Maoism in Culture: a 'Glocalized' or 'Sinicized' Marxist Literary Theory

In his essay "Maoism in Culture," Ning Wang discusses the importance to literature and art of Mao's famous "Yan'an Talks" as one of his most representative works. Maoism, or Mao Zedong Thought as is generally called in China, is a "glocalized" or "Sinicized" Marxism initiated and developed by Mao and his comrades in arms and successors in China. Wang argues that although Maoism is not a dogmatically "imported" Marxism from the West, it has indeed grasped some fundamental Marxist principles in combination with the concrete Chinese literary and critical practice. Thus a "glocalized" or "Sinicized" Marxist literary theory has contributed and will continue to contribute a great deal to the global Marxist literary and cultural theory, especially in the contemporary era known as that of globalization. Even in today's China, some of Mao's legacies have been given up by his successors, his "Yan'an Talks" and the essence of his literary and art theory is still influential functioning as the guiding principle in current China's literary and art criticism and studies.