Mao Zedong as Poet and Revolutionary Leader: Social and Historical Perspectives

Mao Zedong was not only a great strategist and politician but also a poet, a philosopher, and a calligrapher. As early as the 1940s, Mao’s poetry was earning critical and popular acclaim. This volume makes all of Mao’s extant poems available in English. This collection offers a portrait of his contribution to modern China and his later frustration as he witnessed the country turning from his revolutionary path into a gigantic bureaucracy. The authors seek to present a balanced picture of Mao as an individual and as a military and political leader. These literal translations of Mao’s poetry are framed by a commentary on the meaning, pattern and style of the original texts - written in the classical style Mao forbade China’s youth to emulate - and presented in the context of the social history of the time.