Lessons from Mao

Lessons from Mao

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In a remote part of China, the day starts at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School with a pre-dawn jog, revolutionary songs and an activity long forgotten at other schools: reciting from Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book".

To many in China today, this collection of quotations from the late Communist leader is a curio from a bygone era. At the Democracy School, it is an important part of the curriculum.

. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

While the ruling Communist Party that Mao led holds him in esteem as the leader of the Communist Revolution, his radical policies and teachings have been largely shelved since his death in 1976 in favour of a pro-market approach that has turned China from a backwater into the world's second biggest economy.

But for the school’s principal Xia Zuhai, there are no teachings more important than those that Mao gave the world.

"Education isn't just for learning practical skills, but it is more importantly for character building, to create good people," said Xia, who founded the school in 1996.

"From the basic level, Mao Zedong Thought is for uprightness, kindness, and greatness ... Mao Zedong Thought is, in reality, about taking people and liberating them from material desires so they can be free and natural people. This was Chairman Mao's greatest educational point."

. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Xia’s school has about 20 students. Many are poor and their parents placed them in the boarding school for lack of better options. In 2005, it boasted about 600 students, but Xia says it has fallen out of favour in the thrusting China of today.

Chairman Mao, who died some 37 years ago, has many critics. Historians say as many as 30 million people died of hunger during the 1958-61 Great Leap Forward, Mao's ill-conceived attempt to industrialise the country at warp speed.

Five years later, the country was thrown into a decade of chaos, infighting and stagnation in the Cultural Revolution. The official record whitewashes the details of both periods, but it admits that Mao made major mistakes.

Xia staunchly defends the former leader. "It is difficult to avoid errors in this big of a country, and you could say it is inevitable. Chairman Mao actually committed the least errors," he said, adding that the problems were because of people misinterpreting Mao's teachings.

. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

At Xia’s school, posters of Mao are pasted at the entrance and in classrooms. Students memorise Mao's aphorisms, and Xia tries to drill home the message that to work hard and "Serve The People" is righteous.

The school keeps ducks, chickens, goats and a vegetable garden. Farm work is good for teaching Mao's dedication to hard work, Xia says.

The late Communist Party leader remains a sensitive topic in China, where a small but vocal contingent of leftists regularly invoke Mao to criticise the materialism and inequality that have grown since market reforms started in the late 1970s.

Despite previous media coverage of the school by at least one state-run newspaper, local officials were nervous when foreign journalists visited.

Several men who called themselves Xia's friends showed up when Reuters journalists were there. They tried to derail, and then monitor and shorten, an interview with Xia. They followed the journalists after the visit, presumably to make sure they were leaving.

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Slideshow

A portrait of China's late Chairman Mao Zedong is seen on a wall at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A portrait of China's late Chairman Mao Zedong is seen on a wall at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School.

Xia Zuhai, principal of the school, opens the gate for students.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Xia Zuhai, principal of the school, opens the gate for students.

A pupil attends a class at the institution in Sitong town, Henan province.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A pupil attends a class at the institution in Sitong town, Henan province.

A girl works at her desk.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A girl works at her desk.

A student attends a lesson at the school.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A student attends a lesson at the school.

Pupils read from Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book".
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Pupils read from Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book".

A student watches a film about Chairman Mao in a dormitory of the boarding school.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A student watches a film about Chairman Mao in a dormitory of the boarding school.

Pupils harvest vegetables from a field outside the institution.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Pupils harvest vegetables from a field outside the institution.

Students line up at the school kitchen as they wait for dinner.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Students line up at the school kitchen as they wait for dinner.

Wang Hui prepares food for the pupils.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Wang Hui prepares food for the pupils.

A student eats lunch as she sits on the ground.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A student eats lunch as she sits on the ground.

A pupil collects leaves at the school.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A pupil collects leaves at the school.

Students play basketball next to portraits of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and Soviet leaders Nikolai Lenin and Joseph Stalin.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Students play basketball next to portraits of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and Soviet leaders Nikolai Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

A student dresses up as a soldier before a flag ceremony at the school.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A student dresses up as a soldier before a flag ceremony at the school.

A student wears a pin depicting the late Chairman Mao.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

A student wears a pin depicting the late Chairman Mao.

Pupils sing songs from Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" during a ceremony at the school.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Pupils sing songs from Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" during a ceremony at the school.

Students carry a Chinese flag.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Students carry a Chinese flag.

Pupils attend a ceremony in front of a picture of Mao.
. SITONG TOWN, China. Reuters/Carlos Barria

Pupils attend a ceremony in front of a picture of Mao.