Maniac, pisano and tyrant, what you need to know about Mao Zedong

2023-09-09 09:13:00, Blog CNA

On September 9, 1976, the leader of Communist China, Mao Zedong, died. Some consider him
a great leader, or as he was called the Great Helmsman. Others label him as a ruthless dictator. Here are some strange but true facts about Mao.

It was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people Mao is credited with stabilizing China and greatly increasing life expectancy and overall population. Yet his acts, ranging from the persecution of political enemies to the agricultural revolution that caused the Great Famine in China, resulted in the deaths of 40 to 70 million people, the largest number of deaths caused by a single person in the history of humanity.

He liked young girls but was infertile

Among many women, Mao had an affair with Chen Luwen, a so-called "imperial concubine". She was 14 and he was 68. The relationship lasted almost a decade, from 1962 to 1971. According to Dr. Li, Mao's personal physician, the Chinese ruler was infertile, despite the ascertained pregnancy of at least one of his young girlfriends. But despite the infertility, Chairman Mao officially had 4 wives, who gave birth to 10 children. He was also the grandfather of 12 grandchildren.

Dropped out of school as a child and was very poor
At the age of 13, Mao Zedong was forced to drop out of school to help with the family farm. According to many witnesses of the time, Mao did not brush his teeth like others. He would rinse his mouth with tea and then chew the leaves. Because of this, his teeth turned green and his gums stank. When encouraged by his doctor to start brushing his teeth like everyone else, Mao replied: "Does a tiger brush its teeth?". He also avoided washing his body, considering it a "waste of time". After swimming, he was covered with heated towels.

Offered to sell 10 million women to USA

Three years before his death, Mao Zedong offered to send 10 million women to the United States. He believed that his country was too poor to support what he called "excess numbers".

Suffering from insomnia
The Chinese leader suffered from insomnia so much that he would take 10 times the normal dose of sleeping pills. Insomnia caused Mao to suffer bouts of addiction to barbiturates and chloride hydrate (sedative-hypnotic drugs).

Death
When he died, his body was embalmed and displayed inside a crystal coffin. Visitors can still see his body preserved in the mausoleum "Mao Ze Dun" in the great Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Revenge is best served as a "hot dish"

During a visit to Russia, after he had ascended to the head of China, Chairman Mao felt ignored by the head of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin, who treated him as an ordinary guest. In revenge, a few years later Mao put Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, in a room without air conditioning during a very hot and humid summer in Beijing. To
further embarrass the Soviet leader, Mao ordered that the meeting between him and Khrushchev take place in an outdoor swimming pool. The only problem? Khrushchev could not swim.

Swimming as a Propaganda Tool
At the age of 73, Mao Zedong plunged into the Yangtze River and swam 15 kilometers in just 65 minutes, according to the Chinese government. This means he swam 1.6km in less than 8 minutes, at a time when the world record time was 20 minutes.

He was a heavy smoker
When his personal physician warned him of the harmful effects of smoking, Mao replied, "Smoking is also an exercise in deep breathing, don't you think so?" The helmsman was a heavy smoker who, in addition to food and shelter, handed his friends cigarettes one after another.

Exterminated the landlord class
As in many communist countries, Mao redistributed land to the peasantry and landless workers by ordering the killing of the wealthiest landlords. The number of victims reaches millions.

Brutal drug war
Under his rule, China banned the production and consumption of opium. The communist government forced over 10 million users to undergo mandatory detoxification, while dealers were executed and opium-producing fields were replanted with other crops.

Gave a disastrous solution to the pest problem
Mao ordered the elimination of rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows to improve China's hygiene and health outcomes. Citizens were rewarded if they could prove (with the carcasses of dead animals) that they participated in the pest eradication campaign. Sparrow populations were hit hard and this resulted in severe damage to crops
by locusts.

A capitalist at heart
During the Cultural Revolution, Mao persecuted Chinese writers and ordered the burning of books and poems. But he self-published his books earning millions of yuan while facing virtually zero competition in the market. His most popular publication, The Red Book, still rakes in profits that go to Mao's family.