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Mao the Poet
Mao Zedong believed in the radical transformation of every aspect of Chinese life. “Art” under Mao meant extolling the glories of communism.Sarah Campbell discovered a strange footnote to Mao’s biography: he was a poet, and not altogether a bad one — but he might have had himself persecuted as a reactionary.
From Steven Heller's “Iron Fists: Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State” (Phaidon Press Inc.)
Mao Zedong believed in the radical transformation of every aspect of Chinese life. “Art” under Mao meant extolling the glories of communism.Sarah Campbell discovered a strange footnote to Mao’s biography: he was a poet, and not altogether a bad one — but he might have had himself persecuted as a reactionary.