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Symposium commemorates Mao's 120th anniversary

( Xinhua ) Updated: 2013-12-26 13:56:20

Yang Keqi touches up his painting, a portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong, in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan province, Dec 5, 2013. He spent nine years on 12 pieces of oil paintings for an exhibition to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth.[Photo/Asianewsphoto]

Party newspaper praises Mao's role ahead of 120th birthday

The People's Daily in its Monday edition carried an article titled "Mao Zedong and Four Milestones Along the Road to the Chinese Nation's Rejuvenation," which examined Mao's relationship to the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the founding of the CPC in 1921, the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, and the reform and opening up drive that started in 1978.

Importance of Mao's diplomacy

Chairman Mao Zedong was the main architect of New China's foreign policy. Being a keen observer of international relations, Mao adjusted China's foreign policy to suit the global strategic situation. With Mao's 120th birth anniversary to be celebrated on Dec 26, it's time to re-explore his strategic thinking that still has its importance today.

Mao in theory and practice

Open and subterranean left-and-right debates have been raging on Mao Zedong's legacy and the direction of China's future. Although respectable, the debates seem simplistic. Their common focus is Chairman Mao's place in history. The views range from the various degrees of retention (the left-leaning views) to the rejection (the right-leaning views) of the revolutionary Mao. In extreme cases, the left wants to keep the practice of revolutionary Mao in as pristine a state as possible, and the right wants to eradicate the practice of revolutionary Mao as thoroughly as possible. The net result is that theoretically each would lead to a different future for China.