Word: mao
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...titular if not still the actual ruler of one-fifth of humankind; yet China's Mao Tse-tung remains the most shadowy figure among the leaders of 20th century Communism. There seems to be almost no middle ground between his reverential propagandists and his vituperative critics. As a result, the man who has altered the destiny of China -and the world-almost invariably appears two-dimensional. In the '30s and '40s, a few foreigners, notably the American journalist Edgar Snow, captured some titillating glimpses of Mao. But after the Communists gained power in 1949, Peking...
...least some of the shadows around Mao are being dispelled. Recently, a cache of Mao's secret speeches, letters and other writings came into the possession of the U.S. State Department. Many of the documents were seized by zealous Red Guards who broke into highly secret Communist Party files during the 1966-68 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Others were leaked to the Red Guards by unnamed Chinese leaders. The papers were then smuggled out of mainland China and were obtained by U.S. officials from sources in Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. After a thorough preliminary check of the documents...
...torrent of Mao's words that flow from these extraordinary papers reveals the long-obscure human dimension of the man. He emerges as a compelling personality, supremely confident of his ability to surmount China's immense domestic problems. In speeches delivered at secret meetings of the Politburo, he comes across as passionate and often earthy. All told, the documents amply demonstrate that Mao, now 75 and reportedly nearing death, left an imprint on China and its 750 million people that will surely prove ineradicable for generations to come...
...Mao reveals himself best by his pungent use of language. Rather like Nikita Khrushchev, he likes to draw on folk tales and proverbs to contrive devastating metaphors against his opponents. He is also fond of quoting from classical Chinese literature. In a 1959 meeting, he cited a Han Dynasty poet to belabor his colleagues for their laziness and love of luxury: "When one travels in a carriage or sedan chair, the body begins to decay. Women with pearly teeth and false eyebrows are the axes that cut down the body's vitality. Delicious meats and fatty foods...
...Mao occasionally balances gibes at his comrades by poking fun at himself. In a secret speech at Lushaa in 1959, he discussed the need to go slower during the Great Leap Forward: "One can't be rash. There must be a step-by-step process. In eating meat, one can only consume one piece at a time. One can never hope to become a fatso at one stroke." After a pause, Mao continued: "The commander in chief [Marshal Chu Teh] and I didn't get fat in a single...