Maoist China and Post War East Asia Essay

Maoist China and Post-War East Asia

To Live and the oral interviews of Chinese citizens who suffered under the Maoist regimes should be on the list of essential reading material for any individual compiling an encyclopedia entry on the life of Mao Zedong. While reading Mao's actual biography by a credible author would be important, the impact of Mao's life upon the populace is equally significant. The biographical text would be used for the basic information about Mao's life -- the circumstances under which he was born, what moved him to adopt communism, and his struggle against the Chinese nationalists that ultimately cumulated in his ascendency to leadership in China.

However, these 'driver's license' facts only scratch the surface of how Mao is remembered by the Chinese people. Interviews such as "A foot of mud and a pile of shit" show the suffering of people forced to toil the land in the name of collectivization of agriculture. However, not all peasants resisted Mao. For some, the modernization was viewed, for a time, as a positive improvement on their previous lives.But as Mao's rule grew increasingly tyrannical in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, support began to erode.

The capricious nature of life under communism is seen in the film To Live, which depicts a family that went through a series of seismic shifts in fortune, based upon the political developments of the era. To Live is not a morality play: the patriarch of the household is spared the anger of the communists because he unintentionally lost all of his money gambling, and the man that profited from his indulgence becomes a pariah. But then, because the Cultural Revolution has labeled all intellectuals suspect, the protagonist loses his daughter in childbirth because no one is qualified to oversee her labor (except for a doctor who has not eaten for days). People have no control over their lives in To Live, thanks to Maoism. Although the film is fictional, the sense that Mao's ideology took away the Chinese people's sense of autonomy….....