Ding Xueliang spent his early teenage years in China as a fervent believer and practitioner of Chairman Mao Zedong\u2019s revolutionary ideals \u2014 but he never imagined those memories would one day be stirred by a sitting US president. <\/p>\n
In 1966, at just 13 years old, the son of poor farmers became one of Mao\u2019s Red Guards. He joined millions of young people across China to participate in the Cultural Revolution, a decade-long upheaval set off by an aging Mao to reassert his absolute control over the ruling Communist Party \u2013 with the stated goal of preserving communist ideology. <\/p>\n
Nearly six decades later, Ding is a distinguished scholar of Chinese politics based in Hong Kong, with a PhD from Harvard and a career teaching about the catastrophic movement he embraced. <\/p>\n
But in recent months, he has begun to see uncanny echoes of Mao\u2019s Cultural Revolution in an unexpected place: Donald Trump\u2019s America. <\/p>\n
To be clear, there are profound, incomparable differences between the deadly violence and chaos unleashed by a dictator in a one-party state, and an elected president\u2019s divisive attempts to expand executive power within a mature democracy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not identical,\u201d Ding said. \u201cBut there are certainly parallels.\u201d <\/p>\n
As <\/strong>Trump upends the very institutions, alliances, and free trade order that have underpinned America\u2019s global dominance since World War II, some in China are reminded of their own former leader \u2014 one who wielded revolutionary zeal to tear down the old world more than half a century ago. <\/p>\n In articles and social media posts, Chinese scholars and commentators have drawn comparisons between Trump and Mao. Some referenced the Cultural Revolution \u2013 at times obliquely to avoid censorship; others highlighted Trump\u2019s apparent appetite for chaos, and the rising signs of authoritarianism and personality cult within his administration. <\/p>\n Since returning to the White House, Trump has disrupted the federal bureaucracy \u2013 dismantling agencies, purging officials and slashing civil service jobs. He has waged a war on ideology that conservatives deem \u201cwoke\u201d and attacked elite universities \u2013 including Ding\u2019s alma mater Harvard \u2013 for \u201cliberal indoctrination,\u201d threatening to cut their federal funding. He\u2019s also pledged to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and \u201cput American workers first.\u201d <\/p>\n And in the US president, Ding noticed what he said were <\/strong>striking similarities with the late Chinese chairman whom he once worshiped as a young Red Guard: despite their vast differences, they both share a deep contempt for intellectual elites, a strong mistrust of the bureaucratic apparatus, and a populist appeal aimed at farmers and blue-collar workers. <\/p>\n During the Cultural Revolution, Mao\u2019s Red Guards declared war against the \u201cFour Olds\u201d \u2013 old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas \u2013 to erase remnants of China\u2019s pre-communist past. (It led to the widespread destruction of some of the country\u2019s most valuable historical and cultural artifacts.) <\/p>\n That campaign stemmed from Mao\u2019s long-held belief in \u201cfirst destroy, then establish\u201d \u2013 the idea that old systems, ideologies, or institutions must be demolished before new ones can be erected in their place. <\/p>\n Coming from an impoverished family, Ding eagerly took part in public humiliation rallies against teachers, intellectuals, government officials and others labeled as enemies of Mao\u2019s vision. <\/p>\n \u201cI was especially enthusiastic about the Cultural Revolution because I was born into a family of three generations of poor farmers \u2014 one of the \u2018five red categories.\u2019 At the time, I felt the Cultural Revolution was extremely important for us, it was wonderful,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n But as China learned over a harrowing decade, it\u2019s far easier to tear things down than to rebuild them. Mao\u2019s violent mass movement shut down schools, paralyzed the government, shattered the economy, destroyed religious and cultural relics \u2013 turmoil that only subsided after the leader\u2019s death in 1976. Historians estimate somewhere between 500,000 and two million people lost their lives. <\/p>\n Now, some Chinese are looking at that tumultuous chapter of their own history to make sense of the change <\/strong>Trump is unleashing in America. <\/p>\n Among Mao\u2019s most ardent admirers, there\u2019s a sense of pride that the US president appears to be borrowing from the revolutionary playbook of their esteemed supreme leader. One blogger likened Trump\u2019s February tweet \u2014 \u201cHe who saves his Country does not violate any Law\u201d \u2014 to Mao\u2019s iconic slogan: \u201cTo rebel is justified.