Speaking of Zimbabwe, everyone always thinks of his figure of 10 billion yuan, which is more exaggerated than the underworld coin, which once made Zimbabwe a joke after dinner. But what you don't know is that Zimbabwe had a very brief friendship with the mainland, and that friendship originated with one of Zimbabwe's presidents, Mugabe.
Mugabe was a "big fan" of Chairman Mao, which also made him very curious about the reform process on the mainland. For Africa at that time, As the leader of the third world countries, Mugabe was very eager to get the experience of China's reforms.
Therefore, when Mugabe visited China in 1985, after some exchanges with Chairman Deng Xiaoping, he made Deng Xiaoping think: "This person cannot listen to it, and he will definitely suffer losses in the future." What is going on?
Zimbabwe, colonized to independence
Zimbabwe was an important cradle of civilization in southern Africa, and during the Middle Ages, Zimbabwe was very powerful, with endless business and trade, and was one of the most powerful countries in Africa at that time. But it wasn't until the late 19th century that Zimbabwe was on its way to decline.
In 1988, the British gradually encroached on Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe became a British colony. The British colonist Cecil Rhodes acquired mining rights in Zimbabwe, and since then, the British have gradually acquired territorial rights in the Zimbabwe region, followed by the formal establishment of the colonial power of Rhodesia in 1895, and Zimbabwe has begun to be colonized.
Life in the colonies was miserable for the people, and a large number of capitalist merchants acquired rich wealth in Zimbabwe, but they failed to make life better for the People of Zimbabwe. As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance, and the people of Zimbabwe, faced with a miserable life, began to use force to resist the rule of the British colonists.
In 1896-1897, zimbabwe's first armed anti-colonial struggle, in which 450 whites were killed, Rhodes was forced to divide Rhodesia into north and south, of which Southern Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe. Until the Period of World War I and World War II, Britain's control over the colonial countries became weaker and weaker, and the colonial countries stood up and demanded independence.
Britain still had illusions about colonies, hoping to ensure its colonial position through economic sanctions, but in fact, without actual armed control, all British colonial illusions were always shattered. Before 1970, British brokers in Zimbabwe had made adjustments that would require whites to take control of power.
But such a regime is not actually legitimate and is not recognized by the world. Blacks began to march in the streets for democratic freedom, and eventually, Britain was forced to compromise and demanded that blacks disarm the civil war, and whites completely surrendered power. In this way, in 1980, Zimbabwe officially became independent and in the same year announced the start of general elections.
Mugabe won the election by a majority vote and became the president of Zimbabwe, thus opening up friendly relations between China and Zimbabwe.
A believer in Chairman Mao - Mugabe
Why is it that Zimbabwe can have a very close friendship with China? In fact, it was because President Mugabe brokered it in the middle. In fact, Zimbabwe did not establish friendly diplomatic relations with the mainland at the beginning, and Mugabe was not deeply impressed with China.
After all, from the perspective of Mugabe's life, Mugabe is Roman Catholic and has only completed his studies at a black university in South Africa, and has not had much contact with China from beginning to end. Mugabe, however, was a very studious man, and during his university years, he came into contact with many leaders of the African Democratic Liberation Movement who were studying for a long time.
Under the influence of these people, Mugabe gradually moved into the political arena and became a member of the African national liberation movement. Although he became a member of the African National Liberation Movement, Mugabe knew very little about the national liberation movement, and he could only help Zimbabwe by learning from the successful experiences of others.
He had come to Ghana to see the people reborn after the independence and liberation movement, and his heart was eager to make Zimbabwe such a country. Unfortunately, he wandered between political parties and did not see a "cure" to save Zimbabwe.
However, by chance, he read Chairman Mao's Selected Works of Mao Zedong, which gave him great inspiration. He suddenly found that what he had done before was too radical, even a little silly. Mugabe found from Mao Zedong's anthology and Mao Zedong Thought that armed struggle is the right path, and "power out of the barrel of a gun" is the way to save zimbabwe.
In this way, Mugabe finished reading the Selected Works of Mao Zedong while in prison, and after his release from prison, he quickly relied on Mao Zedong Thought to arm a powerful army. In international negotiations, he relies on this army to be very tough in diplomatic settings to reject international negotiations that are not good for Zimbabwe.
