Panel Discussion⁠—The Boundless Radiance of Mao Zedong Thought

The Boundless Radiance of Mao Zedong Thought Shines Throughout the Whole World
光焰無際的毛澤東思想照全世界

The word "Maoism" is often a popular term that one uses to describe radicalism, iconoclasm, and even one's blind obedience to a charismatic autocratic leader. Though nearly fifty years removed from Mao Zedong's death, "Maoism" is still important today. It often re-emerges as a convenient label to describe Chinese politics, even under the current leadership of Xi Jinping. As the People's Republic of China extends its transnational infrastructural development project, the Belt and Road Initiative, to the far reaches of the globe, it is worth revisiting how Beijing's export of an alternative development system, although not new, has its roots in these initial efforts to sow the seeds of Maoism beyond its bounds. What is Maoism and how did it become such a global phenomenon? What form did Maoism take outside China?

Matthew Galway is the author of The Emergence of Global Maoism: China's Red Evangelism and the Cambodian Communist Movement, 1949-1979 (Cornell University Press 2021). He is Lecturer of Chinese History in the School of Culture, History and Language at The Australian National University (ANU).

Ruth Barraclough teaches in the School of Culture History and Language at the ANU. Her research interests are in Korean labour history, modern literature, gender studies and biography. She is the author of the books Factory Girl Literature: Sexuality, Violence and Representation in Industrialising Korea (2012, 2017), Red Love Across the Pacific (2015) and Gender and Labor in Korea and Japan (2009).

Delia Lin is Associate Professor of Chinese Studies in the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on discourse, ideology and social governance in a changing China, with a special interest in the role imperial Confucian-Legalist statecraft plays in Chinese governance today.

Greg Raymond is a lecturer in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs researching Southeast Asian politics and foreign relations. He is the author of Thai Military Power: A Culture of Strategic Accommodation (NIAS Press 2018) and the lead author of The United States-Thai Alliance: History, Memory and Current Developments (Routledge, 2021). His work has been published in journals including Contemporary Southeast Asia, South East Asia Research and the Journal of Cold War Studies.