Well, I am not arguing the great leap forward, what I am arguing is that in order to make Mao a murder, the author made up the fake speech. After read this, without check the credibility, anyone would think that Mao designed this famin in order to kill people. As a chinese leader, if he makes such a speech, he is placing the wohle responsibility on his own shoulder. He is actually aborbing all the blame to himself. His enemies would love to hear that because all their mistakes would be covered by Mao's word. Do you think Mao would say that to make his position even weaker?
Have you read all the posts of mine?
Was Mao not responsible for the Great Leap Forward and for the Famine?
You mean to say that Chinese leaders are not truthful when they may a mistake and instead blame others, lest they are purged? And anyway who could purge Mao? Not even Chiu en Lai could do so. The Gang of Four was purged including Mao's own wife (the official one).
Although officially not ended until 1977, the Cultural Revolution had passed its worse excesses by 1972, and a balance of power between left wing and right, radicals and moderates was established. The political instability caused by the Cultural Revolution had an enormous impact upon the economy of China. Recognising that a period of stability was required, Mao stepped back from the day-to-day administration, and Premier Zhou Enlai embarked upon the reconstruction of the economy. Mao, now ageing and suffering ill health increasingly retired from public affairs. In order to build a solid state bureaucracy Zhou reinstated many of the senior bureaucrats who had been denounced during the cultural revolution. The army was brought into firmer Party control, and material incentives were introduced into industry, and private plots into agriculture.
The balance of power was still very precarious, and the Shanghai based Gang of Four, led by Mao's fourth wife, Jiang Qing were poised for power, with one of their number, Wang Hong Wen, holding the third most powerful post in the Party, after Mao and Zhou. By 1973 Zhou was seriously ill with cancer, and suffered two heart attacks in 1974. Mao was four years older than Zhou, and himself was now suffering from Parkinson's disease. With the leadership so clearly at a crucial turning point, an all out power struggle emerged.
The Gang of Four were no friends of Zhou, and Zhou attempted to make the succession clearer by reinstating Deng Xiaoping to high office, including Chief-of-Staff of the military. The Gang of Four tried a number of poster campaigns to criticise the new direction of Zhou and Deng. Mao himself, although he disliked the Gang of Four, and his relationship with his wife was, to say the least, strained, disliked Deng's 'capitalism' even more.
The power struggle grew more intense when, on the 8th January 1976, Zhou Enlai died of cancer in a Beijing Hospital. Zhou's natural successor, Deng, was not chosen to succeed him, but rather a relatively little-known member of the Politburo, Hua Guofeng. Criticism in the media (in the control of the Gang of Four) of Deng became virulent, and Deng went into hiding in southern China. Demonstrations in Tiananmen Square took place at the annual Qing Ming Festival. On the surface they were wreath laying ceremonies in honour of Zhou Enlai - a genuinely admired politician. However, the occasion was used to display banners critical of the Gang of Four, and in praise of Deng. The posters and wreaths were removed, thus enraging the crowd even more. The end result was a riot which was quelled by the Beijing militia. The Gang of Four blamed Deng, and he was stripped of his positions in the government. However, he was permitted to keep his Party membership at the personal request of Mao.
On 9th September, 1976, Mao himself died. This was two months after the disastrous Tang Shan earthquake, which to some Chinese, signified the imminent end of a dynasty. Mao's death was not exactly unexpected, but nonetheless, the reality of it hit the country hard. Mao had been the 'Great Helmsman' and a unifying force in China. Where China was to go, and who was to lead her was the burning question of the day. Although in hiding, Deng was a serious contender to the leadership. He had widespread support throughout the bureaucratic and administrative agencies, as well as among the military. Jiang Qing recognised her weakness, only having support among radical students and the extreme left-wing of the party. Jiang Qing tried to convince Hua Guofeng to support her bid to be Party Chairwoman. He decided against it, and was himself elected Party Chairman. In a radical step, he had the Gang of Four arrested on evidence that they had military coups planned in Beijing and Shanghai. The arrest of the Gang of Four was greeted with demonstrations in support of the arrests in every major city in China, including Jiang Qing's stronghold of Shanghai.
Hua was now in control, but only as a stopgap. He was acceptable to a wide spectrum of the Party, being centre-left: supporting Mao, but holding out against the excesses of the Gang of Four. With Deng still technically in disgrace, Hua presided over a political body still seeking the ultimate successor to Mao. Hua tried to distance Deng with a poster campaign which backfired. Posters appeared demanding Deng be reinstated. This move was supported by provincial leaders and the military, fearing demonstrations on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident.
