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Mao Zedong – national hero? History Roadshow 14 August 2015 Rebecca Cairns Deakin University [email protected] u

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Mao Zedong – national

hero?

History Roadshow 14 August 2015

Rebecca CairnsDeakin University

[email protected]

Learning Intentions

To consider contemporary Chinese

perspectives on the legacy of Mao Zedong

To consider why Mao is still considered a national hero and

connect this with your own evaluations and

historiographical inquiry

To develop knowledge of the CCP’s

achievements and compromises after the

1949 revolution

To develop skills in primary source analysis

Let’s look at some recent representations of Mao Zedong in China…

Youth Mao Zedong Statue Changsha, Hunan Province (built 2007 – 2009)

The 42nd International River Crossing Festival, July 16 2015 in Wuhan, Hebei Province, which commemorates Mao’s swimming of the Yangzi

River in1966.

The sixth ‘Mao Zedong’ train was unveiled to celebrate Mao’s 121st birthday in December 2014.

People paying their respects on Mao’s 121st birthday in his hometown, Shaoshan.

Mao the celebrity?

Examples of Red tourism sites in Nanjing and in Shaoshan, Mao’s ancestral village in Hunan Province.

Government censorship of contemporary art has relaxed somewhat. Artists who have played with images of Mao include Yue Minjun, Wang Gungyi, Zheng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi and Yu Younan.

Mao’s presence still dominates in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Mao’s portrait on the Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace)

Chinese people are well aware of Mao’s failings. Why does Mao’s image

remain on the Tiananmen?

Why is Mao still revered as a national hero?

1919

1925?

Why are Chinese like a sheet of loose sand? What makes them like a sheet of loose sand? It is because there is too much individual freedom. Because Chinese have too much freedom, therefore China needs a revolution.... Because we are like a sheet of loose sand, foreign imperialism has invaded, we have been oppressed by the commercial warfare of the great powers, and we have been unable to resist. If we are to resist foreign oppression in the future, we must overcome individual freedom and join together as a firm unit, just as one adds water and cement to loose gravel to produce something as solid as a rock.

Sun Yixian (1924) Three Principles of the People

1945 - 1948

1949

1953

“…the Tiananmen portrait turned out to be only the beginning of a much larger effort to ‘rebrand’ China and the Chinese Communist Revolution with himself as its grand progenitor an his visage as its logo. It would become one of the best-known trademarks on the planet.” Schell, O. & Delury, J. (2013).p.230

Part of your task in VCE Revolutions is to analyse the extent to which revolutionary ideals were compromised as the CCP consolidated power, and to analyse the contribution of Mao and the CCP to the development of the new society

Avoid focusing only on what went wrong from 1957-1976. Look at some of the successes during the liberation period and connect back to the ideals of Mao Zedong Thought pre-1949 for more complex responses.

Mao’s On New Democracy (1940) provides a good source of his vision for the new society.

Mao Zedong (1940) On New

Democracy

“The Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, representing the will of the people of the whole country, proclaims the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and is organizing the people’s own central government. The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference unanimously agrees that New Democracy, or the People’s Democracy, shall be the political foundation for the national construction of the People’s Republic of China”

Document 13.1: Excerpts from The Common Program of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, September 1949. Retrieved from http://chinasince1644.cheng-tsui.com/sites/default/files/upload/13-1.pdf

Why is On New Democracy such an important founding document of the PRC and Mao Zedong Thought?

What did new did New Democracy promise?

See handout Progressive culture instead of old backward culture A new national culture An end to colonialism and feudalism Big banks, industry and commercial enterprise owned and

administered by the state Confiscate land from landlords and redistribute it to peasants All share in the eating, work and access to education Not push aside those who are revolutionary unless they want to

push aside the CCP Alliance with Russia People’s co-operation with the CCP Assistance to peasants and workers Give peasants rights Uphold the dignity and independence of China No construction without destruction Spoken language brought closer to the people

Visual Analysis Activity

• Identify two symbols that represent the ideals of New Democracy.

