A look at Mao Zedong’s romantic, climatic and landscape preoccupations in poetry

The government of the People’s Republic of China will host a forum in Beijing on October 17 and 18 as that nation celebrates the Tenth Anniversary of the launching of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Chinese President Xi Jinping ventured out on this significant and wide ranging international engagement on the occasion of a visit to Eurasia, initiating cooperation with a number of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, reactivating a modern version of the ancient Silk Road, a very famous trade route that advanced commerce among those territories thousands of years ago.

Since then, in excess of 150 countries around the world, including 22 in Latin America and the Caribbean have signed on to what is now called the BRI. It is a major project being implemented jointly by China and the BRI countries to improve regional connectivity and integration, increase trade and stimulate economic growth.

In Guyana, Ambassador of China Guo Haiyan led a collaboration between her embassy and the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC), in an event which she cochaired with Hydar Ally of the CJRC last Wednesday. This was titled “A Seminar Marking Ten Years since the Commencement of the Belt and Road Initiative”, and was held at the CJRC.

This major project, which started off with a recreation of economic, political, social, geographical and cultural interactivity among countries along the Eurasian Corridor, has now exceeded all geographical boundaries and involves economic and developmental relations between China and several countries. It is not free of controversy that has either been a product of or a generous contributor to continuing tensions arising from attitudes of the USA towards China.

However, it has happily created another occasion to consider the poetry of China. We have visited ancient and traditional poems of China, but today attention is placed on modern Chinese poetry. One very fascinating and continuing feature of this poetry is still the close relationships over the several old dynasties between political leaders and poetry. Several of the known poets in ancient times have been political leaders. That did not cease in modern times.

Above are three poems by Mao Zedong (1893-1976) which are not the best of Chinese poetry, but sit comfortably within the nation’s literary halls and are fully accepted in Chinese literature. Popularly known as Chairman Mao, he was the first Chairman of the Communist Party of China and the first leader of the modern People’s Republic of China from 1949 (when he acceded to power following the Chinese Civil War) to 1976. He was a practicing and published poet, never regarded as among the best in China, and not so well known internationally as a creative writer.

Perhaps the most intriguing point to observe about Mao’s poetry is that, despite his career as a political radical/revolutionary, it is conservative. He did not write according to the modern contemporary styles of poetry in China, such as realism or modernism, but had a preference for classical and older forms of conventional verse. His writing was highly influenced by old traditions, particularly from the Tang Dynasty.

Additionally, he might be described as a romantic. Note, for example “Ode to the Plum Blossom” (1961), which focuses on nature – a natural environment, flowers, vegetation and the landscape. The first four lines, especially, reflect the preoccupations and observations of those ancient Chinese poets.

There are many poems in which he talks about the struggle, the march and conflicts, but “Changsha” (1925) and “Snow” (1936) are excellent examples of how he focuses on the natural environment, which seems to possess him. There are touches of patriotism. Mao glorifies the vast, rich, natural beauty and physical features of China, its rivers, mountains, landscape. Some of the places mentioned have historical significance, such as Orange Island where he spent time as a student. His observations are always drawn to the physical features;

Mao makes references to history in “Snow”; he comments on a number of past Emperors and Chinese leaders, and their limitations. Significantly, he points to poetry and literature, interesting considering the history of leaders who were also poets. In this poem he seems to be looking to the future of China in terms of leadership and his own ambitions.

His several references to places and events are topical, so the poems can be located in the China of the twentieth century, particularly the first half of it. Yet, although one cannot say he was not interested in those topical things, the poems are dominated by his overriding romantic, climatic and landscape preoccupations.