I am old enough to remember how the media treated China in the seventies. There was a simplistic fascination bordering on romanticism towards China, even with Mao, and the Red Guards. But as China develped, and becomes more successful, we have become more critical. To me, the June 4 incident paled in comparison to the tens of millions victimized during the decade of the Cultural Revolution, but where was the western media at that time? Also, isn't it offensive to see Mao's picture still prominently displayed at the Tian AnMen Square? Much more so for the Chinese people. That's akin to seeing Hitler's picture in Berlin and Stalin's in Moscow. Yet we see American network anchors broadcast in front of this symbol of evil. I have not heard the western media discuss the reason why it's still there. perhaps removing the picture will take away part of the unconscious resentment that the western media feels about China.

this sucks, but China is still teaching its kids about what a great hero Mao was, and I know this because I spent my first three years of elementary school there. It's not necessarily brainwashing, but it's concealment of a shame that China had to put up with for those decades of the culture revolution. The older generations know exactly what it was like, but the kids are really clueless about what a horrible man Mao was.

Second that.

You must not know China well if you think Mao is to China what Hitler is to Germany. At best, he was the founder/savior of modern China, at worst he was a founder/savior who's humanity failed his aspirations.

But for most of the people most of the times, he's just going the way of the way of the British monarchy: a stuffy, fuzzy symbol of archaic times.

Chrissli:

You must not know China well if you think Mao is to China what Hitler is to Germany. At best, he was the founder/savior of modern China, at worst he was a founder/savior who's humanity failed his aspirations.

Well, if the Germans had won their war, Hitler would be the founder/savior of modern Germany.

Like Qin Shih Huang, who unified China, and the first Sui emperor, who reunified it 250+ years after the Han empire broke up, Mao did terrible things that were execrated by those who inherited the benefit of the unified, powerful state he created. Qin was followed by Han, Sui by Tang, and I suspect the successors of Den Xiaoping see themselves in the same relation to Mao. Tough on all those people who died building the Qin wall, or digging the Grand Canal, or in the Great Leap Forward, but oh well, that's national greatness for you.

Chrisli just explained to you--and the responder to the poster, why the portrait is still up. I guess that you are very angry about this, and would like to force the Chinese to tear it down. This explains perhaps that you are American and some Americans believe they have a right to tell other sovereign nations what to do (China, Iraq, etc.).

Western media has been pinning the Cultural Revolution entirely on Mao, whereas in China Cultural Revolution was blamed instead on the Gang of Four. The truth is somewhere in between but neither Western Media nor the Chinese Media will touch this issue.

In fact I am Chinese to the core. Back in the very early sixties when I was small, living several years in Hong Kong, my family had two daily deliveries of left leaning newspapers. I remember rooting for China and Gagarin, the first astronaut winning the space race for the USSR. This was before the break-up of the Sino-Soviet ‘friendship’. I also remember the time of the ‘man-made’ famine in China when people in Hong Kong would regularly purchase special 2 lb packages of lard to send to relatives in China where they were prized.. (The weight restriction was set by China, there was also a time limit; i.e, once in how long a period)

I may have worded my last paragraph in the original post too carelessly, making it sound like a demand on China. The fact is the Chinese government has become quite conscious of its image on the world stage. It is largely indisputable that Mao was responsible for the greatest number of human suffering and deaths in the history of mankind. Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein pale in comparison. The argument that Mao actually made the country stronger setting the stage for prosperity in the process of solidifying his own power base is insulting to the vast number of victims and their families. The achievement of contemporary China rests on the backs of its industrious people, not on the well connected fat cats (Western and Chinese) enjoying the disproportionate share from the fruits of their labors.

I agree with you that Mao was the one responsible for much of the human suffering in China, but this isn't the way most mainland Chinese feel about him. Even for recent immigrants from China I've spoken with, at worst he was just a poor administrator who was taken advantage of by unscrupulous men. Talking to them, I get the impression that they believe he was naive; there is no acknowledgment that he didn't get to be leader of the party because of cheery good-fellowship or honest plain dealing. My impression is that they only remember the dottering old chubby guy with unfocused eyes and not the ruthless, ambitious megalomaniac. True he didn't personally apply the pistol to foreheads, report on neighbors or relatives, or take food from peoples' mouths with his bare hands, but he set up an atmosphere where such was allowed and encouraged. Of course, I don't argue about Mao with them, but it is fascinating to see such willful collective amnesia. Fascinating and disheartening.

although perhaps not as disheartening as reading tired old incorrect analogies of Mao as "so worse than Hitler" and the PRC as Nazi Germany. I'm embarrassed for the people who repeat these things, since there are really SO many differences, as suggested by other posters here. Very lazy and dumb comparision.