The East wind prevails over the West wind

The East wind prevails over the West wind
Chinese东风压倒西风
Coined byMao Zedong

The East wind prevails over the West wind[1] (Chinese: 东风压倒西风; pinyin: dōngfēng yādǎo xīfēng),[2] alternatively translated as the east wind overwhelms the west wind,[3] the East wind is prevailing over the West wind, or socialism will prevail over capitalism,[4] is a slogan coined by Mao Zedong[5] in the early 1950s, when he referred to the east wind as the socialist camp and the West wind as the Western capitalist societies.[6] The implication of this statement is that the forces of socialism have overwhelmingly surpassed the forces of imperialism.[7]

"The East wind prevails over the West wind" was borrowed by Mao Zedong from the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber[8] in which Lin Daiyu said, "In all families, either the East Wind prevails over the West Wind, or the West Wind prevails over the East Wind".[9] In the book, East and West are not seen as representing different sets of beliefs or values.

  1. ^ Karen Rosenberg (May 26, 2011). "Cao Fei: 'Play Time'". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Ronald C. Keith (18 June 1989). Diplomacy of Zhou Enlai. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 104–. ISBN 978-1-349-09890-3.
  3. ^ Fu Jin (20 July 2021). A History of Chinese Theatre in the 20th Century III. Routledge. pp. 173–. ISBN 978-1-00-038442-0.
  4. ^ Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique. Duke University Press. 2006. pp. 15–.
  5. ^ ""East wind prevails over the West wind" Worries the West". BBC News. 2017-09-05.
  6. ^ Wang Xichang (2006). Chinese slogan for a hundred years. Baihuazhou Literature and Art Press. ISBN 978-7-80647-524-9.
  7. ^ Janet Vinzant Denhardt (2007). The New Public Service, Expanded Edition: Serving, Not Steering. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-0-7656-2181-8.
  8. ^ Henry He (22 July 2016). Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China. Routledge. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-1-315-50043-0.
  9. ^ Gucheng Li (1995). A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China. Chinese University Press. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-962-201-615-6.