Most people are under the impression that Mao is a coarse and illiterate leader, perhaps because of his round and big Hunan facial features.
That is far from the truth.
Mao, a peasant unlike the urban Zhao Enlai, a mandarin’s son, was sent by his dad to study for 10 years in a junior middle school. (P 27, Philip Short, pb)
He trained as a teacher for 5 years. (P 51). As a youth and young man, he was active in writing essays on the political situation in Qing China. He is a poet and steeped in Chinese classics. Attached is a love poem from Mao to his wife, Yang Kai Hui. (P 134 Philip Short).
His calligraphy is a series of swift and bold strokes. Most readers can only read half of them. Attached is the calligraphy by Mao at the Prince Teng Pavilion, Nanchang.
Essays in honour of C. Martin Wilbur
C. Martin Wilbur is not a name most people now would recognise as a top Chinese historian.
He, in his time, pioneered the study of the Han dynasty (1967) and the Communist movement in China (1966). His last published book is Sun Yat Sen: Frustrated Patriot (1976).
This hardcopy book, Perspectives on a Changing China, edited by Joshua A. Fogel and William T. Rowe (1979), has 11 essays by his former students.
One of the more interesting essays is on Mao and writing reform in China.
