Two sides to Mao’s story
As an old China hand and a writer, I enjoyed reading “The World of Mao” [April 13], an excellent piece of journalism, far beyond the usual run of travel articles on China.
James Morgan Ayres
Valley Village
Even in a travel article, one should not be writing about Mao Tse-tung without emphasizing the disaster that was the Cultural Revolution. The generation that just reached school age at the start of the revolution lost 10 of the most precious years of their lives because of the unrelenting unrest caused by the youthful Red Guards, destroying revered symbols of traditional culture.
As an expatriate, I would vote, charitably, for Mao this way: 80% bad, 20% good.
H.K. Hsieh
Pacific Palisades
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