• To what extent does this representation provide an accurate description of the reconstruction of China up to 1965?

Images sources: • Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Museum (2013).

Chinese Propaganda Poster Collection. • Chinese Posters: http://chineseposters.net/

index.php• Also see timeline of propaganda images:

http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2014/10/chinas-65-years-of-sloganeering/

What sort of China did the CCP inherit?

Early Successes? NATION BULIDING• Introduction of a new currency and other economic measures helped

bring inflation under control by 1950• Restoration of railways and waterways• National income grew by nearly 9% and industrial input by 18.9%

annually • Tough action by PLA, such as martial law and removal of weapons, was

needed to bring violence under control • Building and infrastructure programs: bridges, dams, hydroelectric

plants, canals and reservoirs• Agrarian Land Reform Law (1950): by 1951 40% of the land was in the

hands of 60% of the population but the Speak Bitterness campaign also caused great suffering , with two million people killed between 1947- 1952

• The three and five antis campaigns addressed corruption, tax evasion fraud but was also a witch-hunt that divided families and communities and had negative economic impact

• The First Five Year Plan 1953-1957: economic and industrial targets were met, however, the gap between rural and urban populations widened

• Steel production exceeded targets

Early Successes? QUALITY OF LIFE

• Equality for women and the Marriage Law 1950• Banning of concubinage, footbinding, polygamy and child

marriage• Illiteracy was at 85% prior to 1949, the introduction of putonghua

(common speech), pinyin (alphabetised system for characters) and simplified characters saw a drastic improvement in literacy rates

• Life expectancy increased from 36 to 57 years• Opium smoking was banned • Urban incomes rose by 40%• Urban housing standards and availability improved BUT…..• The countryside suffered, cotton and grain production failed to

keep pace with population growth• In the 1953 census the government was shocked to discover the

population was nearly 600 million, much higher than expected, which led to the development of some of the policies of the Great Leap Forward

“Mao had restored pride” van de Ven, H. (2012). p.109

“Mao has been demoted but never officially repudiated…The CCP sees itself as continuing the work Mao started in the 1930s but acknowledge it went astray from the mid 1950s to late 1970s.” Dirlik, A. (2012)

“The Chinese Communist Party refers to its victory in 1949 as a ‘liberation’…but in China the story of liberation and the revolution that followed is not one of peace, liberty and justice. It is foremost a history of calculated terror and systematic violence.” Dikotter, F. (2013). P. 1

“Despite his tragic errors, the CCP under Mao led China from a war-torn, divided, and impoverished collection of provinces to a stable nation-state and world nuclear power.”Cheek, T. (2010). p.15

“But to this day Mao’s still substantial appeal seems to derive, at least in part, from his ability to project a commanding sense of fearlessness and strength… Being bullied by your own new ‘emperor’ was better than being at the mercy of arrogant foreign powers.” Schell, O. & Delury, J. (2013). p.199

Historians’ Perspectives

Official CCP Perspectives

“When we write about his mistakes, we should not exaggerate, for otherwise we shall be discrediting Chairman Mao Zedong, and this would mean discrediting our Party and state.” Deng Xiaoping 1980 cf Dirlik, A. (2012). p.18

“Comrade Mao Zedong was a great Marxist and a great proletarian revolutionary, strategist and theorist. It is true that he made gross mistakes during the Cultural Revolution, but, if we judge his activities as a whole, his contributions to the Chinese revolution far outweigh his mistakes. His merits are primary and his errors secondary.”1981 Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China. https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm

Chairman Mao’s contributions are

70 % positive, 30 % negative

Mao was “a great patriot and a national hero” … his “greatest contributions led the Party and the people to find the correct path of New Democratic Revolution, completed the anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism tasks, established the PRC and the basic socialism system.”President Xi Jinping on Mao’s 120th Birthday

See http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/xi-mao-and-chinas-search-usable-past

Revolutionary leaders are not gods, but human beings; [we] cannot worship them like gods or refuse to allow people to point out and correct their errors….

