Mao Tse Tung, the Chinese considered Peasant Emperor has an article written about him in the " "BIOGRAPHY" magazine. It talks about him when he was emperor during the late 1900's, 1998. This magazine explores his life through rare footage and photos. It dates back to his childhood and documents the hardships of his life in China. Even though he had a hard life he was able to become the emperor of China.
The "Biography Magazine does a good job of explaining his life through photographs.
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Mao Tse Tung
01/11/2008 05:33 PM
#1
Mao Tse Tung
I had the opportunity to read a lot of materials about Mao Zedong (Mao Tse Tung) when I got into college in the early 70s in the Philippines, my home country. My college years witnessed the height of student activism in my home country and in several occasions, I was even invited to join some left leaning organizations. I never got convinced. One group even offered me a trip to the People's Republic of China, all expenses paid for, if I joined. I still didn't join. My main reason is that I can never espouse the ideologies of Lenin, Karl Marx and Mao. I have read and studied the ideologies of these philosophers. One of those that I remember quoting was Mao's "power comes from the barrel of a gun." Mao was perhaps the only Chinese philosopher of contemporary times that was so revered by his people, only to be tarnished with the exposure of the so-called "Gang of Four," which actually was a Gang of Five to include Mao himself. Still, being the leader of the 1949 successful cultural revolution, his poor beginnings projects a good lesson on human quest for success and leadership. Unfortunately, for many flash points in East Asia, including that of modern-day Pakistan, Mao's principle of "power comes from the barrel of a gun" remains a valid point. I have used many materials on Mao in my lessons about prominent leaders of the 20th century. [Edit by="ncastorillo on Jan 13, 7:25:38 PM"][/Edit]
There is a very interesting and accessible article on Mao in this month's Education About Asia magazine. It talks about the various campaigns (which I was unclear about), how and why the mao regime distrusted academia and lawyers, how people got mobilized, and which areas of that thinking survives today.
Jan 7, 08 Newsweek Magazine has an article entitled Mao to Now. Not only does it provide interesting cultural information and statistics, but it also has terrific current pictures of China's streets, teenagers, vendors, and landscapes. One of the many things that struck me while in China was the disparity between the 'old' and 'new' China. How fast some things were changing, while how slowly others were. This article shows some of that and provides reasons. It also provides some interesting Chinese perspectives on that disparity.
I agree with you that there is a great disparity between the rich and poor in China but look at ourselves. The top 1% in the US are extremely rich. None of us (to my understanding) come close to them and we're not even at the lower income levels in our country. We're educated and have decent jobs. What about the poor in america? How do they compare to the rich here?