1. Mao Now 21st Century Perspectives on Mao and the Chinese
Revolution Rebecca Cairns, Deakin University Painting by Gao
Jiang
2. Session Overview My in-country inspiration Questions CCP
perspectives on Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought Recent Chinese
Historiography The New Left Striking a Balance: Red Tourism Never
Forget National Humiliation Nationalism and the Patriotic Education
Campaign Further Reading and Resources
3. Questions The theme of the conference is our shared history:
How are our students being positioned in the sharing of Chinese
history? How do we avoid Orientalist or ethnocentric perspectives?
How is historical memory shaped in contemporary China? How have
official perspectives of Mao and the Chinese Revolution shifted?
How has Chinese historiography changed in recent decades? What is
the relationship between CCP perspectives, Chinese historians and
non-Chinese historians?
4. How does the CCP view Mao today? Mao has been demoted but
never officially repudiated.. The CCP sees itself as continuing the
work Mao started in the 1930s but acknowledge it went astray from
the mid 1950s to late 1970s. Dirlik Arlif (2012) The China Story
(Zhongguode gushi ), itself a relatively recent conceit, has been
concocted. It is a story that has been interwoven intimately with
the grand romantic narrative of communism. This narrative speaks to
the history of the Party in the context of national revolution and
independence; it cleaves to Mao Zedong (and a panoply of lesser
leaders) as well as many aspects of his career, thought, and
politics. Geremie Barme (2012) Since his death, Maos image has
begun to be taken down from the sacred alter. However, if he is
removed completely from the sacred alter, this will involve too
many practical interests. The ruling party needs Mao in order to
guarantee a legitimate base for itself to hold power. The army, the
state, and other fundamental institutions, in order to guarantee
their authority and continuation, also require Mao. Jiang Yihua,
Fudan University, Shanghai (2010) Mao was a great patriot and a
national hero..Revolutionary leaders are not gods, but human
beings; [we] cannot worship them like gods or refuse to allow
people to point out and correct their errors just because they are
great; neither can we totally repudiate them and erase their
historical feats just because they made mistakes President Xi
Jinping (2012)
5. 1981 Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our
Party since the Founding of the Peoples Republic of China: Chief
responsibility for the grave left error of the Cultural Revolution,
an error comprehensive in magnitude and protracted in duration,
does indeed lie with Comrade Mao Zedong [...] Far from making a
correct analysis of many problems, he confused right and wrong and
the people with the enemy [...] Herein lies his tragedy. Comrade
Mao Zedong was a great Marxist and a great proletarian
revolutionary, strategist and theorist. It is true that he made
gross mistakes during the cultural revolution", but, if we judge
his activities as a whole, his contributions to the Chinese
revolution far outweigh his mistakes. His merits are primary and
his errors secondary. Access the 1981 Resolution:
https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.
htm
6. Reconstructing Chinese Marxism: Dirlik, A. (2012) Stage 1
Gone astray. Stage 2 1930s mid 1950s New Democracy historical and
ideological foundation Maos correct thought mid 1950s to late 1970s
Ideology went astray Now viewed as a negative example from which to
learn what not to do Leftist errors and radical policies It is true
that he made gross mistakes during the Cultural Revolution 1981
Resolution post 1978 - period of reform and opening up Chinese
Marxism: the most advanced form of Marxism Socialism with Chinese
characteristics is constituted by Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three
Represents, and the Scientific Outlook Reinterpretation and
restoration of the the correct line of Mao Zedong Thought
7. CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao Seventeenth National
Congress of the Party in 2007: The theory of socialism with Chinese
characteristics constitutes a system of scientific theories
including Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of the Three
Represents, and the Scientific outlook on Development and other
major strategic thought. This system represents the partys
adherence to and development of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong
Thought and embodies the wisdom and hard work of several
generations of Chinese Communists leading the people in carrying
out tireless exploration and practice. It is the latest achievement
in adapting Marxism to Chinese conditions, the partys invaluable
political and intellectual asset, and the common ideological
foundation for the concerted endeavor of the people of all ethnic
groups. Xiao (2010) and Barme (2012) both highlight that the CCP is
indicating that Mao Zedong Thought is no longer part of the Theory
of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. It is influential but
has been replaced by new ideology.
