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This blog is dedicated to the genocide Mao Zedong  unleashed on his people while also causing the worst famine to date.

John Powell Review

My article, “Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?”, is mainly about the “attempts to undermine” Mao’s reputation in the People's Republic of China’s campaign; “ the great leap forward”. The campaign was led by Mao Zedong and focused on rapidly transforming the country. He wanted to turn the agrarian based economy into a socialist society with massive industrialization and collectivization. It is, however, by many considered to have played the main part in the “Great Chinese Famine.” The author the article, Joseph Ball, presents the idea that the idea that “Mao was responsible for genocide” has been used as a bandwagon statement to undermine the achievements of the Chinese in Mao’s rule. In my opinion the author presents a lot of important facts to back up his assumption of what I believe to be factual. The idea that “Mao was responsible for genocide” has been used as a backboard to dismantle everything that the Chinese have done under the rule of Mao. In my opinion I agree with this statement, such that it is accurate that many say Mao was the best and worst thing that happened during his rule. Much like the presidential election, the bandwagon is very real. Many authors and critics of that time, to the twenty-first century are, in my opinion, saw that even though the Chinese accomplished so much, it is all tarnished by the rule of Mao. Joseph Ball states, “It is true that he writes that agricultural production decreased in five years between 1949-1978 due to “natural calamities and mistakes in the work.” However he states that during 1949-1978 the per hectare yield of land sown with food crops increased by 145.9% and total food production rose 169.6%. During this period China’s population grew by 77.7%. On these figures, China’s per capita food production grew from 204 kilograms to 328 kilograms in the period in question.”(Joseph Ball). I have to agree with the author in the opinion that Mao Zedong was a strict but efficient ruler. The genocide, having,” 70 million killed by Mao, including 38 million in the Great Leap Forward.” The accomplishments of the Chinese under his rule are also vast. In my opinion even though many writers stress that Mao’s agricultural policies led to farming turmoil it is also fair to say while he was responsible for many deaths many were not his fault. It is still highly debated whether he was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of seventy two million. To conclude I feel it is safe to say “Mao's forces removed the normal enemies of communism: landowners, rent seekers, some salesmen. employees and people of the old form of government. Ten years after forcefully coming to power, a failed policy of agricultural reform saw that millions die of starvation. A few years after this, Mao unleashed the ‘Red Guards’, mostly young people, to murder, denote,or even jail and remove power of most of the leaders who had made strides under communism.” (Joseph Ball)

Cameron Maynard Reaction

The “Mao Zedong Genocide” is truly horrible. If i had to go through something like this, I would do everything i could to leave. I mean not only was China going through an economic depression, but they were also starving. All the while, their leader, Mao Zedong, had plenty of food and made things ten times worse for his people. He did this many ways. One way is his severe punishments for small crimes. For example, if a kid were to steal a simple potato from the market they would be tied up, attached to some weights,and cast into a river for a few minutes. Not only that, but whether the kid lived through this or not, it didn’t matter. Even if the kid lived his/her family would have to bury them alive. This can and did scar thousands and thousands of people. This is just horrifying. I honestly think that this man, Mao Zedong, is right up there with Hitler and Stalin on the “worst person ever” scale. Not only were the punishments outrageous but also some of the rules that were put into place during this time. One of the rules that i personally think is the worst is the rule about old and sick people. This rule states that if a guard thought that someone was to old or sickly then they were permitted to to ban them from every market place no matter what their condition may be. On top of that, if they went against their banning then they would be brutally punished. I don’t understand why the Chinese people didn’t rebel against him sooner. I do have to give them credit for rebelling but I still don’t think they they did it early enough. They waited too long so I think that could be the main reason why it was so much more of a struggle to tear and strip him of his power. I just wish that the people with higher status helped out the lower status and the peasants a little bit more. This whole thing is still just completely messed up. The fact that someone who is the leader of a great nation like China would just let all those hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people starve to death and die and even punish them and have them killed even though they are suffering enough. Even the fact that they would force a family to bury their family member dead alive if they stole some food for their family. I just can't get over nor stress enough how terrible of not only a leader but also how horrible of a person Mao Zedong is. China could be ten times better off if he he actually helped his people and tried to make things better for his country and his people. Over all, i just think that Mao Zedong is one of the worst people to have ever walked on this planet.