After being armed with Mao Zedong Thought, Mugabe was successfully elected president of Zimbabwe after independence in Zimbabwe, and Mao Zedong Thought inspired him so much that he became a believer in Chairman Mao. Even Mugabe has said many times: "There is no Zimbabwe without China, and China is his second home".
However, Mugabe's views and understanding of Chairman Mao's thought were too shallow, and although he relied on Chairman Mao's thought to win power. But he was unsure of how to defend the regime. His insights and ideas led to his deviation in nation-building, which became the main reason for his ultimate failure to defend Zimbabwe.
A hundred wastes to be revived, turn to China for help
As the saying goes, "it's easy to fight the world, it's hard to sit in the world," and the situation in Zimbabwe at that time was like this. For Mugabe, he used his arms to seize power, but he did not know how to defend it. So, he desperately needed someone else to guide him, and at this time, he thought of China. He believes that the situation in China at that time was very similar to that in Zimbabwe, and that China is doing very well today, they must have a way.
In 1981, Mugabe set foot on Chinese soil to learn about China's governing principles and land reform policies. At this time, Chairman Deng Xiaoping learned of Mugabe's arrival and decided to personally receive him. Mugabe was stationed at Chairman Deng Xiaoping's residence, and the two sides had friendly exchanges.
At this time, China had just entered the ranks of reform and opening up, and Chairman Deng Xiaoping hoped to help China get rid of poverty by building socialism with Chinese characteristics. Facts have proved that China is very suitable for the road of building socialism with special characteristics, so the mainland is going farther and farther on this road.
But at the time, the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics was undesirable in Mugabe's perception. According to Mugabe, "He is afraid that China will develop in the opposite direction," and from this point of view, Mugabe is completely unfamiliar with China's national conditions and culture.
Chairman Deng Xiaoping euphemistically explained to Mugabe: "China's pursuit of the road of socialism with special characteristics is a path explored according to its actual national conditions and after experiencing many tribulations." But Mugabe expressed complete incomprehension of Chairman Deng Xiaoping's theory, and he chose to copy socialism and impose it on Zimbabwe.
For the mainland, this is already a loss suffered by the mainland, Zimbabwe now has to follow China's old path again, and Chairman Deng Xiaoping really cannot stop Mugabe's choice. In this way, after four years, Mugabe's move to socialism did not bring a good life to Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe is still standing still.
Seeing such an ending, Mugabe was really unwilling, so in 1985, he set foot on Chinese soil again and came to Chairman Deng Xiaoping to learn from him. This time, Chairman Deng Xiaoping received him again, and in the face of Mugabe's sincere attitude toward study, Chairman Deng Xiaoping decided to discuss with him in depth.
Subsequently, Chairman Deng Xiaoping briefed Mugabe on China's heartache since the founding of the People's Republic of China and the path of reform. It includes the Five-Year Plan, land reform, capitalist social transformation, and so on. When Mugabe heard about the land reform, his eyes were instantly glazed over, and Chairman Deng Xiaoping told him very optimistically that China was facing many problems on the road of development, such as three years of difficult times, the people's lack of food, and so on.
Faced with a series of problems, Mugabe wondered how China had solved them. Chairman Deng Xiaoping said: "Just use policies, steps, and methods" to govern the country through reform and opening up. Judging from the current effect, reform and opening up have completely enriched the rural areas and the people can eat enough to eat; under such preconditions, reform and opening up will be brought to the cities for experimentation and reform of the cities.
But Mugabe is still very worried, as he did four years ago, worried that China will completely deviate from its original intention on the road of reform and opening up and become a capitalist country. Mugabe said sincerely: "All third world countries hope that China will continue to take the socialist road."
When Chairman Deng Xiaoping heard this, he smiled and said: "No matter how China takes the road of Special Socialism in China, it is actually a socialist country, and this has never changed. But what we want is modernization, to become a modern socialist country."
