China's Communist Leader, Mao Zedong Dies

By Hillary Ponce 

Beijing Weekly; September 16 ,1976

BEIJING— Mao Zedong had died last week, September 9, 1976 in building 202. Chairman Mao had died from Lou Gehrig disease. Chairman Mao had been suffering with poor health for many years and unfortunately China’s first leader of the Communist party had died yesterday.

September 2, 1976 at exactly five o’clock, Mao had suffered from a heart attack, which was stronger than the first two that he had. With the disease of the Chairman had he also had problems with his lungs. Yesterday we had an interview with Dr. Cheng Wu, the doctor who was taking care of Chairman Mao. “When I was taking care of Mao, he had seen very sick. I had made Mao take some X-rays and from the results his lungs has gotten worst, the infection in his lungs had increase by a large number. It looked like his life was in danger.” said Dr.Wu.

Mao’s condition had gotten worse on the afternoon of September 7, 1976. Jiang Qing had visited the Chairman that afternoon and told us the following: “The Chairman was resting that day; he wasn’t feeling well at all. So then I couldn’t support the Chairman suffering so I insisted on rubbing his back and moving his limbs while sprinkled some powder. Dr. Wu thought that the idea would make his condition worst because of his lungs but he had let me do it.” It does not look like the treatment Jiang Qing gave Mao helped at all seeing that the Chairman is dead.

When Jiang Qing did her treatments on the Chairman his face turned blue. He wasn’t getting any air into his lungs. Not long after this the Chairman organs had started to fail and he had fallen into a coma. The only thing that was helping that Chairman Mao live was machines. Twelve hours later, in the midnight of September 9, 1976, doctor had decided to let the Chairman die because  it was an easy day to remember being the ninth day of the ninth month of the calendar.

It is sad that someone as important as Chairman Mao would die of a disease that made him die of a sad death. There will be a memorial service September 18 , 1976 at the Tiananmen Square, Beijing.     

China's Communist Leader, Mao Zedong Dies

The Cultural Revolution happened during 1967-1977. This whole event happened because of China’s communist leader, Mao Zedong. Not that long ago, the communist leader had died from a disease called Lou Gerhip. Since then, many Chinese people wonder how their lives will change. Some people think that since the Chairman is dead, a bright future for China is far close; think again. Throughout the years China has been a successful country even before Chairman Mao was a leader. So if it was successful back then Chairman Mao’s death will bring China back to its imperial glory.

For ten years China was following the order of Chairman Mao. With the Cultural Revolution people were in constant fear that the Red Guards would take away loved ones from home because of their background or for disagreeing with the communist party. “I lost my husband. He was send to a concentration camp. He was send there for thinking that the way China was before was better than it is now. It was two years ago and I don’t know anything about him since he left.” said a housewife named An Guo. The people of China are living in a country that is not free and the people of China should have that right to live their lives relax and peaceful. On the contrary to what has happened over the past ten years. Where people lived in constant fear.

What China needs is a government that protects the people. With what was happening for ten years was nothing was getting to somewhere except violence. What was the point for Mao having the Red Guards if what they only did was to bring fear to the people. Instead of having the Red Guard doing the jobs that they are doing they can just help people; they can be like police officers help people instead of giving people fear every day.

There forth it was a good thing that Chairman Mao Zedong died. If China wanted to move future it could it without the help of Mao Zedong. How did China improve though out the years before? They didn’t need the help of Mao. If all he did was bring war to China.

                                                                                    By: Hillary Ponce

Land of China During the Years

Map of China during the Cultural Revolution

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Map of the Qin Dynasty

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As you can see from the pictures, over the years China had changed. In the Qin Dynasty, China was much smaller than it was during the Cultural Revolution. The Qin Dynasty was a quarter of what China was during the Cultural Revolution. As years started to pass by China has more land then it did years ago.

The Cult of Chairman Mao: Cultural Revolution Belief

 

During the Cultural Revolution, many religions were forbidden to practice. They were forbidden by the Communist Party. To make people stop with the practicing of religion, Red Guards burned temples in China. Mao was priased like a God. There were pictures of him all over China. An example of him being praised like a god was his Little Red Book. It was published in 1964, but was popular during the Cultural Revolution. The Little Red Book had 427 quotes that. In those quotes they were all promoting communism.  

Literature in the Face of Communism

During the Cultural Revolution, many types of arts were not allowed. The only type of art you could do were propaganda posters that promoted communism. In the Little Red Book there were many poems that talked about communism. It was all by Mao Zedong. If you had to read something during the Cultural Revolution it would have to the Little Red Book.

Bibliography