8. Mao Zedong Mao the CCP leader Mao the individual Mao the
human Mao the fallible Mao Zedong Thought Abstract Foundation for
Chinese Marxism Collective wisdom of the Party Delineating Mao How
does the leftist legacy distinguish itself from a failed Maoism?
(Barme, G. 2012)
9. Recent Chinese Mao Scholarship 1. Official ideology: the
CCPs interpretation which controls political discourse in Chinese
Mao scholarship; although Maos thought and image are still a
sensitive areas, in the framework of the official ideology, Mao
Zedong Thought seems merely to be a symbol for political
legitimacy. 2. Liberal school: critical of Mao, especially his
later years; Li Rui, a famous Mao scholar in China, is typical of
this school: He contributed to Chinas Revolution, made mistakes in
his reign, and committed a crime in launching the Cultural
Revolution. 3. New Left scholars: are critical of Western
liberalism and the new economic reforms which need to be remedied
by the real spirit of Mao. 4. Historical school: believe historical
interpretation must be based on fact and evidence and disapprove of
ideological power intruding on historical narratives Xiao, Y.
(2010). Recent Mao Zedong Scholarship in China in Cheek, T. (Ed.) A
Critical Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University
Press.
10. The New Left A large, loosely knit group who sometimes
reject the label New Left (Zhu, 2014) Key idea: China has gone too
far in embracing a neoliberal capitalist model (Zhu, 2014) New Left
scholars can be separated into the moderate wing (postmodernism /
neo-Marxism) and the radical wing (populism) The New Left advocates
reforming the system from within the system Leftist websites, such
as Utopia, Mao Flag and Red Culture are regularly shut down by the
government http://www.maoflag.org/portal.php
11. Top left: Anti-Japanese protests, Wuhan, 2012
http://www.ibtimes.com/anti-japanese-protests-erupts-across-china-
beijing-raises-trade-threats-over-disputed-islands-789678 Bottom
left: Residents singing red songs in a park in Chongqing
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/22/red-songs-chinese-
cultural-revolution Bottom right: Performers in Red Army uniforms
to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Party, Chongqing
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/china-in-pictures-the-
communist-party-celebrates-90th-anniversary-172760 Mao: wave the
red flag to oppose the red flag (da hongqi fan hongqi ).
12. Professor Wang Hui, Tsinghua University, Beijing Famous
moderate New Left scholar - decries depoliticised politics. He is
critical of the the way in which discourses of modernity, such as
the market economy and globalisation, try to disguise the reality
of party politics and class problems. Wang argues that the Cultural
Revolution was a politicising force (cf.Xiao, 2010). He says, the
Chinese capitalist model has been based on the intense exploitation
of a large cheap labor force as well as cheap energy and natural
resources. But within a decade, were likely to see the surge of
working class militancy. Read more: Zhu, W. (2014). Chinas New
Left. China Dispatch. 2014 (1). Beijing. Mobo, G. (2008). The
Battle for Chinas Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution. London:
Pluto Press. The New Left contd
13. The Bo Xilai Story Party chief in Chongqing, one of top 25
most senior party officials A princeling - hails from elite
communist circles Scandal: Bos wife was convicted of killing a
British businessman (suspended death sentence) and Bo was convicted
of bribery and corruption (lifetime sentence) Chongqing model of
development; crackdown on crime; and revival of Red Culture
(singing red songs, TV programs, sending millions of text messages
containing quotes from the Little Red Book) The threat of a red
revival: Due to Maos deep association with the Cultural Revolution
any Mao revival is seen as a potential threat to Party power; to
draw attention to the Cultural Revolution is to draw attention to
class difference.
