Quick questions on Mao's death and legacy: HSC Modern History Personality

Mao Zedong died at 00:10 on 9 September 1976 in Zhongnanhai, his Beijing residence and CCP leadership compound. He had been mostly incapacitated since a series of cardiac events in mid-1976. The cause of death is reported as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (motor neurone disease), diagnosed in 1974, complicated by congestive heart failure. He had stopped eating in late August.

Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the CCP, Premier, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission from October 1976, attempted a continuation under the slogan of the "Two Whatevers" (Liang ge fanshi): "Whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, we will resolutely uphold; whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave, we will steadfastly abide by them."

Deng's reforms from 1978 amounted to a repudiation of the late-Mao economic model:

The Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic (Guanyu jianguo yilai dang de ruogan lishi wenti de jueyi), adopted by the Sixth Plenum of the Eleventh CC on 27 June 1981, was the Party's authoritative historical verdict on Mao.

Mao founded the People's Republic on 1 October 1949 after a century of Qing decay, warlordism, civil war, Japanese occupation, and renewed civil war. The PRC unified the country, expelled foreign concessions, and built a modern state. Life expectancy rose from about 35 in 1949 to about 65 in 1976.

Conservative estimates put deaths attributable to Mao-era campaigns at around 40 to 70 million: the Great Famine of 1959 to 1962 at $15$ to $45$ million; the Cultural Revolution at $1.5$ to $3$ million; the suppression of counter-revolutionaries (1950 to 1951) at about 712,000; the 1950 to 1952 land reform at about 1.5 to 2 million; the labour reform (laogai) deaths through the period at perhaps several million more. Tens of millions were persecuted but not killed; a generation's education was destroyed; the May Fourth intellectual tradition was suppressed.

Source A is an extract from the 1981 Resolution on Party History. Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain the management of Mao's legacy by the CCP. [5 marks]

Evaluate the extent to which Mao's legacy has been transformed since 1976. [25 marks]

Compare the views of Andrew Walder and Frank Dikoetter on Mao's legacy. [10 marks]