(Mao Zedong remains standing in the dock.)

The Great Emperor: The accusations and trial brought by the 23 victims against Mao Zedong are hereby concluded. Several distinguished figures present wish to express their views. First, Qin Shi Huang, please speak.

Qin Shi Huang (rising): After hearing the accusations of the 23 victims and the judgment of the Jade Emperor, I conclude that Mao Zedong’s crimes are monstrous. Mao repeatedly said, “I am Marx plus Qin Shi Huang.” By comparing himself to me, he sought to justify his autocracy and his suppression and persecution of intellectuals.

When I first founded the empire, without autocracy how could unity have been maintained? My rule was not “lawless” like Mao Zedong’s, which relied solely on a single “supreme directive.” I governed the state by law. Based on Qin law, I absorbed certain statutes from the six states, unified the legal codes, and specially instituted laws to punish corrupt officials, with annual performance evaluations. As for “burning books and burying scholars,” it was the punishment of those who used the past to criticize the present and obstruct national unity. I unified institutions and laws; everything had legal procedures to follow—standardized axle widths, standardized script, standardized measurements; abolished feudal enfeoffment and established the commandery-county system, laying the foundation of the first great empire in history. Historians call me the First Great Emperor of China, an emperor for the ages.

But Mao Zedong is the greatest destroyer of Chinese civilization, the greatest killer of compatriots—“a demon for the ages.” For two thousand years I have been praised; for the next two thousand years Mao Zedong will be reviled. My history is clear and aboveboard; Mao Zedong’s crimes are still concealed by the Party-state, not dared to be made public.

The so-called “New China” he built was in fact a “Bloody China.” Thirty years were stained with blood, a massive regression of civilization, a reversal of history. Mao aligned with the Russian Communists and followed the Soviet model to construct his so-called “New China,” plunging it into chaos and ruin. From heaven I looked down and saw famine everywhere, wailing that shook the sky, scenes too tragic to behold. The splendid rivers and mountains were scarred and shattered; I wept old tears and sighed without cease. Mao launched the so-called Great Leap Forward, seeking to create a communist model, using hundreds of millions of compatriots as experimental subjects. He set up People’s Communes and the “Three Red Banners,” leading to the deaths of tens of millions. He did not treat the people as human beings. Mao would not admit guilt or assume responsibility; he shifted blame to subordinates, persecuted and killed, reversed black and white, fabricated countless wrongful cases, turning all of China into one enormous unjust prison.

The Qin dynasty fell because I died unexpectedly and had no time to arrange a successor; my young son bungled it. The grand edifice of China had not yet been completed; Liu Bang continued the work upon the foundation I laid. Some say my rule was harsh and that I burned books and buried scholars—these are exaggerations. Most of those buried alive were charlatans, not upright Confucian scholars. How could I have killed even one percent as many as Mao Zedong? At that time, strong enforcement of law was entirely necessary at the founding of a great empire; without it, unity could not have been preserved. Even today, it stands the test of history.

Since the United States implemented constitutional democracy and separation of powers in the eighteenth century, and especially by the twentieth century, constitutional democracy became the global trend. Even Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing decided in the early 1900s to adopt constitutional monarchy. Unfortunately, the Qing was overthrown. Yet Mao Zedong and his successors, a century later, still cling to communist autocracy; they will not escape the punishment of history.

The Great Emperor: Qin Shi Huang has finished his rebuttal and condemnation of Mao Zedong. Now Zhu Yuanzhang, please speak.

Zhu Yuanzhang (rising): Mao Zedong not only liked comparing himself to Qin Shi Huang; he also liked comparing himself to me, saying that we both rose through peasant wars to seize power, attempting to use me as his defense. I founded and governed the state with merit, commemorated by later generations. Even the Qing emperor Kangxi, whenever he toured south, would go to Nanjing’s Ming Xiaoling to pay respects to me, erecting a stele praising me as “Loftier than Tang and Song.” I am deeply grateful.

