A Mao Memorial

Thirty years ago Mao Zedong died quietly in bed after years of ill health. He was 82 years old and under the 27 years of his communist dictatorship, somewhere between the population of Illinois and the population of Illinois plus Wisconsin combined, died as a direct result of his leadership. It is a legacy the current Chinese government would just as soon ignore.

30th Anniversary of Mao's Death: The Chinese government is not holding any official events to mark the anniversary. Observers say Chinese leaders want to avoid stirring up bitter memories about Mao's 27-year rule, widely considered responsible for claiming tens of millions of lives.

The core concept at the heart of Mao’s vision for government and society is the “iron rice bowl”. The idea that the responsibility of government is to take care of all the needs of the population, in return for their complete obedience.

Iron Rice Bowl: The Iron Rice Bowl is a Chinese idiom referring to the system of guaranteed lifetime employment in state enterprises. Job security and level of wages were not related to job performance - but adherence to party doctrine played a very important role.

Iron Rice Bowl: In the cities, the Communists steered industrial production toward heavy industries and formed state-controlled unions. Workers were promised the "iron rice bowl" of lifetime employment, housing, health care, pension plans and education for their children.

The belief in the nanny state government is still actively pursued in the west, even as Mao’s successors are busy dismantling this discredited system and introducing personal responsibility, at least in the non-political sectors of society. Time Magazine, in their non-judgmental liberal way, include Chairman Mao in their top 100 leaders. There is one passage, however, that paints an image worthy of remembering.

Time Magazine: Mao Zedong loved to swim. … despite the pleadings of his security guards and his physician, he swam in the heavily polluted rivers of south China, drifting miles downstream with the current, head back, stomach in the air, hands and legs barely moving, unfazed by the globs of human waste gliding gently past.

A most fitting memorial image of one more tyrant expelled into history.