RHETORIC OF MAO ZEDONG: Transforming China and Its People

Mao Zedong fundamentally transformed China from a Confucian society characterized by hierarchy and harmony into a socialist state guided by communist ideologies of class struggle and radicalization. It was a transformation made possible largely by Mao's rhetorical ability to attract, persuade, and mobilize millions of Chinese people. Xing Lu's book analyses Mao's speeches and writings over a span of 60 years, tracing the sources and evolution of Mao's discourse, analysing his skills as a mythmaker, and assessing his symbolic power and continuing presence in contemporary China. Mao's appropriation of Marxist theory of class struggle, his campaigns of transforming common people into new communist advocates, his promotion of Chinese nationalism, and his stand on China's foreign policy all contributed to and were responsible for reshaping Chinese thought patterns, culture, and communication behaviours. Lu observes that Mao's rhetorical legacy has been culturally consumed, and politically appropriated since his death. Applying both Western rhetorical theories and Chinese rhetorical concepts to reach a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of his rhetorical legacy, Lu shows how Mao employed a host of rhetorical appeals and strategies drawn from Chinese tradition and how he interpreted the discourse of Marxism-Leninism to serve foundational themes of his message. She traces the historical contexts in which these themes, his early writings, his philosophical orientations, and his political views were formed and how they transformed China and Chinese people and class struggle, and how certain ideas are promoted, modified, and appropriated in Mao's rhetoric. The New Communist person and Nationalism emerged. 261 pages.