Ethan Evans Reaction

Mao Zedong was the chairman of the Communist Party of China, and leader of its people. Yet he was the worst thing that had happened to China and its people, he was a complete monster to those he was supposed to lead and put before himself. Despite the fact China glorifies the actions and worships his name, Mao Zedong will go down as one of the worst human beings to exist. The genocide of Mao Zedong forced his own people into extreme and harsh conditions for over three years with no mercy. The famine, that was a large part of the genocide, left people scrounging for food anywhere, in anyway. As a result people resorted to cannibalism, it was more common with children, but mothers and father would eat their own starving children to survive. Even if you tried to steal food, the consequence was nowhere near fitting for the crime. Such as stealing a potato, no exception of age, the punishments ranged from being drowned to being buried alive by your parents or they would die as well. Another harsh condition suffered by the Chinese during this time period was Mao’s regime killing and torturing the teachers. This was to dumb down his people so they more easier to control and to give the angry people a target that wasn’t him. If the people weren't dead or fighting for him they were forced into “work camps”, these camps were no different than the concentration camps of the Holocaust. In these camps the famine continues but now they are used to help fuel Mao’s “Great Leap Forward”. Looking at what was going on there is a few ways that just might have prevented this or at least it wouldn’t of been as bad. If other countries would of had knowledge of what horrible things he was putting his own people through then maybe there could of been intervention, like attacking china during its weak time and strong arming them to obey and act right. If we did this then maybe we wouldn’t have depended on them so much. At the very minimum countries could have armed the rebels, giving those domestic fighters to improve their chances.Another way other countries could have strongly affected china's economy to where they would have to listen, is a trade embargo. An embargo would have allowed a peaceful of ending Mao’s rule or his torture of his own. As I had said earlier a rebellion could of happened sooner and would of been stronger with the help of allies, and support of other nations. Mao Zedong was manipulative man that used his faithful followers to launch his campaigns that ultimately led to the people losing faith in their leaders. His campaigns ruined the people of china turning them into “sheep”, with him destroying china intellect by humiliating, beating,and murdering teachers. As a result many people were forced to find work in manual labor, this effect of Mao is still a part of China today. One man had some much on people that even today they could be easily manipulated into doing whatever the government wants, but then if you look at the U.S. or Russia, you see it's no different we could have the same done to us. All it take is a largely appealing goal and influential person to say it ,to lead a country in whatever direction the government's wants, while thinking on this topic this aligns very well with the presidential race. How Donald Trump, a accomplished billionaire, promised to “ Make America Great Again” and to “ build a wall” such things are appealing to a large group of Americans and they elected him. New ideas that seem like they would work “ Make America Great Again” and “The Great Leap Forward” whether or not Trump turns bad as Mao he still used the strategy as him except his ended in the worst genocide ,and Trumps landed him the Presidency. As a person from the future I cannot imagine what fear and pain these people suffered because of how well i live and what other scary things I've seen. But i conclude that Mao Zedong was a failure to his people and is not deserving of having his name said in such high praise, he was only stupid man with too much power.Despite the fact China glorifies the actions and worships his name, Mao Zedong will go down as one of the worst human beings to exist.

Timeline Examines the Eight Stages of Genocide

Cameron Maynard "Mao's Great Leap Forward Killed 45 Million in Four Years" Article Critique

As of right now, all i know about this specific genocide is that a Chinese ruler killed hundreds of thousands to millions of fellow Chinese people. This genocidal act was acted out by the infamous Chinese ruler Mao Zedong. Between the years 1958 and 1962, a war broke out between the peasants and the state. This also took place when a third of all the homes in China were destroyed to help in producing fertilizer all while the nation was facing famine and starvation. All of this took place from 1958 and 1962 in the “great” nation of China. All of the death and devastation that occurred in this time happened due to there being a horrible famine and Mao Zedong doing nothing to fix it. If anything, he made it worse. If someone were to steal a simple potato no matter their age, the law said that they were to be tied up and thrown into a river for a certain amount of time. Then, whether they were alive or not, their family had to bury them or be “doused in excrement and urine.” Plus, 80% of the people were banned from the local canteens because they were “too old or ill to be effective workers, so were deliberately starved to death.” To answer the question of how this happened is easy. Mao Zedong was just a horrible leader and ruler that didn’t care for any of his people so he just let them all die. This had a great impact on the nation of China. It has left a horrible dark spot in their history. The lives and families of just over 45 million people, and that’s just the ones that were worked, starved, or beaten to death. Thankfully, this is not an ongoing thing and it stopped about 62 years ago.One good thing about this is that since it was mainly caused by China’s leader, it didn’t have much of an affect on other countries. However, the famine ending is what helped get the Chinese involved in the second world war. This article was written by Arifa Akbar on the INDEPENDENT news website. The main source is a Chinese man who wrote a book over this genocide in this time period. His name is Frank Dikötter. He is a history professor at a college in Hong Kong. The perspective of the author of this article is just an outsider that did some research on this topic so that they would be able to write this article. I honestly have respect for the peasants that rose up and stood against Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong is easily one of the worst leaders. He is almost as bad as Stalin in Russia.Mao Zedong should have at least tried to help his people or even borrow food and other supplies from their allies and friend countries. sadly , this article does not give any ideas on how to help fix this problem so it is of no real use if this event is to ever occur again.