14. Striking a balance: Red Tourism Promotion of sites that are
significant from 1921 to 1949 Launched by the government in 2005
Boosts the economy in poorer provinces Zhang Xiqin, vice-president
of the National Tourism Bureau: "It is an economic project, a
cultural project and at the same time, a political project."
15. On tour in Shaoshan, Maos ancestral village
16. Sunrise in Shaoshan: this drama is large music drama. It
brings audience the feeling of beauty and perfect audio-visual
effect through combination of red classic element and modern
hi-tech stage and creates gorgeous and vivid stage effect by sound,
light and digital modulation.
17. For the last three years mass red weddings have taken place
in Mao Zedongs home village of Shaoshan, in front of his bronze
statue. Read more at: http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/1
1/12/seeking-maos-matrimonial-
blessing/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
18. Mao statue, Tianfu Square, Chengdu, Sichuan Province: Prior
to being erected in 1968, this was the site of a Ming palace. Many
of these statues which were erected during the Cultural Revolution,
have been quietly removed from city squares across China. Read
more: http://chinarev.tumblr.com/post/56126
544519/no-reconstruction-without- destruction-a-giant
19. Youth Mao Zedong Statue Changsha, Hunan Province: Maos home
province 32 metres tall Located on Juzi (Orange) Isle in the middle
of the Xiang River Based on a poem in which Mao describes the view
of Yuelu mountain, however it faces the wrong way Built 2007 2009
Symbolic of delineated Mao and Mao Zedong Thought?
20. This jade and gold statue was unveiled in December 2013 to
celebrate the 120th birthday of Mao. 80cm tall and worth more than
US$16 million, it is not known publically by whom it was
commissioned or paid for. In the lead up to the celebrations
President Xi called for celebrations to be solemn, simple and
pragmatic. Source: Shanghai Daily
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/national/Gold-jade-statue-to-mark-Mao-anniversary/shdaily.shtml
21. 2013 Will Maos portrait continue to hang on the
Tiananmen?
22. 1919
23. 1925
24. 1948 - 1945
25. 1949
26. 1953
27. wuwang guochi never forget national humiliation the Chinese
peoples historical consciousness and its complex of myth and trauma
are the dominant ideas in Chinas public rhetoric (Wang, 2012)
understanding a peoples collective memory can help us to better
understand their national interests and political actions (Wang,
2012) modern historical consciousness in China is powerfully
influenced by the century of humiliation from the mid 1800s to the
mid 1900s (Wang, 2012)
28. Source: http://japanfocus.org/-Jeff-Kingston/2859 Source:
http://english.sina.com/china/p/2012/0917/507572.html Source:
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1548632/xi-jinping-blasts-
japan-77th-anniversary-ceremony-marco-polo-bridge?page=all Top:
President Xi commemorating the 77th anniversary of the War of
Resistance, July 2014 Left: a group of students being photographed
at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Right: Primary students signing a
banner to commemorate the Manchurian Incident
29. Shaping the new nationalism: Patriotic Education Campaign
Outline for Conducting Patriotic Education issued by the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP): boosting the
nations spirit, enhancing its cohesion, fostering its self-esteem
and sense of pride, consolidating and developing a patriotic united
front to the broadest extent possible, and directing and rallying
the masses patriotic passions to the great cause of building
socialism with Chinese characteristics [and] helping the motherland
become unified, prosperous and strong. (cf Vickers, E. 2007) The
State Education Commission named One Hundred Patriotic Education
Bases - mostly museums and historic sites, but also national
celebrations and Learn from Lei Feng Day This broader programme of
patriotic education is fundamentally aimed at legitimising the CCP
project of rapid but inegalitarian modernization and
industrialization, while maintaining unaltered the Partys grip on
power and the absolute insistence on the unity of the nation as the
Party defines it. The Chinese revolution is now commemorated much
more as a national than as a socialist achievement. (Vickers, E.
