theBruiser500
03-01-2005, 09:50 AM
Almost done with this book, it's excellent. The writing is okay/good slightly dry but the content is really great. It's all about China and politics and society when Communists and Mao came to power. I love history, but to be honest I didn't even know what the "cultural revolution" was before reading this. If you don't know what it is you have to read this book.
Wild Swans will give you some real perspective and amaze you. The censorship, supression, complete lack of power for people is on the same scale as what happened in 1984, I'd say, but this actually happened. This happened 30 years ago to the most populous country in the world to all of it's inhabitants.
In the "great leap forward" I think 30+ million people died of hunger because Mao told peasants who should have been harvesting food to make steel, it was a completely crazy decision detached from the reality of the situation. The extent of the censorship was truly incredible. For instance, all the newspapers were filled with pictures of Mao and quotes from Mao, no one could throw out their newspapers because it would be perceived as going against Mao. At the same time, the newspapers had to be kept in perfect shape, they couldn't get wet or ruined by animals because that too would go against Mao and if people saw that, the families life would be ruined, literally.
Curious, is anyone going to read this book now because of this post?
Wild Swans will give you some real perspective and amaze you. The censorship, supression, complete lack of power for people is on the same scale as what happened in 1984, I'd say, but this actually happened. This happened 30 years ago to the most populous country in the world to all of it's inhabitants.
In the "great leap forward" I think 30+ million people died of hunger because Mao told peasants who should have been harvesting food to make steel, it was a completely crazy decision detached from the reality of the situation. The extent of the censorship was truly incredible. For instance, all the newspapers were filled with pictures of Mao and quotes from Mao, no one could throw out their newspapers because it would be perceived as going against Mao. At the same time, the newspapers had to be kept in perfect shape, they couldn't get wet or ruined by animals because that too would go against Mao and if people saw that, the families life would be ruined, literally.
Curious, is anyone going to read this book now because of this post?