Mao Zedong left a prominent but questionable legacy
Mao remains a controversial figure and there is little agreement over his legacy both in China and abroad. He is widely considered one of the most significant and influential people of the twentieth century. He's also a political thinker, theorist, military strategist, poet, and visionary. He was lauded and commended for pushing imperialism out of China, uniting the country, and putting an end to decades of civil strife. He is also recognized for increasing the position of women in China, as well as literacy and education. According to a December 2013 poll conducted by the state-run Global Times, about 85 percent of the 1,045 respondents thought that Mao's successes exceeded his shortcomings.
His astute judgment and astute thinking contributed to the reshaping of a powerful country's sociopolitical systems, and he tirelessly opposed injustice and inequality. He is credited with stabilizing China and significantly boosting both life expectancy and overall population. Despite his accomplishments, his acts, ranging from the persecution of his opponents to his agricultural revolution that caused the Great Chinese Famine, resulted in the deaths of 40 to 70 million people, the highest death toll produced by a single person in human history.
During his 27-year rule, his actions killed tens of millions of people in China, more than any other 20th-century leader, via famine, persecution, prison work in laogai, and mass executions. Mao seldom delivered clear orders for people's physical annihilation. According to author Philip Short, the vast majority of individuals who died of Mao's initiatives were accidental victims of starvation. The others, estimated to be three or four million people, were the human byproducts of his epic fight to change China. China's population increased from around 550 million to over 900 million during his reign, owing to the government's failure to strictly enforce its family planning policy, prompting his successors, such as Deng Xiaoping, to implement a strict one-child policy in order to deal with human overpopulation. Insurgents continue to adopt Mao's revolutionary tactics, and his political theory is still supported by numerous Communist groups across the world.
