In these days, either side of the strait is celebrating the birthday of its most memorable statesman, posthumously: 120th for Chairman Mao Zedong of Mainland and 100th for Premier Sun Yun-xuan of Taiwan.

Unlike Sun in Taiwan, who has been highly respectable by all islanders and become a role model for all politicans to copy, Mao is still a controversial figure in Mainland.  Some people regard him as a tyrant, or even a monster, being responsible for the violence during his rule; but for the people who worship him, he is a god.  Report said Mao's fanatical fans had even urged that he should be sanctified, and his birthday, the 26th day of December, be declared a national holiday as "Mao Zedong Shengdanjie", because Mao is qualified to be a saint and, by taking the time difference between East and West into account, he is born at the same day as Jesus Christ. 

I admire Premier Sun, and I was proud of being a citizen of Republic of  China living in Taiwan those days when he was in charge.  Not any more.  As an outsider and onlooker, maybe I could give Mao a rather objective evaluation.  He and his followers really built a "new" China.  Internationally, China stands up and won't never be bullied into being treated unfairly any longer.  Domestically, Maoism has made those social disparities of traditional China wiped out thoroughly, and paved the way for a solid ground on which "reform and open" in 1978 could have implemented, either topdown or bottom-up.  Whether you like Mao or not, he is a stateman from every aspect.