Chairman Deng Xiaoping even told Mugabe: "On the road of reform, we must not rush to achieve results, and we must not copy the experience of foreign countries." Unfortunately, Mugabe didn't listen. When Mugabe left China, Chairman Deng Xiaoping shook his head and said, "This person can't listen to it, and he will suffer a big loss in the future." "Facts have proved that Chairman Deng Xiaoping's judgment was correct.
It's hard to persuade the damned ghost
For China, the mainland has experienced five thousand years, and in these five thousand years, the biggest reason why the Chinese civilization has endured is that the mainland civilization has a strong compatibility and continuity. What this means is that for the mainland, we are happy to accept other cultures, and at the same time we will not be swallowed up by other cultures, but will be tolerant and thus integrated into our culture.
The Qing Dynasty is a testament to this problem. During the Qing government, in fact, they were reluctant to use Han Chinese, but the biggest reason why they used Han people was that they could not destroy Han culture, they could only be forced to blend, and with the continuous integration, they gradually found that Chinese civilization was really broad and profound, and then fell in love with such a civilization.
With such a lesson in the past, the mainland leaders have made a continuation of this phenomenon. That is to say, the mainland's reform and opening up is a reform based on the mainland's inherent attributes and a trade-off made for the mainland's modernization drive, and this trade-off is extremely beneficial to the mainland's development.
However, Mugabe does not fully grasp this deep meaning. Upon his return to Zimbabwe, Mugabe immediately began to eliminate dissidents, ostracize opposition parties, and plunder private wealth. In 2000, Mugabe began land reform, and what he called the "fast track to land reform" led to the eviction of large numbers of white farmers, all of which were transferred to the national territory.
If you do that, you're really just hurting the interests of whites, and for the people of Zimbabwe, with land, they can grow and they can get rich. Unfortunately, Mugabe did not give the land to the peasants, but to his cronies.
This is tantamount to saying that Mugabe transformed the land from the private territory of the whites into the private territory of his cronies. In fact, it is just a different way, and in essence, no change has been made, and the people are still poor and living in dire straits.
Zimbabwe's economy collapsed several times at the end of the 20th century, and monetary policy, coupled with the fast track of land reform, made the people's lives poorer and poorer. The social situation, with Mugabe's continued expulsion of whites, caused many people to lose confidence in the land. Mugabe repeatedly copied an immature or faulty system, allowing Zimbabwe to become poorer and poorer under his leadership. This is also the main reason why many people oppose him. Even Mugabe, in the mouths of the Western media, is called a dictator like a flood beast.
Under Mugabe's tumultuous operation, Zimbabwe quickly fell from an economic power to one of the world's poorest countries with an unemployment rate of up to 80 percent. And Mugabe has also become a spokesman for corruption, no longer loved by the people, and all the advice of Chairman Deng Xiaoping has been left behind by Mugabe.
In the end, the Zimbabwean coin became a larger paper money than the amount of the coin, with a 200,000% super expansion rate, making it difficult for Zimbabwe to return to the ranks of rich countries. Chairman Deng Xiaoping's words became a slur, and Mugabe eventually planted a big heel on economic issues and suffered losses.
Facts have proved that the development of a country requires the leaders of the country to have a very professional judgment on the country. If Mugabe can reach the grassroots in Zimbabwe, maybe he can see what Zimbabwe really needs. It should be known that when Chairman Deng Xiaoping wanted to carry out reform and opening up, he went down to the grass-roots level many times, saw the people's suffering, and saw the people's belief that they wanted to get rich and had the ability to get rich, and finally determined reform and opening up.
Unfortunately, Mugabe did not understand what Zimbabwe really needed, and at the same time did not understand what kind of situation and culture China had since 5,000 years. Mugabe's blind imitation eventually became the last straw that crushed Zimbabwe.
epilogue
Mugabe was the greatest contributor to the liberation of Zimbabwe, and it can even be said that Mugabe is a symbol of Zimbabwe's national liberation. Unfortunately, although he devoted his life to national liberation, he eventually fell on how to build the country. His life was full of controversy, and many people loved him and loved him, but others despised him. He was a sinner of Zimbabwe's economy, but also a contributor to Zimbabwe's independence.
In September 2019, the controversial elderly man died in Singapore at the age of 95. Seeing China's development today, Presumably at the last moment of his life, he may really understand the significance of China's reform and opening up.