The Great Helmsman led China into some of the most monumental disasters of the modern era. On one side, the talisman depicts a young, revolutionary Mao Zedong, the inspirational hero who directed the Communist Long March in the mid-1930s, fought Japanese imperialists and then unified China in 1949. On the other side is the patriarchal countenance of the Great Helmsman later in life, looking every bit the god-like emperor he had become. Two Maos, but Ma speaks as if they were one. But if the Chairman were alive today and called on us youth to go to war, I'd be the first to register.
History develops like a river as it cuts a channel, a collective memory.
Consider Mao Zedong's legacy. The early Mao retained massive popularity. Time has since worn away the rough edges. As the decade passed, the Chairman's stock rose anew. Mao's 100th was followed two years later by commemorations for the 60th anniversary of the end of the Long March.