In Part 7, it is 1948 and Mao attacks. His army leaves the caves and captures Manchuria. When Chiang Kai-shek’s northern army surrenders, modern American weapons and equipment fall into Mao’s hands. Mao demands total surrender, but Chiang’s army boards ships for Taiwan taking China’s wealth and historical treasures. In fear, western businessmen and missionaries flee China.
By 1967, when this documentary was produced, Mao had ruled China for 18 years. Protected by America, Chiang was still in Taiwan serving as president for life. He also had six-hundred thousand Kuomintang troops, and the island people lived under martial law.
Theodore H. White says America does not understand Communist China. America could not predict the “Great Leap Forward” or the purges that followed. He says the quality of life for the peasants had not improved. They still worked like beasts as they always had.
Part 7 ends with words of fear for the world’s future because China has nuclear weapons. There is no mention that America has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth a hundred times over. In Part 8, White concludes the documentary in about two minutes.
Return to Part 6, The Roots of Madness or start with The Roots of Madness-Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse 
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