Committed a cultural blunder about Mao

[Scoobyqueen]

I may have inadvertently committed a cultural blunder.

Edited April 15, 2013 at 10:43 PM by Scoobyqueen
sp.

[rob07]

I've seen a couple of Mao's poems. Not sure I'm really qualified to express an opinion on the relative literary merits of Chinese poetry, but I have heard from a number of reasonably objective sources that he was a genuinely gifted poet and calligrapher as well for that matter.

Whatever else can be said about Mao, he was undoubtedly an exceptionally talented man.

[rob07]

Should also mention this:

http://survey.news.sina.com.cn/voteresult.php?pid=15897

It is the results of a 2007 internet poll to determine the Chinese public's most popular literary figures of all time. Mao clocks in at no.38. Sima Qian and Pu Songling are numbers 39 and 40!

[Luobot]

I may have inadvertently committed a cultural blunder.

I can understand your surprise. Poetry inspires one to find truth. Politics is all about lying and scheming. Too bad Mao didn’t stick with verse. Of course, someone who is schizophrenic shouldn't have a problem with doing both at the same time. (Try telling *that* to your teacher.)

[Outofin]

Chinese people JUDGE their leaders (and everyone else for that matter) by their poems and calligraphy! I’m not exaggerating. Calligraphy reveals personality. I wasn’t fond of Jiang Zemin. But when I saw his calligraphy in 北京植物园万生苑, I had to say his image suddenly got upgraded to me. Another example is this thread.

Haven’t you noticed the significance of poetry compared to other literature forms in Chinese culture? Actually writing novels was a relatively shameful thing to do for intellectuals that they were reluctant to leave their names as the author.

Mao’s poems are among the best.

His calligraphy is very unique and easy to recognize. But I can’t say I like that style. I don’t know how to appreciate it with my un-trained eyes.

[bhchao]

This particular piece of calligraphy is very good:

[roddy]

Out of curiosity, which leaders have been looked down on for their poor handwriting?

From a Western perspective, the thought of Bush, Brown or Merkel (I will leave Sarkozy out here) would write poems for the children or for senior citizens is a little amusing

Jimmy Carter is a published poet. Churchill wrote a little poetry and won the Nobel Prize for literature - although not for his poetry. Gordon Brown might as well try a little poetry, he's not having much luck with anything else just now . . .

[imron]

Too bad Mao didn’t stick with verse.

Actually, quite a few of the criticisms I've heard of Mao from Chinese sources was that he governed China as a poet, and not as a leader. Hence lots of grand-scale pie-in-the-sky policies that hindered rather than helped China's development.

[Outofin]

Out of curiosity, which leaders have been looked down on for their poor handwriting?

I can’t think of any. I think it’s because they won’t write in public if they are not confident in their skills. But there're some opposite examples. 康生, a “bad” man, was an acclaimed calligrapher.

Actually, quite a few of the criticisms I've heard of Mao from Chinese sources was that he governed China as a poet, and not as a leader. Hence lots of grand-scale pie-in-the-sky policies that hindered rather than helped China's development.

Yes, that’s a very common view. The history makes a lot of sense if you see Mao as a poet. Idealists with romantic and grand ideas ruin a country. Replacing poets with engineers is a progress, isn’t it?

[bhchao]

The history makes a lot of sense if you see Mao as a poet. Idealists with romantic and grand ideas ruin a country. Replacing poets with engineers is a progress, isn’t it?

I tend to think that Mao governed like a philosopher whose 'philosophy', but not ideology, may have some redeeming value when looking at today's social context.

Deng created progress with the mentality "不管黑猫白猫, 能抓到老鼠就是好猫". However when looking at today's context with the agenda of doing whatever it takes to achieve economic growth, it does matter that the cat is black or white. If the cat that catches mice is also a cat that ravages the environment, then the cat could be a bad cat.

[studentyoung]

However, in this context I was merely thinking that a Chairman of a country of the size of China probably would not have time to write poems in whatever little spare time he had available. I was obviously wrong. It is admirable when leaders can successfully juggle private, public and poetic life.

Hehe. In my opinion, writing poems don’t need a lot of spare time but a lot of poetic inspiration. And some gifted people can naturally get poetic inspiration almost everytime everywhere.

