Who was the greatest Chinese political leader of the 20th century?

[PJ]

do you believe it to be:

Sun Yat-Sen / Sun Wen
Jiang Jieshi / Chiang Kai-Shek
Mao Zedong
Zhou Enlai
Deng Xiaoping

or another?

[Cesare]

I've got a problem deciding between Sun and Deng - but I guess I'd vote for Sun...

[forgot password]

Deng Xiaoping.

[Trien Chieu]

For the capitalists, it would be either Deng and Sun. For the marxist, it would be Mao. My vote goes for Deng.

[PJ]

to me, Mao was no doubt leadership material, but his vision and strategies proved to be catastrophic blunders that cost millions of lives, so I view him more or less as a monster.

Zhou Enlai was truly a graceful and capable, well-balanced leader. It was Zhou who helped orchestrated diplomatic relationship with the US, and pioneered the Four Modernizations vision which Deng Xiaoping later successfully implemented and received credited for.

Deng Xiaoping is considered the architect of the Chinese economic reform. Most likely, China would be nowhere near where it is today if not for Xiaoping's push for economic reform in the shape of Socialist Market Economy. Although this plan enabled some regions to become rich before others, and consequently led to widespread corruption, overall China is in much much better shape today than 30 years ago when Deng first came to power, thanks largely to the open door economic policies that he constituted and sustained in the past 3 decades.

[Trien Chieu]

to me, Mao was no doubt leadership material, but his vision and strategies proved to be catastrophic blunders that cost millions of lives, so I view him more or less as a monster.

I think it's unfair to call Mao a monster. I would call him a champion of marxism along with Pol Pot, Stalin, and Kim Jon Il.

[Cesare]

I think it's unfair to call Mao a monster. I would call him a champion of marxism along with Pol Pot, Stalin, and Kim Jon Il.

I'm not entirely sure if Marx would be particularly delighted.

[PJ]

We know Mao did horrible things to China, such as the failed Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, which were massive setbacks for the country.

Did he actually do anything good for China? Does driving out the corrupt Nationalists count, since he just replaced it with the less-corrupt-but-nevertheless-ineffective Communist regime?

[HuntingX]

Wait, seriously? Did TC just name some of the worst leaders in history? Add in Hitler and I think you basically finish the list.

Anyway, Deng should win this hands down.

[Trien Chieu]

Wait, seriously? Did TC just name some of the worst leaders in history? Add in Hitler and I think you basically finish the list.

Anyway, Deng should win this hands down.

Hitler was evil but he wasn't a marxist like the ones I listed.

[Dennis Chen]

If we view modern China, then I would have to give it to Deng Xiaopeng.

While China continues to pay lip service to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, I doubt Dr. Sun would have been happy with China circa 1950-1990.

My mother has great respect for Zhou Enlai, however, while important, he was still a lackey of Mao's.

Mao was a very good revolutionary, but a horrible leader.

Being an American from Taiwan, I'd have to give a shout out to Chiang Ching-kuo for the move to Democracy. Acquiring power isn't easy, giving up power is just as hard. Which is why I think George Washington is so well respected. Albeit, Chiang Ching-kuo never gave up power in his own lifetime.

[Trien Chieu]

One thing I like Mao better than other leaders is his crack down on prostitution. I wouldn't say he eliminated it 100%, but prostitution was kept at the minimum during his era. He handled this problem way better than any other chinese leader.

[Ken Cheng]

One thing I like Mao better than other leaders is his crack down on prostitution. I wouldn't say he eliminated it 100%, but prostitution was kept at the minimum during his era. He handled this problem way better than any other chinese leader.

Somehow, I don't think this was a HUGE priority for Chinese society during the 20th Century.

[PJ]

One thing I like Mao better than other leaders is his crack down on prostitution.

Somehow, I don't think this was a HUGE priority for Chinese society during the 20th Century.

I'm finally starting to like TC. Inimitable!

[Guo Xiang]

I'm finally starting to like TC. Inimitable!

You are really slow, PJ.

[remember_Cedric]

I'm finally starting to like TC. Inimitable!

He's increasing like-bility might be a NY resolution of his?

[Trien Chieu]

Somehow, I don't think this was a HUGE priority for Chinese society during the 20th Century.

I agree that wasn't a huge priority and Mao was a bad leader as his marxist policies cause disaster to the whole country. However, we should not discredit all the good things he had done for the country. Mao's solution to prostitution problem saved millions of innocent girls and prevented countless millions from AIDS/STDs. If you look at the entire chinese history, Mao is by far the best in handling prostitution problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostit...ublic_of_China

It's a shame that there are more and more women becoming prosititute at the time of the country getting richer and richer everyday. Some of them are educated with university degree. Jeezz.... Where are their Confucian values?

[Ken Cheng]

Jeezz.... Where are their Confucian values?

Hooboy...I don't want to be here when jiang bao sees this.

[PJ]

I agree that wasn't a huge priority and Mao was a bad leader as his marxist policies cause disaster to the whole country. However, we should not discredit all the good things he had done for the country. Mao's solution to prostitution problem saved millions of innocent girls and prevented countless millions from AIDS/STDs. If you look at the entire chinese history, Mao is by far the best in handling prostitution problem.

Sure, I'll give Mao +1 point for cracking down on prostitution.

He gets -100 for Cultural Revolution. And another -100 for Great Leap Forward.

[JamesG]

Wasn't Mao a noted D.O.M. who liked to keep young girls around for......?