Mao has become trendy.  Or so it would seem, after my son returned home from a trip to China with a Mao watch, Mao playing cards, a thumbnail-sized copy of Quotations from Chairman Mao, and a Mao t-shirt.  Photo by agitprop

This instantly triggered my husband to dig out a well-researched book on the number of people who have been killed by their own leaders.  I think Mao is right up there with Stalin in terms of tens of millions killed (not to be confused with billions served by a well-known fast food chain.) My son started to see that his souvenirs were not going to be embraced in the home of a libertarian.

He got another dose of reality when we invited my parents over for dinner, to see pictures and souvenirs from the trip.  My mother looked at a fold out fan that my son had brought home, adorned with photos of twelve military leaders.  My mother fled China two years before the Communists took over. She calmly said, "Oh these are the people that Mao got rid of. He didn't want anyone in his way of gaining complete control."  I wish I could have seen my son's face. I was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner. 

And recently, there was another reminder in a Wall Street Journal article about a Chinese professional ballet dancer who grew up under Mao and later defected to the US.  The writer ends the article with these quotes from the ballet dancer:

"Seeing images of Mao and other dictators in popular culture causes him "a natural revolting feeling," he said.  "If you had experienced that kind of life, with such harsh realities because of these dictators' manic personal egos….it's sad for me." The era of Mao "seems so far away in history, but it's not. It's in our lifetime.""

Funny how quickly we forget.