Mao Zedong

Farm A century ago, many parts of the world were suffering from atrocities in their country. In this essay, I will be talking about Mao Zedong’s time in China and I will be relating it to animal farm. I believe that both Mao and Napoleon had shown ways of totalitarianism, and I will be talking about their decisions that led to that. Mao’s Upbringing: As a child, Mao was born in a village called Shaoshan. His family were peasants, and the environment he grew up in, education was valued only…

Before the introduction of Internet and mass media, control over the masses relied on both the CCP presenting themselves and their values like a religion with Mao as the figurehead sent to save all of China, and the cooperation of the masses to spread Mao’s words carry out his wishes. Ellul, a French propaganda analyst and philosopher described China’s propaganda as “using political education, or what he defined as 'brainwashing ', and huge organisations in a situation absent of mass media.…

In 1958, Mao employed tactics in an attempt to “modernise” China and create an economy that rivalled America’s. ‘The Great Leap Forward’ focussed heavily on factories and boosting the economy and, due to this, agriculture fell by the wayside. Li states that “By the time I was born three years of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and bad weather had resulted in one of the greatest famines the world had ever seen. Nearly thirty million Chinese died” (8). After the Great Leap Forward failed, Mao introduced…

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping succeeded Mao Zedong as the only paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without any formal government positions, such as the head of state, the head of government or the General Secretary. He was regarded as ‘the architect’, who successfully strengthened the country with his revolutionary economic reform program- the ‘Open Door’ policy. With that mentioned, this essay focuses on Deng Xiaoping’s effort in his economic reform program that has changed China…

With thousands left wounded, a seemingly countless number of citizens reported dead, and a country left with a damaged reputation. All of these were the results of a truly unforgettable and shocking event which happened on the 4th of June 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre. Tiananmen Square, situated in China's capital, Beijing, is the largest public space in the world. Being one of the largest tourist attractions in the world, it is surrounded by monumental public buildings that line its…

The artwork of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei is characterised by a desire to critique the political agenda of his home country’s government. Although the social activism Weiwei engages in is criminalised and often censored in China, he has won international acclaim for his work, which has been exhibited in such major cities as London, New York, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. This global admiration is made all the more impressive on the basis that Weiwei has faced strict travel restrictions, resulting in…

surrounding a large central star amongst a red background. Adopted in 1949, the “Five-Star Red Flag” represented a new wave of thinking in China that promoted communism. Mao Zedong, the founder of The People’s Republic of China, assumed power of China through support of peasants in the hopes of creating a country that was united. Mao insisted that a Cultural Revolution needed a nationwide class struggle in order to create an equal society. Although there were prosperous times in the beginning of…

Mao is a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist, however, most of his policies are nothing close to being Marxist-Leninist. Moreover, Mao disagreed with Marx’s key theory of historical materialism, which is the study of history on the basis of the materialistic condition at that period. Instead, he believed that history is shaped by an individual’s thoughts. We can see this concept being applied throughout his reign. One example is The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution, commonly referred as the…

leadership during the Long March, helped the Chinese Red Army to survive. First, Mao led the successful Zunyi Meeting. Due to the wrong command by the previous leaders of the army (Li De and Bo GU), the relations between the Party and the central Red Army’s survival was at risk. Mao was able to turn the tide and beat Wang Ming "left" wing ruling within the party and rule the Party and turning the tide for the Red Army. Eventually Mao would lead the Chinese Red Army to survival. In detail, in…

of leadership are overlooked by many. China had faced a weak central government under the Qing Dynasty Mao provided a strong central government that alleviated poor conditions subsequent to Imperial China. Mao intended to bring social reforms, improve sanitation, reducing the spread of disease and bridge the gap of gender inequality by introducing women’s rights. Essentially, as a communist, Mao wanted to bring overall equity to the country that paved the groundwork for modernisation in China.…