[ClearCase_guy]

Years ago I worked with a Chinese woman (born perhaps around 1960) who had (I’m told) the very Chinese habit of laughing when she was uncomfortable.

Anyway, for some reason we were talking about Pumpkins, which I (being a New Englander) associate with Thanksgiving and Pilgrims. This woman mentioned that they had many pumpkins in China. I told her I was very surprised to hear that. She said:

“In my village, we grow many pumpkins! My grandfather, he grow more pumpkins than anyone else!”

Then she burst out in laughter and added: “That’s why they killed him!”

[antidisestablishment]

That’s quite illustrative. I despise Nixon for many reasons, but legitimizing Mao was his greatest sin. He spit on the graves of millions.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

One of the “leaps forward” came from Mao's observation that song birds were eating some grain in the communal fields. He ordered a mass annihilation of birds everywhere they could be found. The result was huge losses from insects that the birds had once controlled.

[PGR88]

Then she burst out in laughter and added: “That’s why they killed him!”

When the Communists entered Shandong Province, they had been told by Mao that at least 10% of the people were hard-core capitalists, who had to be eliminated. But how to tell who was a capitalist?

It was decided - if you owned a pig, that set you apart. You were a capitalist.