How many millions did Mao kill?
Everyone knows that, in the 20th century, the greatest killers were Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin whose policies were responsible for millions and millions of lives. But many people forget about the Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung.
In “Mao: The Unknown Story” by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday [my review here], his appalling record was examined in meticulous detail. Overall, according to Chung & Halliday, in Mao’s 27 year rule of terror, some 27 million died in prison and labour camps and close to 38 million died of starvation in the great famine, with a total death toll of at least 70 million.
Chung & Halliday were attacked for being overly harsh in their assessment of the Great Helmsman, but now Frank Dikötter has written “Mao’s Great Famine” [a review here] which involves painstaking research in newly-opened local archives. His estimate of the death toll for the Great Famine of around 1960 is 45 million.
Yet, as I know from my recent visit to China, most Chinese even today regard Mao as basically a flawed hero and the official view – often parroted to foreigners – is that he was 70% good and 30% bad. It’s time for the truth.