Ethan Evans "The Legacy of Mao Zedong is Mass Murder" Article Critique

Civil war.Famine.Genocide.These are all products of Mao Zedong rule. He led his own people into their darkest times. Mao Zedong used his power to force his opinions and policies on his own people. Mao Zedong, the chairman of the communist party of china, is responsible for one of the largest genocides in history. Mao, in his time as chairman he killed 65 million of his own people, and started “The worst famine in human history” stated in the article “The Legacy of Mao Zedong is Mass Murder”. The article states that Mao’s legacy will be the truth, that he was one of the worst people of power in history. The events of Mao Zedong would thought to have happened sometime earlier, in an earlier more civilized era, but in fact it happened from 1958-1962. Well after Holodomor and the Holocaust, the two most well known genocides. Mao was so Influential because he started the rise of communism that gave him power to start such things as “ The Great Leap Forward” and the “Cultural Revolution”. The most disastrous idea Mao had was “The Great Leap Forward”, this movement he created launched his country into “... the worst famine in human history”. The famine was the biggest factor in his Genocide, it killed 45 million in four years, that is the population of California. Together with the equally horrid and as equally devastating, the “Cultural Revolution” was used to kill the Intelligence of his people. Mao formed the “Red Guards” who consist of highschool and college students going around and beating, humiliating, and murdering their professors and teachers. Turning China into a “...great House of Fear.” giving Mao a chance to use this fear and exploit it. Mao as stated in this article “Political power grows out of the end of a gun.”This quote perfectly aligns with how he had kept his country under such strict and merciless conditions.Cultural Revolution caused China to usher in a generation of uneducated adults that were even easier to manipulate, this is what allowed Mao to blindly lead his country to the edge of its existence. Since then, China had to reteach and rebuild what was torn and left behind by Mao Zedong. The “Cultural Revolution” left millions of uneducated workers to fill in hard manual labor jobs the country bounced back using the growing super powers need for factories and mass production of goods, like the United States. China is still relying on manual laborers and factories, as well as they still experience little self expression and free will, but as for the Genocide it ended in 1962. This genocide was known to other countries, but no country intervened. My personal reaction is horrified and awestruck at how a man given power by his people could be so cold and do everything in his power to make it worse. As well as dumbfoundedness at how the people that followed him could turn on each other and essentially kill each other by betral. Not to mention the mass famine, i couldn't imagine going a day without food let alone weeks and even months. The amount of pain and struggle the chinese went through is unimaginable but the fact that they were able to bounce back with a flourishing economy that most of the world depends on, is amazing. Source of the information is Lee Edwards, PhD with the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. He is a distinguished conservative who was not directly affected or had experienced this event, but was curious on what happened and what could have been done to prevent or end this Genocide.

John H. Powell "Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?" Article Critique

Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward? When presented with the sesquipedalian word genocide, the first thing that comes to mind is the denotation of the word. The article describes genocide as “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.” The extent of my knowledge on the “Mao Zedong” genocide is limited, but I do possess the basic knowledge that he was “ able to kill forty-five million in four years.” My article is mainly about the “attempts to undermine” Mao’s reputation in the People's Republic of China’s campaign; “ the great leap forward”. The campaign was led by Mao Zedong and focused on rapidly transforming the country.He wanted to turn the agrarian based economy into a socialist society with massive industrialization and collectivization. It is, however, by many considered to have played the main part in the “Great Chinese Famine.” The author the article, Joseph Ball, presents the idea that the idea that “Mao was responsible for genocide” has been used as a bandwagon statement to undermine the achievements of the Chinese in Mao’s rule. The article, written on the twenty first of September in 2006 is based on many statistics and the author uses valid proof to convey the reasoning he has behind why he believes people have a false view of Mao Zedong. Mr. Ball uses statistics like e stating that during 1949-1978 the land with with food crops “increased by 145.9%”, and total food “production rose 169.6%. “During this period China’s population grew by 77.7%.” Mr. Ball also succeeds in the fact that he was able to include the who, what, when, where, and why in his article also. If I were to critique his article I would Include a lot more rebuttal in the end of his ideas. He seems to only provide evidence of why he is right and not give much on why everyone else has a “false view of genocide”. I feel it is fair to say the he has a very biased opinion on the topic. The only true thing that makes his article good is his inclusion of data and vast knowledge of the “genocide”. I have to say by the end of the article he had me convinced “the approach of modern writers to the Great Leap Forward is absurdly one-sided.” I also conclude with him some people are unable to understand the relationship between its failures and successes. Many people are focused on the sheer amount of death between 1959-1961. There was a lot of word done to Chinese socialism; improving the lives of its people. In conclusion, my article was a very one sided dialogue on the “incorrect” views of modern day writers and thinkers of Mao Zedong. Mr. Ball was however, able to convince me. He also provided solid evidence and statistics on the topic. Overall I would say it is well written and very informative.

Mao Zedong appeals to a younger generation

Mao's geographical influence

Chairman Mao Documentary - The Cultural Revolution - Destruction Of China

Sources

John Powell Ball, Joseph. "Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward? by Joseph Ball | Monthly Review." Monthly Review. N.p., 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2016. www,monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward/

  Cameron Maynard The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html


Ethan Evans Lee Edwards, Ph.D. "The Legacy of Mao Zedong Is Mass Murder." The Heritage       Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016. www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2010/02/the-legacy-of-mao-zedong-is-mass-murder


Video NorthernControversy. "Chairman Mao Documentary - The Cultural Revolution - Destruction
 Of China." YouTube. YouTube, 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXMMzL5THPk