Mao’s Little Red Book and the Top-Down Creation of Popular Culture

China’s rise to international power player was neither easy nor certain. First, Mao was tasked with winning a civil war against Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists. World War II and the Japanese interrupted this task, but by the end of the 1940s mainland China was under communist control. Arguably, this was the easy task. Now Mao had to live up to his promises to return China to the status of a political, economic, and military powerhouse, the likes of which it hadn’t experienced since the West’s age of colonization began in the 1500s. For Mao, this was not just a matter of good policies, but the right mix of cultural values. As Mao argued, “words and actions should help to unite” the Chinese, never threatening “socialist transformation” or undermining “the people’s democratic dictatorship,” including of course, Mao’s leadership. As we saw in this week’s video, Mao’s vision for the remaking of China, a mix of Marxism, authoritarianism, and most of all, his unique vision of a total and complete Cultural Revolution would put China on a very bumpy path towards the global village. Never satisfied with change within China himself, as we read this week, Mao looked to his neighbors to promote his vision of socialist revolution, one that would grow increasingly at odds with the Soviet Union. Mao had a single-minded ambition to quickly make China a regional power and implicitly a model for Third World peoples to revolt against their colonial masters. This desire—and the tools Mao used to achieve it—makes his understanding of the remaking of popular culture critical to our understanding of the top-down production of popular culture and its potential effects on a globalized popular culture. Begin your post by discussing the ideas for the remaking of Chinese society and popular culture in the chapter(s) you read from Mao’s Book. To what extent do you believe this remaking of popular culture from above (and the implied price for not following government directives on culture) was an effective means for Mao to consolidate his power nationally and influence global affairs? Finally, given how China became a beacon of hope for revolutionary movements elsewhere, do you think that Mao’s actions ultimately supported the production of popular culture in China based on your understanding of the term from Module 1?

WRITE THIS ESSAY FOR ME

Tell us about your assignment and we will find the best writer for your paper.

Get Help Now!