A2 Coursework: Help on Mao needed. thanks.

Im doing my topic on Mao Tsetung's China, and I'm not sure if my question is good enough because I didn't know much about the topic when i devised this question, but after reading into it, it seemed like the debate is going to be too one-sided as the question already kind of have a conclusion already as to he really wasn't very successful in terms of his policies.

"How convincing is the arguement that Mao's success was an illusion rather than a reality?"

Is there any way I can alter the question into something more debatable? or does anyone know the good questions/popular debates for this subject? I've no idea where to start from. :confused:

Help much appreciated, thanks a lot!!!

Reply 1

The West Wing

What do you mean by 'illusion rather than a reality'? Is this a quote about Mao Zedong?

Reply 2

_psyche_

No its not. What I mean is that he was generally regarded by the chinese people as a hero, and still is to so extent, but people have started to question the truth behind the statement.

Reply 3

The West Wing

_psyche_

No its not. What I mean is that he was generally regarded by the chinese people as a hero, and still is to so extent, but people have started to question the truth behind the statement.

As a Chinese person and history student, the insight I got when I asked people in China this question was that among the interlectual elite opinion is very divided, but for peasants and such, Mao is the single famous person they have heard of. They won't have heard of Stalin, Bush, Hitler, etc. in their sheltered life, but Mao is the only aspirational figure they know, and the government uses his name and image to their advantage to maintain a political status-quo. These people won't have known about Mao's brutal nature and outrageous ambitions for China.

I personally think this is a great topic to research, I will proably chose something similar when I do my personal project for A2 (either this or Thatcher).

Some examples you can use (i'm sure you know them)

For (Mao being a hero):

Healthcare
Political sovereignty
Womens rights
Industrialisation
Literacy rates
Ended backwardness of Confucism

Against:

Famine
Deaths
AIDS
Cultural destruction
Poorly conceived economic plans
Education policy/Universities
Political oppression
Propaganda

Reply 4

MOORE_LAWSTUDENT

It's a bit wishy washy really. Most people in China know that his policies resulted in death. The reason why they still look up to him is probably a product of two factors: 1. As human beings we tend to look back, and say "Oh the old days were better" even if they weren't. 2. The government forces them to a certain extent. Mao was the founder of the Revolution. He is therefore the centre figure of the CCP today.

Reply 5

_psyche_

thank you for the advise, t made things slightly clearer^_^.
Though does anyone know books written by historians that are pro-mao, I need arguements for both sides because a lot of the ones i found are largely critical (esp. Jung's one, which i thought was kind of exaggerated. I know they did a lot of research, but it just seemed like they're trying to make out that EVERYTHING he did had an ulterior motive. lol, its like the pipes equivalent for mao's china).

Thanks again^_^

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