react_dev t1_je3dpc6 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 2:51 AM

Reply to comment by godisanelectricolive in TIL that in Chinese Folk Religion, a mortal human being could ascend into godhood not through the decisions of a clergy/church, but by the sheer number of people who believe that their extraordinary achievements led to apotheosis, which forced Confucian/Taoists clerics to canonize a person as a God. by Khysamgathys

Mao isn’t worshipped. Maybe in very rural areas. Maybe literally today today as the politics have shifted a bit since Xi wanted to glorify the past again and that has brought out a bunch of MCGA crowd. But a decade ago you could buy a lot of Mao memed tshirts in cities.

Mao is still recognized as the conqueror. His reputation as the person who united modern China and established the communist party is unassailable and that won’t ever change because that narrative is baked into the legitimacy of the CCP. However his policies from long time ago is no longer heralded as successful in public opinion.