Why do they even like Mao so much? Same reason Americans love George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Adam Smith. He’s a Founding Father of the modern nation, a spiritual progenitor of their economic philosophy, and a guy with tons of media to play up as nostalgia bait for the Chinese equivalent MAGA nationalists. You’ll see Chinese nationalists leap to his defense the same way you see American nationalists get Big Mad when you talk about Jefferson raping his father-in-law’s illegitimate slave daughter. Or reminding them why the White House is that color and under which President it happened.