similarities between Confucius and Mao?

Answer 1

***BUZZ*** CHINESE. Otherwise not very similar.
I don't think Confucius had any Long Marches and I have never seen a fortune cookie with any of Chairman Mao's speeches..

Answer 2

Not bloody many. The only one I can think of is that both proclaimed the need to maintain order as key to society. However, the differences far outnumber the similarities. For example,

1) As Confucianism manifested itself, the civil service in China used competitive examinations based on Confucian thought to create a civil service comprised of intellectuals. Mao held intellectuals in disregard, feeling that they were counterproductive to the revolution. This explains why professors were often sent to the countryside to work in the communes and engineers were not used on projects during the Great Leap Forward.
2) During the Cultural Revolution, Maoists even began to attack Confucian thought itself. Further, Mao attempted to place the commune even above the family unit, which is a deep departure from the notion of familial responsibility that is a key element to Confucius and Chinese society in general.
3) A key element of the Confucian concept of Li was the idea of sacrificing to gods. Mao seeks to replace the folk gods and organized religion with his own cult of personality.

They do also agree in as much as that both claim to look at the long term and not making sacrifices of the long-term good to achieve short-term gains. However, Mao's attempts to achieve this often resulted in disaster (Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution).

Answer 3

If you threw Confucius' teachings into a blender and dumped them into a sewage treatment pond, they would resembled Mao's teachings. Best similarity I can think of at the moment.

Answer 4

Confucius (Chinese: 孔夫子; pinyin: Kǒng FÅ« Zǐ; Wade-Giles: K'ung-fu-tzu, lit. "Master Kong," but most frequently referred to as Kongzi (Chinese: 孔子), traditionally September 28, 551 – 479 BC) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese life and thought.

His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) during the Han Dynasty[1][2][3]. Confucius' thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism (儒家). It was introduced to Europe by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci, who was the first to Latinise the name as "Confucius" .

For 800 years his teachings are known primarily through the Analects of Confucius (論語), a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which was compiled many years after his death. Modern historians do not believe that any specific documents can be said to have been written by Confucius [4][5] , but for nearly 2,000 years he was thought to be the editor or author of all the Five Classics[6][7] such as the Classic of Rites(editor), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋) (author).



Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) (also Mao Tse-tung in Wade-Giles; pronunciation (help·info)) was a Chinese Marxist military and political leader and writer, who led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, leading to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Thirty years after his death, Mao Zedong remains a controversial figure. He is widely regarded as one of the most important men in recent history.[1] Mao's supporters view him as a great revolutionary leader whose thought was the highest expression of Marxism. Supporters within China consider Mao as a successful military and political leader who led the rise of 20th Century China. He instigated several major socio-political programmes (some through collectivisation), including the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.

These programmes, however, were widely regarded as failures. Historians hold that Mao's policies resulted in deaths of tens of millions of Chinese[2], as well as severe damage to the culture, society, economy and foreign relations. Other historians dispute the degree to which Mao can be held responsible for the deaths that did occur. While officially held in high regard in China, he is rarely mentioned by the Chinese government, whose policies have diverged greatly from those of Mao, and his influence on Chinese politics has greatly diminished since his death.[3]

Answer 5

An iron spirit, and the desire to help people. Mao's failed, but it was a good-intentioned attempt, at least.