The Life Of Mao Zedong
Dressed in the drab military uniform that symbolized the
revolutionary government of Communist China, Mao Zedong's body still looked
powerful, like an giant rock in a gushing river. An enormous red flag
draped his coffin, like a red sail unfurled on a Chinese junk, illustrating
the dualism of traditional China and the present Communist China that
typified Mao. 1 A river of people flowed past while he lay in state during
the second week of September 1976. Workers, peasants, soldiers and students,
united in grief; brought together by Mao, the helmsman of modern China. 2
He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese
ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's ...
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continued to mirror the rigidity of traditional Chinese society. His
father, a strict disciplinarian, demanded filial piety. 6 Forced to do farm
labor and study the Chinese classics, Mao was expected to be obedient. On
the other hand, Mao remembers his mother was "generous and sympathetic." 7
Mao urged his mother to confront his father but Mao's mother who believed
in many traditional ideas replied that "was not the Chinese way." 8 Mao in
his interviews with historian Edgar Snow reports how during his childhood
he tried to escape this traditional Chinese upbringing by running away from
home.
The rebellion Mao claims to have manifested might have distanced
Mao physically from his family but, traditional Chinese values were deeply
ingrained, shaping his political and personal persona. His father's
harshness with dealing with opposition, his cunning, his demand for
reverence from subordinates, and his ambition were to be seen in how Mao
demanded harmony, order, and ...
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leaders that Mao was exposed to during his childhood. 14 Yao
and Shun are credited with forming the first Chinese society in the Yellow
River Valley; Ch'in Shih Huang Ti unified the Chinese empire and built the
Great Wall of China; Han Wu Ti solidified the foundation of the Han Empire.
15 In the turmoil that China was to undergo, particularly after Mao became
the head of the Communist party, we will see how he was guided by
traditional Chinese values and the history of the emperors provided him
with a map for the future. 16 However, at first, he did not seem strongly
focused on history or philosophy.
During the next ten years, 1909-1918, Mao drifted. In 1909 at the
age of ...
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The Life Of Mao Zedong. (2004, October 10). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Life-Of-Mao-Zedong/15669
"The Life Of Mao Zedong." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 10 Oct. 2004. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Life-Of-Mao-Zedong/15669>
"The Life Of Mao Zedong." Essayworld.com. October 10, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Life-Of-Mao-Zedong/15669.
"The Life Of Mao Zedong." Essayworld.com. October 10, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Life-Of-Mao-Zedong/15669.
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