a revolutionary spirit. The revolution was then set on fire by the escalation of the movement as students took up more prominent roles. Mao Zedong allowed this because they were the groups that, as he saw, were more aggressive than the others. They formed paramilitary groups that rose up to humiliate the intellectuals, the elite, and the conservative elders in the society. The Red Guards were the most prominent group among all other groups. Their work entailed forming a personality cult. This could only be compared to the communities that existed during the time of Josef Stalin of Italy. Each of the factions of the revolutionary movement came up with a version of what they called the true interpretation of the thought that they held so close to their hearts, the Maoist ideology[footnoteRef:6]. [6: Steiner, H. Arthur. ‘The Role of the Chinese Communist Party.’ The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 277, no. 1 (2016): 56-66.]

Lin Biao also played a prominent role as the chief commander of the revolutionary movement under Mao Zedong. He helped overthrow Liu Shaoqi, the president, and the other communist leaders who were accused of being corrupt of the real communist idea.[footnoteRef:7] A state of anarchy was attained in most of the Chinese cities, and the president was roughed up and imprisoned until he died in the year 1969. Mao was a wise revolutionist because he had a different way of thinking when he saw that the Red Guards were almost overwhelmed. He approached Lin in 1967 to send army troops to these cities so that order could be restored and the Red Guards could be sent to the rural areas. The Red Guards declined in rural territories. The Chinese economy went down because there was no growth due to the lack of political stability. This is because industrial production stopped immediately after the revolution began. [7: 陈霞. ‘Rehabilitation of Liu Shaoqi (Feb. 1980).’ Rehabilitation of Liu Shaoqi (Feb. 1980) – China.org.cn. Accessed April 24, 2019. http://www.china.org.cn/china/CPC_90_anniversary/2011-06/22/content_22838789.htm]

Lin was given the deputy president’s role as the official and designated successor of Mao in the year 1969. He instituted the martial law by the use of the excuse in the border with the Soviet troops. The premier of China, together with Mao, moved in quickly to stop the premature power grab by Lin whereby the ranks of power were split in the top Chinese government. However, Lin died in the year 1971 as he was trying to escape from his government and enter into the Soviet Union. After the death of Lin, Zhou, the premier, took over power, and members, as well as followers, of Lin, were purged, which left everybody angry. Many people started to wonder about the course and the need for Mao Zedong’s revolution. Power struggles rocked the government as the people in Mao’s leadership circle started to rival each other. The revolution, therefore, came to an end with the premier Zhou taking power, reviving the old systems, and getting the former corrupt and conservative officials back to the government. The republic returned to its former state with the old education system being reinstated and revived[footnoteRef:8]. [8: Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N. The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pg 150 onward.]

In conclusion, Mao Zedong was such a strong revolutionary leader that China depended on. He was a selfless individual who put the interests of the people as a priority. The Maoist ideology that was highly spread by the Red Guards was the true reflection of the efforts of Mao Zedong. Although he fought for the unity and freedom of the People’s Republic of China, some selfish individuals took charge because he allowed Zhou in. However, the revolution was a great effort that united the nation.

References

1. Cheek, Timothy, and David W. Blight. Mao Zedong and China’s revolutions: a brief history with documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.
2. Schwartz, Benjamin Isadore, and Zedong Mao. Chinese communism and the rise of Mao. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2015.
3. Steiner, H. Arthur. ‘The Role of the Chinese Communist Party.’ The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 277, no. 1 (2016): 56-66.
4. Wasserstrom, Jeffrey N. The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pg 150 onward.
5. Zedong, Mao. ‘The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party.’ Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (Beijing, 1967) (2017): 305-334.

Introduction: Standing at the Beginning

One of the most legendary and, at the same time, controversial historical figures of the XX century, Mao Zedong was keeping his personality behind a closed door for quite long. He was considered the “evil genius” of revolution by practically everyone; however, a closer look at his career and the evolution of his views, as well as his influence, may make historians change their minds. Although Mao Zedong is often referred to as the great dictator of the XX century, he, in fact, was considerably less harmful to China and its residents than the members of the political movements that were brewing in the state at the time (Cheek 116).

