Tag Archives: Mao Zedong

american revolutionary: kid gloves and “likes”

…Are our rebels and would-be revolutionaries merely play acting as they embrace the consumer cycle, media spotlight and wine, sex and song ethos?… Will an ascetic revolutionary leader, such as a Lenin, Gandhi or Mao, appear on the American scene? … Continue reading

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mao: little red book of libido

The image Mao presented to his followers was that of the libidoless leader. He taught the youth of China that love…is a “psychosomatic activity which consumes energy and wastes time.”… …Whatever the reality, the image Mao presented to his followers … Continue reading

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revolutionary asceticism

Revolutionary asceticism. Mao Zedong’s Yangtze River swim was based on his youthful conversion to the very un-Chinese notion of physical education. He and his revolutionary companions, he said, “became ardent physical culturalists.” In his autobiography Mao described their regimen: “We … Continue reading

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mao: ascetic revolutionary

…The image Mao presented to his followers was that of a libidoless leader. He taught the youth of China that love…is a “psychosomatic activity which consumes energy and wastes time.”… …In both the West and in India there existed a … Continue reading

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the lucky seventy

China’s imperial tradition. It’s hard to throw two thousand plus years of history under the bus. Even Mao Zedong once confided to Edgar Snow that it was difficult for the Chinese to ” overcome the habits of 3,000 years of … Continue reading

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great leaps forward and back

Its hard to get around two thousand plus years of imperial tradition in sixty odd years of the People’s Republic of China. Even Mao Zedong was somewhat indebted to the weight of the past… For Mao Zedong the major public … Continue reading

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mao: “revolution is not a dinner party”

Ignore von Clausewitz at your peril.He died in 1831, but his book, On War, is unfortunately something ignored more often than not stacking the odds in favor not winning a war…. If Clausewitz’s influence has been so often catastrophic, there … Continue reading

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no contradiction in the long run

Through the centuries the Chinese people have acquired a deeply ingrained respect for authority. Conversely they believe that government ins not the creature of one man, nor the instrument for the strongest will or personality of the day regardless of … Continue reading

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mulberry children in the middle kingdom

The Chinese Communists are not prevented, in the popular view, from inheriting the imperial mantle merely because they lack blue blood. That most rational of sages, Confucius, established 2,500 years ago that nobility depends not on birth or wealth but … Continue reading

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little red books: messianic with the lord of chin

The emperors’ mandate was to rule “all under Heaven,” which meant not only China but the surrounding barbarian areas that still awaited the civilizing influence of China. After all, the Chinese name for China means “Middle Kingdom” and embodies the … Continue reading

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