Maoist China Quotes

“Dare I ask Mao and his Communist Party?
I fear my throat will be cut into two pieces.
In the name of revolution, for thought crimes,
Such questions can turn me to ashes.”
― Zoë S. Roy , Calls Across the Pacific

“Jung Chang said that Mao ruled by getting people to hate each other: ‘Mao had managed to turn the people into the ultimate weapon of dictatorship. That was why under him there was no real equivalent of the KGB in China. There was no need. In bringing out and nourishing the worst in people, Mao had created a moral wasteland and a land of hatred.”
― Jonathan Glover, Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century

“Part of the Maoist project was the deliberate construction of a new moral identity. To do this it was necessary to destroy people’s previous sense of who they were and to make sure there was no room for it grow back.”
― Jonathan Glover, Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century

“Ya Ru’s father had drowned in the big political tidal wave that Mao had set in motion.”
― Henning Mankell, The Man from Beijing

“Since the Red Guards had removed the goods displayed in the windows of the shops, Mao’s official portraits were put there. A person walking down the streets in the shopping district would not only be confused by rows of shops bearing the same name, but also had the uncanny feeling of being watched by a hundred faces of Mao.”
― Nien Cheng, Life and Death in Shanghai