Mao Zedong was different from me. I overthrew the culturally backward Mongol rule and, after founding the dynasty, allowed the people to recuperate, ushering in another golden age of the Ming. After gaining the realm, I did not forget my ancestors. I continued to honor Confucius, though I disliked Mencius’s saying that “the ruler is of lesser importance,” and therefore did not allow Mencius into the Confucian temple. I revered Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism as the soul of the nation. By contrast, Mao called the founding of his state “liberation,” but it was in fact “binding” and “kidnapping,” depriving the people of freedom. He forgot his ancestors, discarded Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, and brought in a foreigner from afar to enshrine as a spiritual idol. He concocted baffling class classifications and class struggle, causing hundreds of millions of subjects to turn weapons against one another, rivers of blood flowing, countless dead, nationwide chaos, and unbearable suffering. In thousands of years, no emperor committed crimes on such a scale.

Mao acknowledged a thief as father and invited the wolf into the house. The Russians had already seized vast Chinese territories during the Qing—undeniable bandits. In the early Republic, they incited Outer Mongolia’s independence and drew it into their sphere of influence, causing China to lose more territory. Mao’s Communist Party then took their money and guns, invited Russians into China as advisers, willingly bringing wolves into the house and plunging the land into turmoil. Mao learned from Stalin, acknowledged him as the big boss, and acted as his agent, opening a communist branch store, throwing the realm into darkness and chaos.

Mao was arrogant, seeking to be the king of world communism. He did not hesitate to spend the people’s hard-earned wealth to buy off foreigners, so that he alone could be communist king while the nation suffered. From the so-called War to Resist America and Aid Korea onward, he sacrificed hundreds of thousands to gain standing in the communist world before Stalin. After Stalin’s death, he sought to replace him as communist king, at any cost. The Indonesian Communist Party, encouraged by him to seize power, failed; 500,000 were killed. He exported revolution to Cambodia, causing two million deaths. Since the Han dynasty, China had been the world’s greatest nation, yet no emperor ever sought world domination; other states came voluntarily to pay tribute.

I once proposed, “Build high walls, store abundant grain, and bide your time before claiming hegemony.” Mao imitated me with, “Dig deep tunnels, store abundant grain, and never seek hegemony.” When I said “bide your time,” I meant it sincerely. When Mao said “never seek hegemony,” his words and heart differed; he deceived the world. In reality, he sought hegemony, spending vast sums of the people’s blood and sweat to buy support from small nations in Africa and Europe to satisfy his ambition.

Mao and his successors have to this day concealed thirty years of crimes, continuing to hold 1.4 billion people hostage and commit wrongdoing. The current ruler, Xi Jinping, must break free from the communist system; only then can the Chinese nation be reborn and Chinese civilization revived.

The Great Emperor: Zhu Yuanzhang has exposed Mao Zedong’s attempt to use him as cover. He has finished speaking. Now the Daoguang Emperor, please speak.

Daoguang Emperor (rising): In 1840, I resolved with unprecedented determination to ban opium, despite opposition from those advocating gradual prohibition, and did not hesitate to fight Britain, leading to the Opium War. Because of the disparity in national and military strength, and the strong influence of gradualists at court, we were defeated and the ban failed. Yet though defeated, I retain honor in history. My decisive prohibition was based on the understanding that opium poisoned the people and the nation; if it continued, the people would weaken and the country grow poor. It was an effort to reverse decline. Yet one hundred years later, Mao Zedong acted contrary to my path. For the private interests of himself and his party, he did not ban opium but reportedly cultivated it extensively in Yan’an and trafficked it, acting as a drug lord. I am shocked and heartbroken. Mao also concealed these crimes from the outside world, deceiving public opinion, neglecting to fight Japanese aggressors while deliberately trafficking drugs and waging a dirty civil war to seize power. Today these matters are exposed to the world; the people are in uproar.

Mao learned Stalin’s brutality, revered Stalin as his great boss, and implemented the disasters of communist revolution, destroying ancestral civilization and causing a massive regression of Chinese civilization—truly a criminal for the ages against the motherland.

After my reign, the Qing under Empress Dowager Cixi promoted openness and reform, advanced Westernization, and changed old habits over more than forty years, achieving notable results and planning constitutional government. Unfortunately, the Qing was overthrown. The nation fell into chaos, endless internal strife and civil war, and immense suffering. During Mao Zedong’s thirty years of rule, the crimes were the greatest.

The Great Emperor: The Daoguang Emperor has finished his heartfelt condemnation of Mao Zedong for allegedly cultivating opium and trafficking it a century after the Opium War. Today Qin Shi Huang, Zhu Yuanzhang, and the Daoguang Emperor have concluded their statements. Court will resume tomorrow.

NEXT: The Great Trial Day Nine