Before we look at the similarities between those two, I will give a quick overview of Chairman Mao. Alright, here I go. Mao Zedong is the founder of People's Republic of China. He held authoritarian rule during his rule and reformed China's economy into what it is today. Not bad right? Also, because of his Cultural Revolution, where he refoemd china by killing oppostion and causing a famine, he is said to be responsible for 40 to 70 million deaths. He is a pretty interesting person so I say read up on him more, simply because you can. China blocks all unfavorable opinions of him from the Chinese internet.
This man has a great monument built for him in the middle of Beijing where his body lies, his picture is also on the gate of the Forbidden City.
So How Does Obama get Mixed up Into This?
It first got my attention when I was in a shop and saw Obama in a communist soldier's outfit. I though it was kind of odd. The text on the bottom said, "Does Good for the People" in Chinese that my friend translated.
Next time this came up was when I was talking about this 10 year old Chinese girl that came to the school to learn English. When I told her I was from the US, she said, "Oh, that's where Obama's from". Kind of embarrassing considering I did not know the current chairman of China at the time.
She went on to say, "Obama is like Mao, he does good for the people except Mao is dead, I wish he was still alive". This must be what she is taught in school, but it is not only little kids that make this copmparison, as later I saw more T-shirt gear with Obama in a communist outfit.
What do College Students Think About Mao?
The girl I talked to said that in her opinion, Mao was a great man that made mistakes. We are all human, so we make mistakes. She also said that there are many varied opinions about him amongst the public. I just wish I will have a chance to find out what varied means and to what degree.
What do Businessmen Think about Mao?
I got a chance to talk to this man on the subway about the topic. He explained to me that Mao was a great man that made great mistakes. He also explained to me that people in his regime, his soldiers would do anything for him. By anything meaning giving their life away just because he said so. That is due to Mao defetaing the Japanses invasion. There was also great famine. He explaied, tragedy and great common conflict brings a country together, and that is what Mao accomplished, uniting the divided country.
While I do agree with his statement, Mao united the country and killed anyone that opposed this unification.
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