Mao Zedong’s harsh regime remains contentious to this day, but he was passionate about women’s rights and gender equality. He worked on constitutional amendments to make it easier for women to vote, have equal rights to education and job opportunities, and inherit property. He said, “Women hold half the sky!” [1]
On 11 February 1978, a year or so after Chairman Mao Zedong’s death, the Chinese communist government lifted a ban that had been imposed on selected “offensive” books. Amongst these were the writings of three of the greatest minds the world has ever seen – Aristotle, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens.
The censorship had been in place since the start of China’s Cultural Revolution in 1966 which had been intended to isolate China from Western influence and develop a stronger sense of communist nationalist identity. The revolution had included banning any cultural work without an approved ideological content.
Also amongst the newly uncensored volumes were these works: Winnie the Pooh, Peppa Pig, Alice in Wonderland, Green Eggs and Ham, Back to the Future, 1984, Seven Years in Tibet and others. All finally freely accessible to Chinese people after more than 10 years of censorship.