We all know that if Mao died a decade or so earlier China would have been already undisptuted No.1 by now. He closed down all the colleges and high schools and sent all younsters to the countryside right after they finished middle school, Xi was one of those poor kids. A whole generation of half illiterates caused China enomous pain even decades after his deathl. Deng restarted the Chiniese higher education so the lost generation can go back to school even they were already in their 30's, Xi was also one of them. He also sent vast majority of Chinese intellectuals to the countryside to work as local farmers as so called reeducation program, How can you build a country without educated population? That insanity goes beyound everyone's comprehension.
I'm not sure. During that time, it was an extremely difficult time for China, geopolitically. You have a USSR threatening nuclear war and a United States bent on its "anti-Communist" crusade. One of the reasons for Deng's success was the cordial relations enjoyed with the West after the Nixon visit in 1972 ... I'm not sure China could've accomplished that much had Mao died 10 years earlier ...
Maybe because Mao was a hard core communism believer. Or maybe rather than a believer, he was a communism preacher. So he cared more of Communism Ideology than any other else. And the sad thing was that economy was at the other side of Communism.
Maybe because his wife was bullied by Red Guard in CR era, so my uncle was a bit bias about Mao and Zhou.
Not really a good thing. Mao's grasp of economics was far short of that of Deng's ... which can be seen in the disastrous Great Leap Forward and the economic stagnation following the Cultural Revolution.
But USSR wanted to treat China as its colony. If you are a strong leader with pride, why would you let that happened?
Many KMT supporters always loved to label the PRC supporters as “the yellow Russians”, but Chairman Mao’s action proved that they were indeed bullshiting. PRC always remains strong and independent who is no one’s lapdog. Just look at the KMT, after 70 years, they still remain a lapdog of the US, and DPP will further make Taiwan a lapdog for Japan.
Indeed, the USSR has never treated China well at all. I'm suprised that so many modern Chinese see Russia is an "iron brother" and a "steadfast ally". During the Chinese Civil War, Stalin wanted a demarcation line between the Communists and Nationalists instead of full CPC control. Even in the 1950 Sino-Soviet Friendship treaty, the USSR sought to exploit China economically by selling overpriced machinery and providing unfair loans (which was somewhat alleviated by Khrushchev). Even in 1962, the USSR
supported India over China ... who were (at least according to the Soviets), Communist brethren. After the 1969 border incident, the Soviets threatened to wage nuclear warfare against China and tried (pathetically) to get America on board. Although today's Russia seems cozy and friendly with China, this is only because they are the weaker geopolitical power. Russia knows it can't use its ex-superpower status to intimidate China ... the country seeks good relationships only for its own benefit. This is not to mention its permeated session of outer Mongolia and annexation of hundreds of thousands square kilometers of Chinese territory.
Xi isn't doing it for the sake of power. The current world is a more dangerous place than four years ago. China has some unfinished business and require a strong leader like Xi to finish the job.
The only people I know are crying are not the mainland Chinese but mainly foreigners and fake Singawhore Chinese.
Agreed. Only Xi is strong enough to challenge the bloated state economic sector, drastically overhaul the military, fight corruption, and geopolitically assert China. Especially with some guy like Trump in the White House, China needs more than ever a leader who can guide them through troubled waters ...