Since his death, Mao’s image has begun to be taken down from the sacred alter. However, if he is removed completely from the sacred alter, this will involve too many practical interests. The ruling party needs Mao in order to guarantee a legitimate base for itself to hold power. The army, the state, and other fundamental institutions, in order to guarantee their authority and continuation, also require Mao.” Jiang Yihua, Fudan University, Shanghai (2010)

Reconstructing Chinese Marxism: Dirlik, A. (2012)

Stage 1 Gone astray…. Stage 2

1930s – mid 1950s

New Democracy

historical and ideological foundation

Mao’s “correct” thought

mid 1950s to late 1970s

Ideology went astray

Now viewed as a “negative example” from which to learn what not to do

Leftist errors and radical policies

“It is true that he made gross mistakes during the Cultural Revolution” 1981 Resolution

post 1978 - period of reform and opening up

“Chinese Marxism”: the most advanced form of Marxism

Socialism with Chinese characteristics is constituted by Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook

Reinterpretation and restoration of the the “correct” line of Mao Zedong Thought

Recent Chinese Mao Scholarship1. Official ideology: the CCP’s interpretation which controls political

discourse in Chinese Mao scholarship; although Mao’s thought and image are still a sensitive areas, in the framework of the official ideology, Mao Zedong Thought seems merely to be a symbol for political legitimacy.

2. Liberal school: critical of Mao, especially his later years; Li Rui, a famous Mao scholar in China, is typical of this school: “He contributed to China’s Revolution, made mistakes in his reign, and committed a crime in launching the Cultural Revolution.”

3. New Left scholars: are critical of Western liberalism and the new economic reforms which need to be remedied by “the real spirit of Mao.”

4. Historical school: believe historical interpretation must be based on fact and evidence and disapprove of ideological power intruding on historical narratives

Xiao, Y. (2010). ‘Recent Mao Zedong Scholarship in China’ in Cheek, T. (Ed.) A Critical Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University Press.

ReferencesCairns, R. (2014). First Five Year Plan. Alpha History. Retrieved from http://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/first-five-year-plan/Cheek, T. (2010). A Critical Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University PressCCP (1981) Resolution on certain questions in the historyof our party since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 1981. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm Dirlik, A. (2012). Mao Zedong in Contemporary Chinese Official Discourse and History. China Perspectives. 2. 17-27.Dikotter, F. (2013). The Tragedy of Liberation. London: Bloomsbury.Gerwirtz, P. (2014). Xi, Mao, and China’s Search for a Usable Past. China File. Retrieved fromhttp://www.chinafile.com/xi-mao-and-chinas-search-usable-pastLi, H. (2012). Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Mao, Z. (1940) On New Democracy. Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_26.htm Schmidt-Glintzer, H., Mittag, A., & Rüsen, J. (2005). Historical Truth Historical Criticism and Ideology : Chinese Historiography and Historical Culture From a New Comparative Perspective. Leiden: Brill.Smith, S. A. (2011) Recent historiography of the People’s Republic of China, 1949-76. Twentieth Century Communism. 196-216 Schell, O. & Delury, J. (2013). Creative Destruction: Mao Zedong Part II. Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-First Century. London: Little Brown. Shanghai Propaganda Poster Art Museum (2013). Chinese Propaganda Poster Collection. ShanghaiVan de Ven, H. (2012). War, Cosmopolitanism, and Authority: Mao from 1937 to 1956. Cheek, J. A Critical Introduction to Mao. Xiao, Y. (2010). ‘Recent Mao Zedong Scholarship in China’ in Cheek, T. (Ed.) A Critical Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University Press. Wang, Zheng (2012). Never Forget National Humiliation. New York: Columbia University Press.