2007)
30. The Road to Rejuvenation The description of the exhibition
The Road to Rejuvenation at the refurbished National Museum of
China (Tiananmen Square, Beijing), gives a good sense of the
official historical narrative at present: The Road of Rejuvenation
is one of the museums permanent exhibitions that reflects the Opium
War of 1840 onward, the consequent downfall into an abyss of
semi-imperial and semi-feudal society, the protests of people of
all social strata who had suffered, and the many attempts at
national rejuvenation - particularly the Communist Party of Chinas
fight for the liberation and independence of people of every
ethnicity. The exhibition demonstrates the glorious but long course
of achieving national happiness and prosperity and fully reveals
how the people chose Marxism, the Communist Party of China,
socialism, and the reform and opening-up policy. It attests to the
Chinese priority of holding high the unswerving banner of socialism
with Chinese characteristics, and of remaining firmly committed to
the Chinese socialist road and theory. Who and what is missing from
this narrative?
http://en.chnmuseum.cn/Default.aspxTabId=520&ExhibitionLanguageID=83&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=
1
31. Unit 731: Japanese War Crimes in Northeast China Read more:
http://chinarev.tumblr.com/po st/70885230393/unit-731-
japanese-war-crimes-in- northeast-china
32. Nanjing Massacre Memorial
33. Monument to the Revolutionary Martyrs, Nanjing
34. Lei Feng Memorial in Lei Feng Town, a suburb of Changsha
5th March: Learn From Lei Feng Day
35. Concluding remarks and further questions.. Untitled #2 by
Guo Jian 2009
36. Further reading less time Ang Xiangshu; Bi Lijun (2013).
Higher Education of Social Science, 4(2), 25-29 Arlif, D. (2012)
Mao Zedong in Contemporary Chinese Official Discourse and History.
China Perspectives. 2. 17-27. Barme, G. (2012). Red Allure and the
Crimson Blindfold. Chinese Perspectives. 2. 29-40. Gerwirtz, P.
(2014). Xi, Mao, and Chinas Search for a Usable Past. China File.
http://www.chinafile.com/xi-mao-and-chinas-search-usable-past
Smith, S. A. (2011) Recent historiography of the Peoples Republic
of China, 1949-76. Twentieth Century Communism. 196-216 Wang, Z.
(2008). National Humiliation, History Education and the Politics of
Historical Memory:Patriotic Education Campaign in China.
International Studies Quarterly. 52. 783 806
http://www.risingpowersinitiative.org/wp-
content/uploads/National-Humiliation-History-Education.pdf
37. Further reading more time Cheek, T. (2010). A Critical
Introduction to Mao. New York: Cambridge University Press CCP
(1981) Resolution on certain questions in the history of our party
since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China 1981. Retrieved
from
https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/cpc/history/01.htm
Mobo, G. (2008). The Battle for Chinas Past: Mao and the Cultural
Revolution. London: Pluto Press. Schmidt-Glintzer, H., Mittag, A.,
& Rsen, J. (2005). Historical Truth Historical Criticism and
Ideology : Chinese Historiography and Historical Culture From a New
Comparative Perspective. Leiden: Brill. Wang X. ((2012). Fifty
Years of Chinese Historiography. Chinese Studies in History.
45(2-3). 7- 69. Wang, Zheng (2012). Never Forget National
Humiliation. New York: Columbia University Press. Ye, S., Barm, G.,
& Lang, M. (2006). China candid : the people on the People's
Republic / Sang Ye ; edited by Geremie R. Barme with Miriam Lang:
Berkeley : University of California Press, 2006. Zhu, W. (2014).
Chinas New Left. China Dispatch. 2014 (1). Beijing.
38. Online Resources Gmng my blog for teachers of the Chinese
Revolution http://chinarev.tumblr.com/ Alpha History (see Chinese
Revolution section) http://alphahistory.com/ In the Footsteps of
Chairman Mao Study Tour
http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/teachers/study_programs/china. html
The China Story / Australian Centre for China in the World
http://www.thechinastory.org/ China Dispatch (subscribe on iTunes)
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/digital-version/