How far will the Chinese take their Mao Zedong cult? -

[Iwasamwillbe]

It's a pretty obvious observation that the personality cults that surrounded (and in some cases, still surround) various socialist/communist/Marxist dictators are little more than modernized versions of the imperial cults and sacred kings of ancient and medieval times.

However, China seems to go above and beyond even North Korea in the regards of glorification of "nation heroes". In China, "Lord" Mao Zedong is regarded as:

The "Celestial Deity Buddha"
The "New Jade Emperor" (basically a manifestation of the Chinese God)
The source of Buddhism and Taoism with his teachings
The "Red Sun" in the metaphorical center of the yin-yang (representing duality)

Keep in mind, many temples to Taoism, Buddhism, etc. had been constantly harassed by CCP officials...until they put Mao idols in their temples and started (at least when in public) worshipping Mao. So the Chinese Communist Party clearly approves of this burgeoning Mao cult.

What I'm wondering is how far the CCP will take this Mao worship. Will they make it a state religion, de facto or de jure, and outlaw all others? It sure looks that way to me, with how things are developing.

 

[James Mason]

they already take muzzie kids from their parents and put them into orphanages where they're taught to worship Xi as a god, Mao is a spiritual leader but the cult of personality is based around Xi

 

[Harlay de Champvallon]

Doing the same in churches or chapels. Picture of Mao or closure.

 

[SIGSEGV]

dong cult

lol

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Doing the same in churches or chapels. Picture of Mao or closure.

I guess the CCP will be angry if we draw a picture of Mao showing him doing unorthodox things.

Btw, would a big disaster like for example, the Three Gorges Dam collapsing could bring the cult of Mao to an abrupt end?

 

[millais]

I imagine it will only get worse as President Xi tries to play up the benefits and historical precedent of his one-man autocracy. Before Xi's rise, when the Politburo was still in full control of the political power in the country, they were rightfully wary of the resurgence of the Maoist cult of personality. A lot of the older Party cadres lived through the Cultural Revolution when the cult got really out of hand to the detriment of the entire country, and afterwards they even had to concede that Mao was not infallible. I think it was Deng Xiaoping who paraphrased Krushchev's critique of Stalin in saying that in the final analysis, Mao's actions were "50% good, 25% neutral, and 25% bad".

But now that there has been over 50 years since the worst excesses of the Cultural Revolution, those bitter memories are no longer so sharp and it will only get easier to deify Mao as an idealized image of everything great about the CCP. Especially since Xi wants to make himself out to be the new emperor of the Red Dynasty, it makes sense to play up Mao as well. He can very easily claim a direct line of succession to Mao, since none of the other CCP leaders that ruled the country between Mao and Xi ever aspired to emulate the one-man autocracy.

 

[bot_for_hire]

It's soon to be replaced by the cult of Xi.