Meet Mao Xinyu, a 38-year-old senior colonel in China's People's Liberation Army and blogger. He's not just any blogger - his blog, which is all about Chairman Mao, was voted most popular by the readers of People's Daily last year.
Oh, and one more thing: Xinyu is the grandson of Chairman Mao.
Mao's blog is largely dedicated to an appreciation of his grandfather, who died when he was six years old. The founder of communist China is still admired by many people here -despite the fact that millions died because of famine and conflict during his rule (an official Communist Party verdict delivered after his death ruled - with precision - that Chairman Mao was 70% right and 30% wrong).
"The greatest happiness of my life and satisfaction come from a real understanding of a great man. And he is my grandfather," grandson Mao writes.
uhoh, i think the People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces are knocking at my door ;(
Regardless of the terrible things he did, of which he did many, he did unite an internally (eternally) warring China with a serious Japanese Imperial Army infestation under a single government to create the modern Chinese state.
The "Long March" he led in the mid-1930s was truly an amazing undertaking which deserves the mythic status it has in modern Chinese society.
Hundreds of thousands or even millions of people died as a result of Mao's arrogance, stubbornness and even evil. He wasn't all about arrogance and evil, however, and simply calling him a GOOD or BAD man is inappropriate for someone involved in so much history.
We Americans tend to see things in black or white. Mao's life and legacy was far too complex to be reduced to a simple, single label.
And don't forget, kids: Sailing the seas depends on the helmsman.
It isn't pretty.