Deng's reinstatement was followed by a speedy climb to real power, and his four-modernisations programme was given increased prominence - modernisation of agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defence. At the same time there was a reinterpretation of Mao's work, with new editions of his pre-1960's work being published. Mao's pre-Cultural Revolution published work was far more pragmatic, and much more in line with the Deng approach. With the official trial of the Gang of Four, Hua was to lose his last remaining powers as he was implicated in some of the activities of the gang as Minister for Security. Deng became the unquestioned leader, and he set about transforming China in a way that probably no other country in history has been transformed.
Deng was famed for saying 'It does not matter whether a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice'. This was a reference to state-control verses free market economics. Deng was convinced that the test of theory was practice (a sentiment frequently arising in Mao's writings), and was willing to take on board capitalist principles where they were evidently more efficient than state-control. In this way China was opened up for inward investment, special economic zones established among much of China's coastline and Deng developed what he called 'Socialism with Chinese Character'.
Mounting economic success was mirrored in political advances, with agreements being reached with both the United Kingdom and Portugal for the return of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese Sovereignty in 1997 and 1999 respectively. The dates for drawing lines under European intervention in China and its legacy were timetabled.
China's rapid economic development was not without its problems. Rapid growth had lead to overheating of the economy, and inflation, unknown to China under Mao, was a matter of real political concern. Tight fiscal policies were not popular, nor were the dismantling of much of the state subsidy on food and other daily necessities. To compound matters, economic crimes rose, as did corruption within government.
Growing discontent with the economic disadvantages of restructuring the economy together with anger at corruption and in particular nepotism were focused with the death of Hu Yaobang. A popular politician, his death gave reason to a public display. Again, on the surface, the movement of people to Tiananmen Square was to lay wreaths. However, the marches became more political and bigger. Beijing ground to a halt. The authorities appeared to do nothing, and the demonstrations simply grew bigger. Even the China Daily, the English language paper, reported a million demonstrators in a single day.
Without doubt, the imminent arrival of Mikael Gorbachev in an historic rapprochement was cause for concern as Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of China, and ceremonial centrepiece for any state visit, was under siege.
In the early hours of Sunday 4th July 1989 troops restored the authority of the Communist party through military intervention. The exact number of fatalities is not known. The Chinese authorities place the figure at around three hundred, Amnesty International anything up to three thousand. What is certain, is that the international repercussions on the Chinese government were short-lived for all the noise. Certainly sanctions were quietly lifted as the US, Western Europe and Japan all realised that the Chinese market was far too big a prize to be jeopardised by grand political gestures. Frozen aid, soft loans and reciprocal trade agreements suffered only superficial damage, though some have criticised the developed nations for their unseemly haste to restore normal relations after what was termed the 'Tiananmen Square Massacre' by the western press. However, what was clearly demonstrated was that China was an economic force that no nation could ignore - or would ignore at its peril.
Internally, the events in Tiananmen Square had repercussions as various factions within the government sought to apportion blame, and thus gain political power. However, despite a period of slight instability, Deng retained his overall control, and his reform programmes continued up until his death on 20th February, 1997, just four months away from the handover of Hong Kong back to Chinese sovereignty. There was no power struggle after Deng's death like that that had occurred after the death of Mao. Deng had put in place a strong government team, lead by Zhang Zemin and Li Peng.
On the 30th June, 1997, the world watched as the British left their last significant colonial possession, and the Special Administrative Zone of Hong Kong, China became a reality. It was a period of national celebrations across China, with an official three day public holiday to mark the event.
The speculation and forecasts of the collapse of Hong Kong's booming stock market and vibrant economy under a socialist government have come to nothing. Indeed, while the 'Tiger Economies' of South East Asia have cracked, notably Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia, Hong Kong has retained a stable currency, although the value of the stock market has slumped. And while the economic giant of the region, Japan, seems to be on the brink of depression, China, with her booming economy, national unity ever closer and a stable political environment is looking towards a brighter future. Her history shows that political life and economic fortunes weave as intricate a web as any other major nation, but not withstanding the inevitable twists and turns, the third millennium certainly looks exciting for China and her inhabitants.
And what is all this that Mao was 30% wrong and 70% right or some such thing that is said in China about Mao and his policies? Can anyone be so precise? It again is propaganda to appease the people who have suffered! In China, there is no democracy and so all orders are cleared by the highest authority and so is Mao not then responsible?