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During his time in Yan'an, Mao Zedong invited the American journalist Edgar Snow to conduct an in-depth interview. Snow returned to Beiping and wrote "Red Star Over China," which caused a sensation and introduced Mao's Red Army to the world. The Chinese title of the book is "Xi Xing Man Ji" (Journey to the West).

Recently, I read an excellent book: "Why Mao Zedong" by Ren Zhigang. Its perspective is unique, and it positions itself as "possibly China's greatest inspirational book." Indeed! I have read it three times. Now, I will interpret Mao Zedong Thought from the perspective of today's most popular internet thinking. There was a popular online article titled "Internet Thinking is Mao Zedong Thought," but its interpretation was superficial. My interpretation may be deeper, though it might be seen as a humble addition.

First, the internet's trial-and-error thinking. The internet, being new, emphasizes trial-and-error and rapid product iteration. Because the cost of error is lower than in traditional times, customer needs can be grasped more accurately and quickly, and products can be updated and iterated rapidly to meet user demands. Mao's early revolutionary career was also full of trial-and-error. He continuously tried new paths, from moderate reformism to leading over a dozen worker strikes, all ending in failure. Eventually, he realized that peasants were the main revolutionary force and that "political power comes from the barrel of a gun." This truth set the Chinese revolution on the correct path. Mao was not voluntarily elected to the highest leadership of the CPC and the army. During the Jinggangshan period, he was often marginalized. Only after defeats did people remember to listen to him, because following him led to victories. It wasn't that Mao was smarter than others, but that he had made all the mistakes and traversed all the dead ends. Through continuous trial-and-error, he summarized patterns and found the correct strategies and tactics for the Red Army to win.

Second, the internet's grassroots (diaosi) thinking. In his early revolutionary practice, Mao discovered that China's vast peasantry was the main revolutionary force. Lenin relied on the armed working class to seize power; Chiang Kai-shek relied on the "tall, rich, and handsome" Jiangsu-Zhejiang financial groups and Anglo-American capital. Mao could only rely on China's 300 million oppressed "diaosi"—the toiling peasant masses. For this group, Mao proposed relying on the peasantry as the main force and adopting the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by armed force." After that, the final victory of the Chinese revolution was only a matter of time!

Third, the internet's pain-point thinking. The success of Mao's Chinese revolution lay in his grasp of the peasants' biggest pain point: land. The cyclical dynastic changes, the dozen or so mass extinctions, and the peasant uprisings in history all stemmed from peasants demanding land and solving the food problem. This was China's most fundamental issue. What did revolution mean to Chinese peasants? Mao used the most plain language to hit the biggest pain point: revolution meant six words: "overthrow the local tyrants and divide the land!" Peasants understood immediately. This was even more exciting than Li Zicheng's "When the King arrives, no grain tax." Peasants became the most loyal "fans" and supporters of the revolution! This reached an unprecedented climax during the War of Liberation. The overwhelming victory over Chiang Kai-shek was largely pushed by the wheelbarrows of peasants who supported the PLA and the front lines!

Fourth, the internet's tipping-point thinking. This is the essence of my unique summary. The first tipping point, in today's internet terms, was a highly successful social marketing event. That was Mao's invitation to Edgar Snow for an in-depth interview in Yan'an. Snow returned to Beiping and wrote "Red Star Over China," which caused a sensation and introduced Mao's Red Army to the world. The Chinese title was "Xi Xing Man Ji." This book, exported and then imported back, made more Chinese people aware that a new force was growing on their own land—a force of high moral character and the hope of China's future. Snow's famous photograph of Mao wearing an octagonal cap, which in today's language might be described as a somewhat melancholic "literary youth" image, also broke Chiang Kai-shek's propaganda of the "Communist bandits" as evil.

This triggered a wave of young students and intellectuals flocking to Yan'an like pilgrims during the Anti-Japanese War, providing the CPC with a large number of revolutionary cadres. The second tipping point was after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, when Mao came to Chongqing and published his old poem "Qin Yuan Chun? Snow"—which the great poet Liu Yazi considered the greatest ci poem since the inception of ci—in a Chongqing newspaper. This caused a massive social spread. It made all sectors of society, especially patriotic intellectuals, realize that Mao was not a bandit, nor just a wise political leader, but also a great poet with romantic sentiments! People's hearts were conquered by Mao.

Fifth, the internet's viral spread. Mao's poem panicked Chiang Kai-shek, who ordered a counterattack, but many wrote hundreds of poems, none of which could rival Mao's. This was also a classic case of excellent social communication. Another viral case was the CPC's policy of lenient treatment of prisoners. When the Red Army was first formed, Mao established the rule: captured enemy soldiers who wished to stay were welcome; those who wished to leave were given travel expenses to go home! This planted a "Trojan horse" virus in Chiang Kai-shek's army, which had its greatest effect during the War of Liberation! Many Nationalist soldiers, knowing the CPC's lenient prisoner policy, defected or revolted. Many Nationalist troops, after being captured, immediately became PLA soldiers, supplementing the PLA's manpower and allowing it to grow rapidly! Conversely, when the Nationalists captured PLA soldiers, they could not incorporate them into their own ranks. With this shift in balance, it would have been surprising if the Nationalists had not been defeated!

The greatest aspect of the first generation of communists led by Mao was that they not only forced landlords, rich peasants, and capitalists to make sacrifices and called on peasants, workers, and intellectuals to sacrifice, but they themselves made enormous sacrifices. This is something many later generations, such as the post-80s and post-90s, do not understand. It was the largest, most populous, and longest-lasting act of dedication and sacrifice in human history. For the sake of future generations and the future of the Chinese nation, they all ate simple food, wore ordinary clothes, men did not seek pleasure, women did not adorn themselves. Through frugality, they accumulated the foundation for China's industrialization, achieving the miraculous leap from an agricultural society to an industrial society. They changed the face of the land with their bare hands and shoulders.

We can hold our heads high and tell the next generation: that was an era of the highest nobility, the most glorious era, an incredible era, an era when six hundred million people were all sages, an era when, under conditions of extreme material scarcity, people still pursued lofty spiritual realms while working hard, an era when most people sacrificed themselves for the future of the nation, an era that is unprecedented and will be admired and praised for millennia.

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