What advances did Mao Zedong's rule bring to China?
1 Answer
Debateable
Explanation:
This is a very contentious subject tbh. I believe that right at the beginning of the revolution he was quite successful. His marriage reforms favouring the female were well ahead of the times, and his agrarian reform policy was initially a success and land grabs did not initially hurt anyone and was very popular. He also focused on modernising and building up a few major trade cities including Shanghai. Unfortunately in my opinion these are the only positive things he accomplished and they were basically on the coattails of the revolution!
Mao went on to 'the great leap forward' Where he forced a large amount of social reforms. He also became interested in becoming a nuclear power. In order to fund this he worked his people hard and then took all of the rice etc and sold it abroad to pay for his nuclear and military dream. In doing this he starved the entire population of China almost to death. He killed upwards of 40 million in just 4 years! Worse than Stalin or arguably Hitler.
Ultimately after very early success I believe he ultimately failed as a leader. The contentious argument says his other successes were maintaining control in China and ensuring communist dominance. Becoming a nuclear power and laying the foundations for becoming an military and economic super power. I suppose it depends on what perspective you view Mao through?
