Chapter One
The Dinner Party
The Revolution Has Grown Old
[A] revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a
picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle,
so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an
insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.
—mao zedong They will move Mao Zedong’s body soon; it lies on
hallowed ground. When the Communist Party of China falls, when the third Chinese
revolution succeeds, they will move him from Tiananmen Square, the center of
Beijing and the heart of China. So much history has occurred in Tiananmen, and
so much more has yet to happen. The People’s Republic was proclaimed
there, and there, inevitably, its end will be announced. And when it falls, the
people will take Mao’s body from the square to mark a new beginning.
“We should die fighting,” said Mao. The Party, born of conflict,
knows no other way. It will not politely leave when the people demand it; they
will have to take back their government by force. Revolution is not a dinner
party, Mao informed us, and it’s not gentle, temperate, or kind.
It’s ... read full excerpt from: Coming Collapse of China ebook
