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10 Facts You Should Know About Chairman Mao’s Genocidal Rule
Soldier, activist and a crucial player in the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong had and has quite the reputation in China, as well as around the world. However, in the past 25 years, this reputation has been undermined due to the extreme number of deaths he is thought to be responsible for. During his life, Mao Zedong was widely respected for the way his policies improved the well-being and welfare of the Chinese people. In fact, he was instrumental in slashing
the level of hunger and poverty in China, increasing peasant’s average lifespan, and he even developed a plan for free health care and education.The majority of attempts made to undermine the reputation Mao had earned center around the time of the Great Leap Forward, which began in 1958. During this period, Mao is blamed for a great famine that killed thousands. According to official Chinese records, it is estimated that 16.5 million people (or more) died during the period of the Great Leap Forward. This fact alone has led many to believe that the policies and practices of Mao were doomed from the beginning.
The impact of the changes made by Mao were not what he expected in many ways. Here you can learn about Mao’s history, bizarre facts about the time he spent as the dictator, the impact he had, and other bits of fascinating information that may better explain the mass fatalities that occurred during his time as the dictator of China.
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