Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST
In 1966 the proportion of industrial output value from collective
and commune/brigade run industrial enterprises to state enterprises
was 17:83; in 1976 it was 37:63, with the output value of
collective industry growing at the annual average rate of 15.8
per cent over the 10 years.
(Forster 2003: 148)
Forster’s research shows that during the period, the tea industry in
Zhejiang province grew rapidly.
The yardstick of Hitler: a favourite European comparison
Instead of discussing Mao, a political figure of such consequence, in
the context of political, social and economic importance, Chang and
Halliday focus on character assassination. Of course one can write a
biography that focuses on personality, on private life and private
thoughts. Such a biography may indeed bring insights and understanding
that cannot be found in biographies of a non-personal nature.
However, this cannot be achieved with the single-minded intention of
personality attack. One needs to reveal the personality’s inner tension
and conflicts. We need to see the complexities, paradoxes, ironies and
tragedies, in other words, the unintended consequences of human life,
individually or collectively.
The development of a complex character is applicable to all good
biographies. In the particular case of Mao there is another dimension
to his character. That is, the personality of Mao has to be examined in
the context of Chinese history, tradition and culture. Any decontextualized
comparison of Mao with a European figure is intellectually
infantile if not politically motivated. In The Unknown Story and elsewhere,
such as in the media reviews of the book, we are constantly
urged to compare Mao with Hitler. 2 However, in my understanding,
Hitler and Mao belonged to completely different worlds. Mao became
a leader in the long process of a popular revolution that transformed
the political, social and economic landscape of a large country whereas
Hitler was the leader of a regime that invaded other countries for no
understandable reasons other than the desire for conquest. Hitler was
the leader of a regime that designed scientific means and methods to
physically wipe out other ethnic groups. Hitler and Mao worked for
very different causes and were utterly different personalities.
If they read what Hitler said, saw the way he made speeches, knew
what he did, most, if not all, Chinese – this is an educated guess since
there is, to the best of my knowledge, no scientifically designed survey
on this – could not help but come to the straightforward conclusion
that this person must be clinically insane. Quite simply, a personality
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