Thoughts of Chairman Mao Make Internet Debut ================================= BEIJING, Dec 29, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) The first Internet site dedicated to the thoughts of Mao Zedong opened on the 107th anniversary of the birth of the founder of communist China and allowed victims of the economic reforms of his successors to let off steam. The first surfer to click on the www.mzdthought.com site was Mao Xinyun, grandson of the Great Helmsman, on December 26, Mao's birthday. Mao Xinyun, 30, is also honorary president of the site which includes articles and commentaries on the life and works of her grandfather, who died in 1976 after 27 years ruling the Middle Kingdom. "The thoughts of Mao Zedong embody the best of Chinese culture and crystallize the collective wisdom of the Chinese Communist Party," the web site's authors say on their homepage. The site also offers a discussion forum for Maoist nostalgics, who are not shy in their criticism of the economic reforms by Mao's successors since the end of the 1970s. "The workers are no longer the masters of the country," protested Li Jingwen, a 41-year-old handicapped man who launched a scattergun denunciation of corruption, the cult of money, crime, drugs and prostitution which he said resulted from the abandonment of Maoist values. "The cadres speak of socialism but they march towards capitalism," said Li, who claimed he had fallen to the bottom of the social ladder as a result of the reforms. "The oppressors are protected by the law." ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)
