Mao More Than Ever

Barbarians at the Gate · Sep 11, 2026 · 30m

Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976. Fifty years later, Jeremiah and David compare notes on a mostly quiet anniversary. Jeremiah reports that there were enough tributes to beat the over/under, but David argues that the Party would still prefer to keep things as ritualistic as possible. Mao is still dead. We will all bow. And moving on.

David recalls how Mao was remembered in the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping's (reputed) formula that the chairman's policies were two-thirds correct, one-third incorrect was treated as the last word, even as xiangsheng artists could still mock the Cultural…