Mao Reading Response
Mao Zedong Readings Response Paper
Being one of the most well-known characters of Chinese modern history, Mao Zedong has been constantly debated in both Western and Eastern worlds. Like all historic figures, Mao Zedong has been seen in different light: sometimes under glorification and reverence, and sometimes as a devil that dragged China into one of its darkest eras. These contradicting opinions can be easily seen in the assigned readings of this course. While Mao Zedong is generally praised for his military accomplishments during the overturning of the former government of the Kuomintang and the war against Japanese invasion, opinions differ when his ruling of China after 1949 comes into discussion. In some readings, he is most heavily criticized for the cruelty and aggressiveness he had posed on the Chinese people- to the extent that some even question whether overturning the Kuomintang was truly liberation for the Chinese people after all. In other readings, Mao Zedong is still seen as the great liberator of the Chinese people- the leader that brought China onto the tracks of modernization and great economic development. Although opinions about Mao Zedong differ greatly from person to person, there is no doubt that he is indeed a powerful figure in Chinese politics- in international politics even- and the influence his reign has on modern China still lives to this very day, for reasons and effects that are both good and bad. Although Schram tries his very best in keeping his tone objective and non-prejudiced in his article “Mao Zedong a Hundred Years On: The Legacy of a Ruler,” the negative tone of his descriptions of Mao Zedong is still hard to hide. While he urges his readers to read into both sides of Mao, and admits the importance the positive influence he had on the economic and industrial development of China after 1949, he still uses much of his article to illustrate the devastation China and its peoples had to go through as a result of Mao
Being one of the most well-known characters of Chinese modern history, Mao Zedong has been constantly debated in both Western and Eastern worlds. Like all historic figures, Mao Zedong has been seen in different light: sometimes under glorification and reverence, and sometimes as a devil that dragged China into one of its darkest eras. These contradicting opinions can be easily seen in the assigned readings of this course. While Mao Zedong is generally praised for his military accomplishments during the overturning of the former government of the Kuomintang and the war against Japanese invasion, opinions differ when his ruling of China after 1949 comes into discussion. In some readings, he is most heavily criticized for the cruelty and aggressiveness he had posed on the Chinese people- to the extent that some even question whether overturning the Kuomintang was truly liberation for the Chinese people after all. In other readings, Mao Zedong is still seen as the great liberator of the Chinese people- the leader that brought China onto the tracks of modernization and great economic development. Although opinions about Mao Zedong differ greatly from person to person, there is no doubt that he is indeed a powerful figure in Chinese politics- in international politics even- and the influence his reign has on modern China still lives to this very day, for reasons and effects that are both good and bad. Although Schram tries his very best in keeping his tone objective and non-prejudiced in his article “Mao Zedong a Hundred Years On: The Legacy of a Ruler,” the negative tone of his descriptions of Mao Zedong is still hard to hide. While he urges his readers to read into both sides of Mao, and admits the importance the positive influence he had on the economic and industrial development of China after 1949, he still uses much of his article to illustrate the devastation China and its peoples had to go through as a result of Mao