Сообщение Rare pictures of young Mao Zedong появились сначала на Old Pictures.
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Not so many pictures from the early years of young Mao Zedong lived to our days. But Oldpics has already published old photographs of Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and even some pictures of Adolf Hitler. So we had to find at least some images of young Helmsman – Mao Zedong.
When Communism was a trend
Mao Zedong was born in 1893 and spent his young years in the southern province of China Hunan in the town of Shaoshan. The boy’s parents were illiterate peasants. When young Mao Zedong researched the works of the notable political personalities of the past, he abandoned Buddism and switched to atheism.
Overall early years of the young Mao Zedong remind the same period of another communist leader – Joseph Stalin. Both were raised in poverty; both were confident men looking for any chance to change their country. Both fell in love with Marxism.
The revolutionary movement of 1911 was the next tipping point in Mao’s biography. The Qing dynasty was overthrown, and he spent six months in the army serving as a signalman. It was a time when young Mao Zedong took great interest in the works of Vladimir Lenin and Communism in general.
One of the earliest pictures of Mao
Forging history
In 1918, Mao moved to Beijing to work in the capital’s library and continue his education. He met the founder of the Chinese Communist Party Li Dazhao and joined CPC. It was also a time when young Mao met a girl his future wife (the first one) Yang Kaihui.
For the next several years, Mao toured the country. Mao concludes that changing the situation in the country will require a revolution similar to the Russian October coup.
After the victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia, Mao became a follower of the ideas of Leninism. He created resistance factions in many cities in China and became secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. At this time, the communists are actively drawing closer to the Kuomintang party, which is promoting nationalism. But after a few years, the CCP and the Kuomintang are becoming incompatible enemies.
Mao Zedong and the leader of the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek, the early 1920s.
What happened next? The road to the absolute power took long 25 years. The creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 was the first successful milestone. Then the Great Leap reforms followed. Then the Great Swim and the bloody Cultural Revolution.
We may treat the Great Helmsmen differently, but nobody will doubt that his pictures deserve the placement in the list of the Top 100 most influential photos in the history of humankind.
Сообщение Rare pictures of young Mao Zedong появились сначала на Old Pictures.
]]>Сообщение Swimming Mao Zedong, 1966 появились сначала на Old Pictures.
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This photo of swimming Mao Zedong, made by his cameraman Lv Houmin, was named as one of the Top 100 most influential images by Times magazine due to its propaganda effect and events which followed this swim.
By July 1966, it seemed that China had lost its revolutionary steam and the power grip of the 72-year-old Chairman Mao Zedong wasn’t so tight. But the Great Helmsman decided to turn the tides with one devastating propaganda move: by participating in Wuhan’s 11th annual Cross-Yangtze Competition.
Mao was swimming together with six bodyguards and gigantic portraits of himself.
It seemed just amusing fact to the Westerners, but it was a real wake call for the Chinese nation. Five thousand swimmers joined Mao Zedong in competition, and this contest became a propaganda bombshell, reaching out to both locals and going viral around the Globe.
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Mao was swimming, surrounded by six swimming bodyguards. Don’t be confused with gigantic photos of himself floating around – it was ok for the communist regimes to honor leaders in this way. Posters on the water asking for 10,000 years of life for Mao personally and his friends and comrades in the Communist Party of China.
Mao Zedong was swimming for 65 minutes and covered something around ten miles at a decent pace. Pretty good for a 72-year-old man, right.
Chinese security agents assisted Mao in that swimming event.
The historical aftermath!
Mao Zedong came back to Beijing just two days later after this swimming event. Note that the chairman was absent in the capital city for more than a year, which was a result of decreasing Mao’s popularity and political crisis.
The reason for the darkening political skies above Mao was a miserable fail of his ‘Great Leap Forward’ strategy, which was active in 1958-1962. It had to transform China into the modern industrial economy, but it led to devastation and a famine that killed around 45 million Chinese.
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But right after the historical swim Mao got ready to ‘attack’ his opponents inside the Communist Party headquarters, and initiate a cultural revolution.
Mao greeting 5000 swimmers at Wuhan
What happened next?
After downgrading opposition, Mao declared that his destiny is to create ‘great disorder under heaven’ so as ultimately to get ‘great order’. He relied on various radicals and middle schools, which were sending ‘work teams’ to restrain everything that opposed the Great Helmsman. The Little Red Book of Mao’s sayings was the only dogma that they recognized. Mao planted his ideas into children’s and student’s minds, setting them to fight both their parents and teachers. Labeling everybody as members of the ‘Black Gang’, this armed and youngsters plunged China into the six years long bloody political affair which tightened the power grip of Zedong.
He covered around 10 miles for 65 minutes on that day. Not bad, when you are 72 old
Сообщение Swimming Mao Zedong, 1966 появились сначала на Old Pictures.
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