Mao Quotes Flashcards
(13 cards)
When it’s so bad, communism starts to look good
“They craved peace at any cost, even under communism.” (Dikotter)
Communism as a weapon
“Communism was to be China’s weapon for modernization” (Westad)
What does Lynch think of the importance of the Sino-Japanese war in defining Chinese politics?
“The Japanese war had served as the great catalyst in Chinese politics.” (Lynch)
What was Deng’s overview of Sino-US relations?
Deng believed the US “should play a central role in China’s drive toward modernity and beyond.” (Chen)
How did Mao frame corruption as Western?
“The product of Western domination and thus inimical to revolutionary China.” (Chen)
When you need to war but don’t want to (and your enemy doesn’t either)
The US and China “were willing to count upon the consistency and ‘limited rationality’ of the other side to avoid another deadly war between the two countries.” (Chen)
What is Chen’s perspective of Mao’s foreign policy?
“It was this aspiration for “centrality,” rather than the pursuit of “dominance,” that characterized the external policy of Mao’s China.” (Chen)
Triangular diplomacy
“The Sino-Soviet alliance was a formidable Cold War challenge to the predominance of the West.” (Westad)
Chinese independence
Mao thought “China could do better if it relied on its own strength and initiative.” (Westad)
How successful was China’s Third World foreign policy?
“By 1965 almost all of China’s Third World links had soured.” (Westad)
Mao purging his people (Cultural Revolution)
“[Mao] raged against the party he had led for thirty years.” (Westad)
Youth in the Cultural Revolution
Mao wanted to “set the young against the old.” (Westad)
Sino-Soviet border crisis
“How unprepared China was for a real war and how erratic his new leadership group was.” (Westad)
