Mao considered himself “Marx plus Qin Shi Huang,” and he admired Qin Shi Huang. He applied to the Jade Emperor for an audience, and the Emperor approved Mao’s request to meet Qin Shi Huang.

Mao said, “It is an honor to finally meet Your Majesty. I am deeply humbled.”

Qin Shi Huang replied, “You have become an unprecedented ruler of China; it is rare to meet someone like you today.”

Mao respectfully said, “I have always admired Your Majesty and hope to receive your guidance today.”

Qin Shi Huang spoke bluntly, “You call yourself ‘Marx plus Qin Shi Huang,’ but I feel we are not in the same league. There is a great difference between us.”

Mao asked, “How so?”

Qin Shi Huang replied sharply, “In one phrase: I am the greatest contributor to China, the first emperor who founded the dynasty; you are the greatest destroyer of Chinese civilization and the one who killed the most of your own people. The Ming historian Li Zhi called me ‘the Emperor for all ages.’ I would call you ‘the Demon for all ages.’ I have been praised for two thousand years; you will be reviled for two thousand years. My history is clean; your crimes are still concealed by the Party and the state and not made public to this day.”

Mao tried to justify, “You speak too harshly; perhaps you do not fully understand the situation.”

Qin Shi Huang said, “I fully understand. For two thousand years, my soul has wandered across the Chinese land, hovering over Chang’an and Beijing. I have watched everything clearly from Heaven. The events on Earth are recorded and accessible to me; the Jade Emperor has given me privileges. Nothing can be hidden from me.”

Mao said, “I am also a founding emperor; I established the ‘New China.’”

Qin sneered, “You destroyed the Republic of China. What you built is not a ‘New China’ but a bloody China. Thirty years of bloodshed, a regression of civilization, a turning back of history. You leaned entirely toward the Soviet Union and modeled your ‘New China’ on them, creating chaos and devastation. From Heaven, I have seen the corpses, the starving, the wailing—it is unbearable. The beautiful rivers and mountains are scarred; I weep and shake my head in despair. I wish I could descend and execute you immediately.”

Mao defended, “Stalin helped me seize power; he gave me money and weapons, so of course I followed him.”

Qin scolded, “Stalin is just a rebel, a murderer, a destroyer. The Soviet Union is a wolf, most ruthless to China. Russia first seized large territories from the Qing, and in the Republic and under your Communist regime, they swallowed Mongolia. You were possessed, brought the enemy inside, recognized the thief as your father, willingly became Stalin’s godson, betrayed ancestral lands, and wasted the country. How can you face your ancestors?”

Mao muttered, “I did start off following the wrong path, but after Stalin died, I no longer followed the USSR.”

Qin continued, “But you inherited Stalin’s ambition. He wanted to be the leader of international Communism, and you also wanted to be the world’s Communist king. You proclaimed Beijing as the world revolution center, encouraged rebellion across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, impoverished your people, exported revolution, and spread disaster to neighboring countries. Take Cambodia, where a quarter of the population died. You became one of the three greatest monsters of the 20th century, alongside Hitler and Stalin. Hitler killed only Jews and not his own people; you killed your own citizens, during a time when the world was enjoying peace and development. Hitler killed six million; you killed, purged, and starved seventy million. Hitler is only a tenth of your scale. Stalin is dead, the USSR no longer kills, yet you inherited his mantle and continued killing—three times Stalin’s scale. Among the three monsters, you rank first.”

Mao claimed, “I only wanted to shape China into a Communist model, as an example for Asia, Africa, and Latin America, to become the world’s Communist king.”

Qin rebuked, “You implemented the Great Leap Forward, using hundreds of millions of people as experimental subjects, creating People’s Communes and the Three Red Banners, resulting in tens of millions of deaths. You treated your own people as nonhumans, refused to admit guilt or take responsibility, and instead blamed subordinates, persecuted and killed, reversed black and white, manufactured countless false cases—turning all of China into a prison.”

Mao remained silent, “During forty years in hell, I did reflect. Actually, in 1966, I already had some reflections. I even wrote a poem:

‘Just as Heaven has affairs, I go south to tread on fragrant branches.
The green pines rage towards the sky, fallen leaves drift with the blue waters.
A gust of wind and thunder startles the world, red and green banners march through the streets.
Leaning on the railing, listening to the pattering rain, the people of my homeland are thoughtful.’”

Qin coldly commented, “Your ‘reflections’ are just self-justification. You mobilized the youth as cannon fodder; after the Cultural Revolution, they were sent to the countryside under the guise of ‘reforming their red hearts in the vast fields,’ corrupting the minds of tens of millions, including those in power now. You made them carry 200 pounds of grain over miles without swapping shoulders; their bodies and minds were severely damaged and twisted.”

Mao tried to deflect, “Your father, Yiren, also went to Zhao as a hostage. Isn’t that how you came to be? Sending youth to the countryside seems familiar. Also, I don’t understand why, with your achievements, the Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years?”

Qin replied, “Qin fell because I died unexpectedly and had not arranged a succession; my youngest son messed it up. The foundations of the Chinese empire were not yet fully established, and Liu Bang had to continue building it. Later generations exaggerated my harshness, my book burnings, and burying scholars alive. I did none of this to the extent of your purges that killed millions. My strong enforcement of law at the start of the empire was necessary to maintain unity. Even today, it withstands historical scrutiny.”

Qin asked, “Old Mao, how old did you live to be?”

Mao answered, “Eighty-three years, longer than you.”

Qin sneered, “I only lived forty-nine, let’s say fifty. You lived thirty-three years longer, causing harm to the country for too long. I have heard many ghosts’ complaints that you lived too long, wreaking havoc across China. Had you died in 1945, six million fewer would have died in war; in 1957, thirty-seven million fewer starved; in 1965, twenty million fewer were killed or persecuted. You finally died in 1976, and only then did people start eating properly. The only correct thing you did in life was—die. The regret is you died too late.”

Mao muttered, “Those ghosts’ words leave me with no face.” He asked, “In your view, how is China now?”

Qin answered, “After your death, Deng Xiaoping reversed the course of history, introduced reform and opening, barely allowing Chinese people to eat. But Deng did not dare eliminate your toxic influence and even hung your ancestral tablet in Tiananmen. Fearful of total repudiation, he could not risk destabilizing the Party’s legitimacy. So your pernicious influence persists. Xi Jinping today not only inherits your mantle but seeks to expand it… How unfortunate for the Chinese nation! Truly a sigh-worthy tragedy.”

Mao listened, feeling even heavier. He had heard countless criticisms over decades, but none as severe as Qin Shi Huang’s—like a merciless historical judge, hitting him precisely where it hurt, delivering the heaviest blow he had ever received. Silently, he thought, “Indeed, the old ginger is the hottest.”

Qin urged him, “Follow Confucius: correct past mistakes, face history, sincerely repent. Only then can you be released from the Eighteen Levels of Hell as soon as possible.”

Mao nodded outwardly but harbored no true repentance. They bowed to each other and their spirits dispersed.

NEXT: 3. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945)