On Mao

Overview

Mao is alive. 40 years after his death, he is still as popular as ever. After all, he was the founder of the People's Republic. And the fact that under his administration tens of millions of citizens died of hunger and violence is counted among the 30% wrong things he did. For 70% of what he did - as the official government position claims - was good. And that 70% no doubt includes his love of swimming. At the risk of losing his life, Ruben crosses the wild River Yangtze swimming, to meet the best-known Mao impersonator of China. And he visits a unique community of fishermen who once fled the famine caused by Mao's Great Sparrow Campaign to settle in the shallow waters of Honghu Lake, where they still live in houseboats, like Kevin Costner in Waterworld.