China: Mao Who?

Saturday marked the thirtieth anniversary of Mao Zedong‘s death. Like the closeted bones some families would rather just forget about, China seems to be serious about moving on from the helter-skelter days of high Communism, both at The Party level and at the grassroots.

Wu Zuolai, whose Sina.com blog was shut down suddenly at the end of July, is now the #1 columnist at blogging portal giant Bokee. In his post dated late Saturday night, instead of mentioning Mao by name, Wu wrote an elegant ode to ancient Chinese tyrant Qin Shihuang. Here's a snippet:

他修长城是为了人民?
他焚书坑儒是为了稳定?
他大修陵园是为了后人?
政治家为人民只有一条道路
用选票用民意用制度
才能开万世太平

Building the great wall, was that for the people?
Burn books and purging Confucianists, was that for stability?
Overhauling cemeteries, was that for posterity?
Politicians for the people only have one way.
Only using votes, popular opinion, a system
Will allow for eternal peace

Nick Wong:

三十年前你走了,人们才能
在物质和精神的桎梏下稍稍
透口气,而我也得以此刻坐在
电脑前说这些废话。可那些
因你的罪业而积聚的冤魂仍
在历史的血泥里深埋,在阴霾的
天空飘荡,我们自己的罪孽也躲藏
在你泡着药水的尸体下,没有办法
暴露在阳光下。那些靠你的腐尸
妄想永存的蛆虫至今还攫着最后的
渣滓毒害和欺诈。何时才能摆脱
你的阴影以及命运对中国的诅咒?
将是子孙们可否呼吸自由的保佑。
阴魂不散……

Thirty years ago when you left, and people were able
Under their material and spiritual shackles
To breathe a little, and from this here I sit
In front of my computer, spouting nonsense. But those
Wronged ghosts born of your crimes are still
Buried deeply in the blood puddles of history,
Hovering in the hazy sky; our own sins too are stored
Beneath your embalmed corpse, unable
To see the light of day. Those maggots near your rotting corpse
Wishing they could live forever to this day still grab at the last
Of the poison and deceit. When will we be able to break free from
Your shadow and free from your curse on China's fate?
Bless our children that they might have the freedom to breathe.
Haunted……

From MindMeters columnist Wu Xiaobo comes a serious look at how an entepreunerial Mao might fare in the corporate world if he were alive today:

他是一个天生不惮于冒险的人,危险越大,他的斗志将越是高昂,他甚至相信”人定胜天”,所以他让全国人民都读《愚公移山》。当共和国刚刚新建,一切事务百废待举的时候,他也敢于派兵渡过鸭禄江,与世界上最强大的军队硬碰硬打个大仗。这种霸气,百年一人而已,如果是用在企业竞争中,却又是谁人可敌。在企业家的所有素质中,敢于冒险、勇于创新往往是决定最后命运的那一项。

He was born unafraid of risks. The greater the danger, the harder he'd fight. He even believed that men could conquer nature, that's why he made the entire country read [Even Fools Can Move Mountains]. http://lindy.dre.vanderbilt.edu/wikitnt/index.php/%E6%84%9A%E5%85%AC%E7%A7%BB%E5%B1%B1 Right when the republic had just been formed, when everything had to be built from scratch, he even dared to send troops across the Yalu River[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalu_River] head-on into a fight with the greatest army in the world. This kind of aggression is only seen once every hundred years; if only it had been used in corporate competition, nobody would have been proven a match. Of all the characteristics of an entepreneur, it is the willingness to take risks, and bravery to innovate that sometimes determines one's final destiny.

3 comments

  • zhwj

    Wu Xiaobo’s column in this week’s CEO supplement to The Economic Observer is also pretty interesting – the MindMeters piece seems to be an expanded version of the first section of that column, which then goes on to discuss the “Mao Spirit” in various entrepreneurs of today – a company run like a commune, a CEO who takes his highly-concentrated power structure directly from Mao, and so forth.

  • A Short Reflection on September Ninth – Nick Wong (王宁)…

    September ninth this year is the thirtieth anniversery of Mao Zedong’s death. The following poem was from Gunagzhou based blogger Nick Wong, translated by the Global Voices Online: Thirty years ago when you left, and people were able Under……

  • 叹十声

    他其实是一个心中很多疑又害怕的所谓领袖(oversensitive, insecure and vain) ,只善于装腔作势来掩饰其短!历史慢慢的就会详细分析出来其中之奥妙,且待眼以视吧!

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