China in the XX Century: Development Specifics

Discussing the evolution of Mao Zedong, one must mention the environment, in which the aforementioned evolution took place. There is no secret that China was under the aegis – or, to be more exact, absolute control – or Japan, which had a deplorable effect on the state economy and was clearly leading to the country’s downfall.

It should be noted, though, that Mao did not break new grounds in suggesting a different pattern of political behavior for China – several attempts at rioting have already been undertaken by a range of activists, though with little success. Negative emotions concerning the rule of Japan over China had been brewing for centuries up until Mao Zedong embraced the possibilities of socialism and the progress that it promised (Cheek 118).

Mao Zedong Emerges: What a Newspaper Article May Spawn

The fast pace, at which the principles of socialism were spread and accepted, was beyond shocking. Though one must give credit to Zedong’s political savvy, his success was predetermined by the desire of the Chinese citizens to make a change and shift from being an insignificant rudiment of Japan to a self-sufficient state with its own political strategy and economy (Cheek 125).

The Transformation Begins: Mao Zedong and His Reforms

However, like any other person, who is provided with unlimited dower over the state, its population and economy, Mao Zedong soon lost the ability to restrain his desire to shape the state policies to his will. As the study explains, once Mao Zedong realized that he finally reached the peak of his reign, he started abusing the power that he was trusted with by the Chinese people, and that can be considered the point from which the economy and politics of the state went downhill:

Comrade Mao Zedong’s prestige reached a peak, and he began to get arrogant at the very time when the Party was confronted with the new task of shifting the focus of its work to socialism construction, a task for which the utmost caution was required. (Cheek 217)

There is no surprise that shortly after Mao Zedong’s death, the above-mentioned Gang of Four emerged in order to seize control over the state that was literally falling apart. It is remarkable that Zedong’s principles of tyranny and total control not only failed to consolidate the state in the course of his reign but also contributed to the country’s faster decay after the great dictator rest in peace. In other words, it was obvious that the exposure to unlimited power over the entire Chinese population and the potential benefits that this control promised made the process of Mao Zedong’s transformation from a wise and reasonable leader into a despot all the more plausible (Cheek 177).

Tyranny Reaching Its Peak: The Results of the Cultural Revolution

Though the situation in China of the XX century was clearly unique, it still rubbed elbows with the Taiwanese crisis caused by similar issues. Though the Chinese government in Taiwan was the key rival of the Chinese Communist Party, it, nevertheless, the strategies are chosen by the state leaders, nevertheless, had many points of contact, which became even more tangible after the Chinese Civil War and the following conflict with Taiwan over its territory (Cheek 164).

Reconsidering the Influence of Mao Zedong: The One to Blame?

It would be wrong to claim that Mao Zedong was the concentrated essence of evil that the world media represented him. Quite on the contrary, Zedong himself was amazingly inactive after the revolution was finally over.

However, the Cultural Revolution has spawned a range of movements, most of which were famous for being especially radical. Many of the movements and parties that appeared at the time soon became infamous due to their crimes; however, none of them managed to reach the scale of the notorious Gang of Four.

In retrospect, Zedong’s tyranny did not express itself in the outrageous decisions of the state bodies as much as it did in the emergence of the aforementioned movements and the effects that these movements had on the social, economic and political life of the state. Indeed, taking a closer look at the China of the XX century, one will see inevitably that the direct negative effects of Mao Zedong’s rule were close to nil, whereas the riots started by the Gang of Four and their numerous followers were obviously the key factors defining the rapid decline of the support for Zedong’s rule and the increasing tension within the Chinese society.

Works Cited

Cheek, Timothy. Mao Zedong and China’s Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History & Culture). New York, NY: Bedford’/St. Martin’s. 2002. Print.