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cTrump is adept at imitating Chairman Mao. Trump is China\u2019s true opponent,\u201d the blogger concluded. <\/p>\n Other Mao fans cheered Trump for cozying up to Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia while snubbing Ukraine and Europe, said Wu Qiang, an independent analyst in Beijing who is studying Chinese perceptions of Trump. <\/p>\n Ever since his first term, Trump has earned the nickname \u201cChuan Jianguo,\u201d or \u201cTrump, the nation builder\u201d among Chinese nationalists \u2014 a mocking suggestion that he is making China stronger by undermining America. <\/p>\n For some Chinese liberals, however, Trump\u2019s sweeping expansion of executive power and attacks on press freedom, academic independence and the rule of law in the first 100 days of his second term have sparked disbelief, frustration and disappointment. <\/p>\n On Chinese social media, users voiced their disillusionment in the comment sections of US Embassy accounts, lamenting that America no longer resembles the ideal they once believed in. <\/p>\n \u201cI always thought the US was a beacon to the world, standing for justice and fairness. But its recent actions have been completely disillusioning \u2026 Many Chinese people\u2019s faith in America has been shattered!\u201d said a comment on the US Embassy\u2019s WeChat account. <\/p>\n Others made oblique references to Mao. <\/p>\n Underneath the embassy\u2019s post celebrating Trump\u2019s first 100 days in office, a Chinese user wrote: \u201cSailing the seas depends on the helmsman.\u201d That\u2019s the title of a revolutionary song eulogizing Mao, which became the popular anthem of the Cultural Revolution. <\/p>\n Another wrote: \u201cThe American people also have their own sun,\u201d complete with a smirking dog emoji. Mao was extolled as the \u201cred sun of China\u201d at the height of his personality cult during the mass movement. <\/p>\n For years, Chinese liberals have quietly warned of a creeping return to the Cultural Revolution under Xi Jinping, the most powerful leader since Mao. A devoted student of the \u201cGreat Helmsman,\u201d Xi has steered China closer to strongman rule and curtailed individual freedoms in ways critics say are reminiscent of that era. <\/p>\n And so, it was all the more striking for some Chinese liberals to witness an authoritarian turn seemingly unfolding in Washington, which under former President Joe Biden had framed the US competition with China as \u201cdemocracy versus authoritarianism.\u201d <\/p>\n Less than a month into Trump\u2019s second term, Zhang Qianfan, a constitutional law professor in Beijing, was already alarmed by the emergence of what he called an \u201cAmerican-style Cultural Revolution.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe Cultural Revolution was essentially a power struggle,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Mao was insecure about his authority, eroded by three years of famine caused by his disastrous \u201cGreat Leap Forward\u201d industrialization campaign; he was also suspicious of the establishment built by himself, claiming that \u201crepresentatives of the bourgeoisie\u201d had sneaked into the party, the government, the army and the cultural spheres. <\/p>\n Similarly, Trump believes the \u201cdeep state\u201d is out to get him. And like Mao, he turned to loyalists outside the establishment to reshape the system and bend it to his will, Zhang said. <\/p>\n \u201cMao unleashed the Red Guards to \u2018smash\u2019 the police, prosecutors, and courts, so that loyal revolutionaries could seize control of state machinery,\u201d he said. \u201cTrump brought Elon Musk and six young Silicon Valley executives into the White House under the banner of eliminating corruption, waste, and inefficiency \u2014 akin to the \u2018Cultural Revolution Leadership Group\u2019 entering the party\u2019s central leadership.\u201d <\/p>\n Zhang was equally unsettled by the growing signs of a personality cult in Washington. <\/p>\n Last month, when he saw a social media photo of a gold pin in the shape of Trump\u2019s profile worn on the chest of Brendan Carr, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission, he initially thought it was fake news or a parody. <\/p>\n In China, such a badge carries heavy political symbolism. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao\u2019s badges were worn ubiquitously by Red Guards and others as a public display of loyalty to the chairman and devotion to the revolution. <\/p>\n \u201cDuring Trump\u2019s presidential inauguration speech, Republican lawmakers all stood up and applauded with such fervor that it rivaled North Korea. These are deeply troubling signs,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cPeople are seeing all kinds of sycophancy in the US that would have once been unimaginable.