He shaped the narratives of revolution, nation-building and national independence, but also left behind immense social trauma as a result of successive political campaigns and persecutions.Over the past five decades, China has undergone radical changes.
When Mao died, China was still a poor and relatively isolated communist state. Today, it is the world's second-largest economy, deeply embedded in the supply and value chains of global capitalism, with a vast private sector, a large urban middle class and a highly digitalized society.
Zhang Lun, a professor at Cergy-Paris University, said Mao left behind four major political legacies: the authoritarian and highly centralized political system; a model of governance that relies on revolution and political campaigns to solve social problems; populist tendencies marked by anti-elitism and anti-rationalism; and utopian visions of egalitarianism and moralism.