Leaving London and having a few moments to spare at the Heathrow Airport to get rid of my remaining pounds, I entered the book shop and looked for something interesting to read. After consulting with the young lady about a good China related read she referred me to the then recently published "Mao - The Unknown Story", a heavy-weight book written by Jung Chang (and her historian husband) who’s famous for her previous China history autobibliographic epic "Wild Swans".
During all my China interest, Mao seemed to keep coming up as a most controversial figure, although in the west, and especially in Jung Chang’s book, he’s regarded as the worst disaster that has ever happened to the Chinese people. It reminded me of my attempts while in Vietnam to get a deeper understanding of the Vietnamese worship to "Uncle Ho" - Ho Chi Minh, who led the Vietnamese to their victory over the French, over the Chinese and to set the ground for the memorable victory over western forces led by the US. Although westerners I talked to and the little that I read about Ho suggested he was a catastrophe, I was trying to keep an open mind and soon found out that no matter whether I was in northern or southern Vietnam, Ho seemed to be in Vietnamese positive consensus, and I do believe it wasn’t for the fear of "government control" or any "special brainwashing" :
Hồ Chí Minh : Born Nguyễn Sinh Cung (阮生恭), but also known as Nguyễn Tất Thành (阮必成: ‘Nguyễn will accomplish’), Nguyễn Ái Quốc (阮愛國: ‘Nguyễn the patriot’), Lý Thụy (李瑞) and Hồ Quang (among others), and is popularly referred to as Bác Hồ (’Uncle Hồ’) in Vietnam. The name Hồ Chí Minh means "he who enlightens." He is most famous for leading the Viet Minh independence movement in 1941 and establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam [...]
Authors such as Stanley Karnow and Jean Laconture have praised him as a modest leader. More recently, Bui Tin has disclosed some mysteries about Ho Chi Minh such as his using the pen name Tran Dan Tien to write a book to idolize himself.
For the West, he remains much of a complicated character: to his supporters Ho Chi Minh is viewed positively as a committed nationalist who fought for Vietnamese independence. To his detractors and some critics in the West he was an opportunistic communist who seized power, created an authoritarian government, plunged Vietnam into a war that ruined the country and established economic policies that left Vietnam poor. They claim that he mandated the invasion of South Vietnam that resulted in the deaths of over a million of its citizens. Many more, as many as two million, fled South Vietnam after the unification of the country. [from Wikipedia]
Mao’s something completely different. The English Wikipedia gives an summary of the controversy :
30 years after his death, Mao Tze Tong remains a controversial figure. His supporters regard Mao as a great revolutionary leader whose thought was the highest expression of Marxism. Supporters within China consider Mao as a successful military and political leader who led the rise of 20th Century China. He instigated several major socio-political programmes (some through collectivisation), including the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, seeking to achieve, by means of his political philosophy, the ideal of a strong, prosperous and socially egalitarian China, and to spread Maoism across the world.
These programmes, however, were widely regarded as failures. Mao has been blamed by critics for the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese, as well as severe damage to the culture, society, economy and foreign relations. Mao has also been seen as a hostile figure outside China for instigating several international conflicts. While officially held in high regard in China, he is rarely mentioned by the Chinese government, whose policies have diverged greatly from those of Mao, and his influence on Chinese politics has greatly diminished since his death.
Interesting enough, while reading the book I had the distinct pleasure to attend Dr. Yuri Pines’ course at the Hebrew University called "The revolutionary period in China" starting from China’s post-emperor period and going through all the Chinese revolutions led by the Communists and Mao till Mao’s death. I dare say that Dr. Pines was a good balance against the very negative descriptions that Jung Chang has for Mao, Yuri describing Mao more as a very complicated figure and less of a monster or a freak as it often appears in the book. I have no idea what history really was, and I don’t even think history can be objective. But the more important point is that regardless of the somewhat ethical issue of whether Mao was evil or not, Mao and China in the 20th century are extremely fascinating important subjects which are extremely difficult for me to grasp. As Yuri once put it, there hasn’t been any country in the world other than China that has gone through all possible systems of government and economical reforms as China did during the 20th century. China, and the Chinese people, were a testing ground for the most amazing political ideologies, and have paid the most awful price in human lives and endless hurt souls for it.
Having focused on the US and European history during my typical Israeli high-school’s history major, I think I’ve missed out. I believe that whether someone is interested in Asia or not, reading and discussing 20th century Asian and Chinese history opens up a whole new world for both mind and soul. I eagerly await the time when Israeli schools will realize that it’s not only Chinese language studies that might important for kid’s education, but also Asian culture and history. In the meanwhile, before our education systems evolve - I strongly recommend reading whatever books are available on the topic.
I’m looking forward to knowing more about China and Vietnam and studying about the neighboring countries like Taiwan, Korea and Japan and others. I can’t really explain it, but there’s something about that region of the world and its history that has really captured my heart.
