• Testing Young Party Members
• Mao's Belief in Peasants Over Bureaucrats
• The Fall of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi

Mao Zedong thought the younger members of the Communist Party of China (CCP) hadn't been through enough tough stuff. They'd missed out on legendary CCP milestones like the White Terror, Long March, anti-Japanese war, and struggle against the Guomindang (GMD).

Imagine you're on a soccer team, but you never had to do drills, run laps, or even play a tough match. Would you be any good in a real competition? Mao thought the same about these younger members.

This is like when a new generation of activists comes in with all their fresh ideas but haven't faced the challenges that molded the older generation—think Gen Z activists meeting Civil Rights-era figures. Each has their own experiences, but the older generation often thinks the younger one hasn't been "tested."