Yao Wenyuan...OK, I Really Don't Want This Person To Rest In Peace

Lots of interesting people passing away lately....

After highlighting a couple of really good people who died, we also have the death of the last member of the Gang of Four, Yao Wenyuan. I guess there's no reason to repeat here the horrors of the Cultural Revolution. But Yao does represent the worst of 20th century revolutionary movements, such as his classic quote: "Why can't we shoot a few counterrevolutionary elements? After all, dictatorship is not like embroidering flowers." Classy man.

That said, perhaps this little post, and the post on South Korea I wrote earlier today, can serve as an entryway into a longer post that I will try to write tomorrow about Confucianism, the Cultural Revoultion, and how Mao is remembered in recent publications.