Did Mao Destroy Traditional Chinese Thought?

Revolution, Change, and the Persistence of a Philosophical Heritage

Did Mao Zedong destroy traditional Chinese culture and philosophical thought? My assessment is that he did not. But this argument requires a distinction between destroying cultural institutions and extinguishing the philosophical inheritance of a civilization.

The destruction under Mao was real. During the Cultural Revolution, the campaign against the “Four Olds” — old ideas, culture, customs, and habits — attacked historical treasures, religious practices, and inherited forms of authority. Temples were damaged, texts destroyed, and teachers persecuted. These losses cannot be dismissed simply because Chinese civilization survived.

Yet claiming that Mao destroyed traditional Chinese thought goes considerably further. It assumes that deeply embedded ways of understanding the world could disappear within a few decades. It also overlooks how revolutionary ideas themselves could be interpreted through an inherited Chinese philosophical framework.

The world as transformation

One of the deepest foundations of Chinese philosophy is the I Ching, or Book of Changes. It can be understood as an early blueprint for influential strands of Chinese thought, although no single text encompasses the…