Those who have read the Dune series will know Leto Atreides II as the name of the God Emperor, part human, part sandworm. It was he who set humanity on the Golden Path, a painful yet necessary path to prevent humanity's destruction. His death eventually triggered widespread suffering and a diaspora known as the Scattering, but eventually, those people returned as Honored Matres and brought renewed strength to the Bene Gesserit, forming the new Sisterhood. There is the clash of humanity with their old machine lords, eventually resulting in a new peace in which man and machine live together in peace.
So what does this have to do with Mao Zedong, the leader of Communist China that led the Chinese Communist Party to victory over the Nationalists?
Mao led Communist China through a series of hardships, designed to continually challenge the Chinese people in order to keep the spirit of revolution alive. He put them through the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, the Great Leap Forward and then the Cultural Revolution. Through his campaigns, the entire Chinese society was turned upside down. But through all these trials, the Chinese society actually emerged stronger, surviving the ordeals. It reminds me of Leto's Golden Path and the suffering it brought to humanity. We see the Scattering in China too, where some Chinese left China for better lives outside China. And now, these people are returning to China, infusing China with new blood, with new ideas, new technology, bringing new energy to China.
And what of the clash between man and machine? The machines of Dune were the old masters, much like the West were the old colonial masters. Maybe we will see an eventual clash between man and machine, a clash between the East (the oppressed man) and the West (the machine lord), symbolised by a clash between China and the United States. But eventually, we will emerge into a new peace in which we learn to live with one another.
Mao had set China onto its own Golden Path, it now remains to see where that path will bring China.
So what does this have to do with Mao Zedong, the leader of Communist China that led the Chinese Communist Party to victory over the Nationalists?
Mao led Communist China through a series of hardships, designed to continually challenge the Chinese people in order to keep the spirit of revolution alive. He put them through the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, the Great Leap Forward and then the Cultural Revolution. Through his campaigns, the entire Chinese society was turned upside down. But through all these trials, the Chinese society actually emerged stronger, surviving the ordeals. It reminds me of Leto's Golden Path and the suffering it brought to humanity. We see the Scattering in China too, where some Chinese left China for better lives outside China. And now, these people are returning to China, infusing China with new blood, with new ideas, new technology, bringing new energy to China.
And what of the clash between man and machine? The machines of Dune were the old masters, much like the West were the old colonial masters. Maybe we will see an eventual clash between man and machine, a clash between the East (the oppressed man) and the West (the machine lord), symbolised by a clash between China and the United States. But eventually, we will emerge into a new peace in which we learn to live with one another.
Mao had set China onto its own Golden Path, it now remains to see where that path will bring China.
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