The Great Mao and Baldy Chiang

2008/1/7 18:23:48

In truth, Baldy Chiang has absolutely no right to be compared with the Great Mao. What is politics? The winner takes all. Baldy Chiang lost so completely to the Great Mao that he didn't even have his underwear left. He had to plunder national treasures and smuggle gold, surviving under the shelter of his American master. Tell me, what right does he have to compare with the Great Mao?

Don't use drivel like "character" or "morality" to evaluate political figures. The greatest virtue of a political figure is victory. Before the Great Mao, Baldy Chiang doesn't even count as a cockroach.

Actually, stories about the Great Mao and Baldy Chiang are absurdly common in Chinese history. Every dynasty has similar stories before its founding. By comparison, Baldy Chiang is the most pathetic of the lot. He can't even compare to Yang Guang, and is certainly no match for Chen Youliang — and as for Xiang Yu, that's entirely beyond his league. Probably the only one he can be compared to is the Second Emperor of Qin.

There is never anything new in history. Stories isomorphic to Zhu Yuanzhang vs. Chen Youliang and Liu Bang vs. Xiang Yu keep occurring — the plots are roughly the same, nothing remarkable.

Both the Great Mao and Baldy Chiang started from nothing. The difference is that Baldy Chiang's "starting from nothing" began with latching onto a big patron, and he never changed course, ultimately finishing his farce under the wing of his American daddy. The Great Mao, from the outset, was destined to have no big patron to latch onto — and this is precisely what enabled him to unleash his full potential without restraint.

You can't become a big shot by latching onto one. All you become is a lackey. To become the biggest shot, the ultimate badass, the only way is to unleash your own energy to the fullest and defeat every big shot out there. Then you are the biggest of them all, the most formidable of all.

For individuals, this may not matter much — people don't necessarily need to become the most formidable. Being human, one should aim to become the happiest, most carefree, most at ease, most self-actualized person. But for a nation, especially a great nation, this is supremely important.

For a nation like China, given its geopolitical history, if it does not become super first-rate, it is destined to be carved up — because all the first-rate powers will want to slaughter and divide you first before they can rest easy.

Some people resent the Great Mao for exploiting the Anti-Japanese War period to turn the tables. In truth, didn't Baldy Chiang also try to exploit it? He just didn't have the ability. He played a much better hand into oblivion — if that's not worthless, what is?

Baldy Chiang, that useless pastry — let's not waste more words. Of course, he had his contributions too. At least he consolidated the various petty warlords, so that the Great Mao could sweep them all up in one pot. Come to think of it, that's about all Baldy Chiang was good for.