https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/07/16/let-a-hundred-choppers-bloom/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 10:26:49 -0400<![CDATA[During the mid-1950s in Mao&#8217;s China power struggles were waged under the guise of innocuous names, such as the Hundred Flowers Movement.  It was began as an invitation by Mao for all the dissident elements of the Party to come forward: &#8220;let a hundred flowers blossom and hundred schools of thought contend&#8221;. But it finished as a political trap. By 1957 Mao knew who dissidents were because they had revealed themselves and the prisons were prepared for their reception. Political discourse is rarely about the actual subject of discourse. It is almost always about power.]]>Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:45:58 -0400<![CDATA[Richard Fernandez]]>https://pjmedia.com/richard-fernandez/2009/07/16/let-a-hundred-choppers-bloom-n188817