Comment by wat10000
2 days ago
China spent a century being invaded and oppressed by the outside world, culminating in a massive war against a much smaller country that killed maybe 20 million of their people and which was only won due to a huge amount of outside help.
Today, China is the first or second richest and most powerful country in the world.
That trajectory changed when Mao came into power. Maybe it could have been done better, but he's the one who did it.
The Great Chinese Famine alone, which was largely Mao's fault, killed at least that many people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine