Mao Killed Tens of Millions, but This Cambridge Professor Still Wants You to Appreciate His Legacy

A Cambridge professor, Jostein Hauge, sparked controversy after posting online that Chairman Mao should not be characterized as a dictator, citing figures like a 30-year rise in life expectancy, improvements in literacy, higher steel output, land redistribution to peasants, national unification, and nuclear weapons development. The criticism is that the argument selectively frames Mao’s record and omits the violence and political repression tied to modernization. The piece says Our World in Data shows life expectancy rose about 20 years during Mao’s rule but included an approximate 15-year collapse during the Great Leap Forward famine, complicating any simple credit. It also references estimates of more than 50 million deaths under Mao.