–Mao Zedong, June 1959 Faint dreams of old days curse time’s swift flowing tide,My homeland’s scenes recall thirty-two years’ pride.Red flags unfurl; serf’s halberds rise far and wide,Black hands hold high tyrant’s whips, cruel and applied.
—Mao Zedong, Summer 1933 Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet hue,Who waves the colored ribbon high in view?After fresh rain the slanting sunbeams glow;Our mountains green and grand in steady flow.
Prologue In the beginning, the world lay shrouded in darkness—an era named “Chaos.”