Böcker av Katsuji Nakagane

What did Mao Zedong bring to China? Mao Zedong, a rare leader who is still regarded as a great hero on the Chinese continent, despite the large number of victims caused by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. He called himself "Qin Shi Huang ¿First Emperor of Qin¿plus Marx". It can be said that he is an entity that combines the power of the emperor and the authority of Marx into one person. This book analyzes the features of Mao Zedong¿s thought and philosophy, his understanding of Marxism and class struggle, in particular, his peculiar attitude toward intellectuals, his actions leading to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, which he initiated and involved the entire nation, as well as the analysis of the mechanisms that caused such catastrophes and tragedies. Finally, through these analyses, this book attempts to evaluate Mao Zedong with diverse personalities and his behavior, positive and negative, whether in political, social, economic, or philosophical areas.

This book focuses on several specific features characterizing Chinäs economy in the Mao era (1952¿1976), and discusses whether and how they are related to the new economic strategy called ¿reforms and opening-up¿ under Deng Xiaoping¿s leadership with the result of the aftermath of well-known rapid growth. It provides the reader with basic knowledge of the continuity and discontinuity between the Mao and Deng eras. Readers are provided with some important clues for thinking about how Maoist China could have contributed to or alternatively prevented today¿s economic development. The topics addressed here include a brief overview of economic development under Mao, significant differences between Mao and Deng economics, and socialist transformations during the early Mao era. These include collectivization as well as communization and the effects on agricultural productivity; water supply construction drives utilizing a vast amount of rural surplus labor; rural finance; the effects on national savings, and the development of heavy and light industry. Also considered are the effects on the socialist industrialization, rural small-scale industries during the Cultural Revolution and their aftermath, and the realities of social life in a Third-front construction site promoted by Mao¿s military strategy in the 1960s. This book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in contemporary Chinäs economy, particularly to scholars and students. The volume gives new insight into the background or preconditions that made possible historically rare miracles of the Chinese economy after Mao.