[wisty]

Would you recommend getting sick in the Philippines, or India? I'm sure there's plenty of 50 y.o. Indians with crushing stories about poverty, but nobody blames Ghandi.

The crowd saying "Mao murdered 100 million" are blaming him for everything bad which happened in China, while the "Praise Grandfather Mao" brigade are praising him for everything good which happened in China.

It would be a lot more productive to say: "China started at a low base, and didn't do anything remarkable under Mao or his successors. In terms of health and GDP, it could have been a bit better or a bit worse. He didn't make China poor. He didn't make China rich, either - if he didn't finish off feudalism someone else would have. Chinese guerillas would still have fought the Japanese, and would have won. The only thing (good or bad) that Mao really had any control over was slapping up posters of himself, purging accused rightists, and coloring everything blue and grey."