\u201d <\/p>\n Trump has even publicly flirted with the idea of seeking an unconstitutional third term, saying he was \u201cnot joking\u201d and claiming that \u201ca lot of people want me to do it.\u201d <\/p>\n Mao ruled China until his death. Xi is serving a third term after abolishing presidential term limits in 2018 in a move praised by Trump. <\/p>\n All the parallels aside, the first 100 days of Trump\u2019s second term are radically different from Mao\u2019s Cultural Revolution, which devastated China, saw millions of people persecuted and resulted in more than 1.7 million deaths, according to the party\u2019s own count. <\/p>\n Unlike Mao, Trump did not mobilize youths across America to form a nationwide, self-organized political movement. \u201cThe January 6 attack on the US Capitol was somewhat similar, but it didn\u2019t take off \u2013 it did not become a national rebellion in the US,\u201d said Ding, the former Red Guard. <\/p>\n To Ding, the two leaders also differ dramatically in their global ambitions. <\/p>\n \u201cWhereas Mao\u2019s Cultural Revolution had a grand goal for China to replace the Soviet Union and become the sole guiding force for the global proletarian revolution, Trump\u2019s movement lacks such an ambitious, internationalist vision,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, Trump has utterly damaged America\u2019s image, credibility, and influence within the global camp of liberal democracies.\u201d <\/p>\n In many ways, Trump is reshaping the global order. He has disrupted the transatlantic alliance \u2013 a cornerstone of Western security for decades \u2013 and pushed Asian allies to pay more for US protection. He also narrowed the focus of his global tariff war squarely on China, effectively cutting off trade between the world\u2019s largest economies \u2013 until both sides announced a 90-day reduction in tariffs on Monday. <\/p>\n Wu, the political analyst in Beijing, believes Trump has a substantial base of support in China \u2013 larger than many might expect. <\/p>\n \u201cThe enthusiasm for Trump \u2014 from intellectuals and elites to ordinary people \u2014 reflects a deeper dissatisfaction with China\u2019s current political system,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n For many Maoists, Trump has sparked their renewed yearning for a political movement that can bring China closer to what they see as the social equality and ideological purity of the Mao era, Wu noted. <\/p>\n Some in the business community believe Trump\u2019s radical approach can finally push China to enact the painful reforms it needs. To Wu, their support of Trump signals a symbolic gesture: a longing for change. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat they share is a desire to see a Trump-like movement, or even a Cultural Revolution-style political shakeup, take place in China \u2014 a way to break from the status quo,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Zhang, the law professor in Beijing, said similarly, Trump\u2019s reelection reflected widespread political discontent in the US. <\/p>\n \u201cIn this context, America\u2019s \u2018Cultural Revolution\u2019 can be seen as a desperate response to the failure of democracy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n But Zhang believes there\u2019s no need to be overly pessimistic. <\/p>\n After Mao\u2019s final decade of turmoil and destruction, China moved away from the fervor of ideological and class struggles to focus on economic growth. It opened up to the world and embraced the global order that the US helped create, and the rest is history. <\/p>\n \u201cAfter all, every country makes mistakes \u2014 what matters is whether it can correct them in time,\u201d Zhang said. <\/p>\n \u201cRight now in the United States, the breakdown and the repair of its social contract are locked in a race. If America can mend that contract before Trump and his MAGA movement inflict lasting damage\u2026then there is still hope. The \u2018beacon of democracy\u2019 can shine again.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ding Xueliang spent his early teenage years in China as a fervent believer and practitioner of Chairman Mao Zedong\u2019s revolutionary ideals \u2014 but he never imagined those memories would one day be stirred by a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/invest360pro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \u2018Imitating Chairman Mao\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018American-style Cultural Revolution\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Beacon of democracy\u2019<\/h2>\n