50 years after his death, Mao still shapes China

On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong, the revolutionary leader who founded the People's Republic of China, passed away. His legacy was both profound and contradictory, bringing about revolution and nation-building while also causing immense social trauma through various political campaigns and persecutions. China had been a poor and isolated communist state when Mao died, but it has since transformed into the world's second-largest economy, deeply integrated into global capitalism, with a substantial private sector and digitally connected society.

Zhang Lun, a professor at Cergy-Paris University, outlined Mao's four major political legacies: an authoritarian and centralized political system, a governance model relying on revolution and political campaigns to address social issues, populist tendencies emphasizing anti-elitism and anti-rationalism, and utopian visions of egalitarianism and moralism.

Zhang noted that the most significant change over the past five decades has been the process of "de-Maoization," although it remains incomplete. Mao's name persists in the CCP's constitution, his ideology remains part of China's official ideology, and his portrait still graces Tiananmen Square. Mao played a crucial role in establishing the Chinese Communist Party, and his insistence on the party's supremacy over state and society has been a constant throughout the decades, according to Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt, a professor at the University of Zurich.

Veteran journalist and political commentator Chang Ping agrees, emphasizing that the enduring aspect is the CCP's institutional core principle that "the party leads everything," enabling it to concentrate resources for major tasks, even at the expense of ordinary people's interests. Under current leader Xi Jinping, Mao-era concepts and governance methods, such as ideological unity and the spirit of struggle, have resurfaced.

Xi's actions, including abolishing presidential term limits, strengthening personal authority, and incorporating his political ideology into party and state constitutions, have drawn comparisons to Mao.

However, Chang argues that the term "return" is misleading, as elements of the Mao era never fully disappeared. He highlights that authoritarian rule, political rigidity, weak rule of law, and the absence of effective citizen rights protections are not only fundamental elements of Mao's legacy but also significant continuities in China's current political system.

Xi, who endured hardships during the Cultural Revolution, appears to be moving closer to Mao-era policies, driven by the lessons he learned from that period—the lesson of power rather than the rejection of the system.

Felix Wemheuer, a professor of modern China studies at the University of Cologne, echoes this view, suggesting that Xi's conclusion from the Cultural Revolution was not about abandoning Mao but rather upholding his historical status as the founder of the state, military, and party. Wemheuer views the CCP's approach to Mao as fundamentally pragmatic, with economic policy remaining dynamic and focused on state capitalism and global supply chains, rather than reverting to a Mao-era communist welfare state.

While similarities between Mao and Xi are evident in their emphasis on CCP supremacy, the elevation of a core leader, and populist elements that stress the link between the people and leadership, experts warn against equating the two. Mao was a revolutionary who dismantled existing institutions and was anti-bureaucratic, while Xi is a party man who consolidates power through top-down governance and stronger institutions.