His calligraphy is very unique and easy to recognize. But I can’t say I like that style. I don’t know how to appreciate it

The amazing point in Mao’s calligraphy is lying in his cursive script 草书 (not his regular script 正楷), which perfectly matches his poems. (老毛的诗词配老毛的字——绝配！) If you compare Mao’s calligraphy with Emperor Zhaoji ‘s in Song Dynasty 宋徽宗赵佶, you will find the similarity in their works.

Mao’s

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%C3%AB%D6%F7%CF%AF+%CA%E9%B7%A8&in=476&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=28&rn=1&di=1285213641&ln=1119

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%C3%AB%D6%F7%CF%AF+%CA%E9%B7%A8&in=27402&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=8&rn=1&di=344433056&ln=1119

Zhao’s

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%D5%D4%D9%A5+%CA%E9%B7%A8&in=32477&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=7&rn=1&di=353082496&ln=410

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%D5%D4%D9%A5+%CA%E9%B7%A8&in=32477&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=15&rn=1&di=386499456&ln=410

http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%D5%D4%D9%A5+%CA%E9%B7%A8&in=32477&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=24&rn=1&di=394161216&ln=410

Cheers!

Edited August 7, 2008 at 03:58 AM by studentyoung

[Smafy]

Actually, many leaders in China, including many ancient emperors, are poets and calligraphists.

You can’t imagine Bush will write a poem in his spare time. That’s because of the culture difference between the west and China.

Mao’s writing is very unique and famous. Most names of the universities in China are written in Mao’s style.

[Guest realmayo]

You can’t imagine Bush will write a poem in his spare time. That’s because of the culture difference between the west and China.

That's a silly thing to say.

You can't imagine Jacques Chirac will return to power in France by swimmimg the Seine and begin 10 years of "tricolour" guards destroying French culture, persecuting and killing millions of intellectuals and others... This is cultural difference too?

On a lighter note, nice links studentyoung, thanks!

[renzhe]

You can't imagine Jacques Chirac will return to power in France by swimmimg the Seine and begin 10 years of "tricolour" guards destroying French culture, persecuting and killing millions of intellectuals and others... This is cultural difference too?

Not really, Robespierre did almost exactly that.

[crazy-meiguoren]

Chinese people JUDGE their leaders (and everyone else for that matter) by their poems and calligraphy

This morning, I can say I've learned something new about Chinese culture. It wouldn't work here. Can you imagine Bush writing poetry? Neither can I.

[liuzhou]

Mao’s writing is very unique and famous. Most names of the universities in China are written in Mao’s style.

You can download your very own Chairman Mao calligraphy font here.

[Guest realmayo]

Haha very good point renzhe (despite Paris in 2008 being rather different to Paris 200 years ago)! But also missing the point, you can't explain differences between Mao and Bush by simply "cultural differences".

[Guest realmayo]

Cultural differences? (via wikipedia and bbc respectively)

Václav Havel, GCB, CC, (born October 5, 1936) is a Czech writer and dramatist. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993-2003).

A recording of poems written by the Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has been released in the Indian capital, Delhi.The poems, written in free verse, are in what is known as pure Hindi, a form closer to the ancient language of Sanskrit.

[Lu]

Maybe it's the other way around: in China, calligraphy and poetic skills used to be (still are, perhaps) something pretty much expected of anyone of education, anyone fit to be a leader. A Chinese who doesn't know better might suppose that Western leaders also publish their handwriting. Westerners are not surprised that Bush is not a poet; Chinese are not surprised that Mao was.

Swimming in a big river, on the other hand, has little to do with culture and more with personality.

[Guest realmayo]

Also I'd be interested to know if the current crop of Chinese leaders produces much creative work or simply have nice handwriting. If it's the latter then I suppose I may in fact agree with Smafy: no one's too surprised if a Western leader occasionally visits an art gallery, & no one is too surprised if a Chinese leader has got reasonable calligraphy. Same kind of thing, just a different expression of it (in different cultures).

As for Mao, well surely no one's saying Deng or Jiang or Hu have anything like Mao's artistic ability?