of his more extensive ‘‘Lecture notes on dialectical materialism’’ (Knight,
2005 ). When Mao was most actively engaged in the study of Marxist
philosophy (i.e. during his Yan’an years), he was ‘‘severely handicapped
by a shortage of books, even of the works of Marx and Lenin. Little in
the way of a library had survived the Long March’’ (Bisson, 1973 : 37).
But this handicap did not seem to curtail Mao’s ardent reading of
Marxist philosophy; he would consume the several new books brought
to him by a visitor ‘‘in three or four nights of intensive reading, during
which he seemed oblivious to everything else’’ (Snow, 1972 :111).
Although there exists controversy on the extent and manner of
influence, Mao’s inspiration from the New Philosophy is evident.^6
This evidence is supported by his naming the central agency for
dissemination of Marxist philosophy during his Yan’an years the
Yan’an New Philosophy Association. This association was instrumen-
tal in consolidating and systematizing Mao’s sinification of Marxism
under the rubric of the Thoughts of Mao Zedong, to be identified in
1945 as the CCP’s ‘‘guiding theory’’ (Knight, 2005 ).
Chinese history and traditional Chinese philosophy were other
influences on Mao’s leadership philosophy; various sources (e.g. Li,
1994 ; Metzger, 1977 ;Wu, 1983 ) attest that Mao was an enthusiastic
reader of Chinese history and classical Chinese works. Numerous
works (e.g. Andrew and Rapp, 2000 ; Salisbury, 1992 ) make compara-
tive studies of Mao and emperors in Chinese history. According to
Tang, a prominent proposition of traditional Chinese philosophy is
‘‘the integration of knowledge and practice’’ (Tang, 1991 : 161). The
value of knowledge must be reflected in and tested by practical action.
This is remarkably similar to Mao’s ‘‘seeking truth from facts.’’
A reflection of the central tenet of Confucianism,ren,or benevolence,
is easily discernible in Mao’s ‘‘serve the people.’’ Chai and Chai argue
that Mao in his writings borrowed two elements of Confucianism in
particular: ‘‘first, the idea that knowledge must lead to action and that
action must be based on knowledge, and, second, the ideal of the
commonwealth’’ (Chai and Chai,2001:35–36).
‘‘Serve the people’’ as an attribute of Mao’s leadership philosophy
is also influenced by a particular classical Chinese work, Laozi’sDao
de jing,orThe bible of virtue(Wagner, 2003 ).Chapter 7of this work
recommends that the sage should place himself after the people and
ignore his own desires and thus be complete and content (Wagner,
2003 : 140–141). Chapter 49 ofDao de jingexhorts that the saint
216 Xin-an Lu and Jie Lu