Message On Mao's Birthday  If you are regular reader of the
English-language China-themed blogosphere, here are the birthday
greetings from the A-list bloggers: Asia Pundit, SimonWorld and
The Peking Duck.  Although I could, I will not pile on. 
Instead, I am going to translate an opinion piece in Sing Tao
(12/27/2005; page A17; no link).  This is one explanation as to
why certain Chinese people are nostalgic about the memory of
Chairman Mao.  The reason offered here has less to do with any
cult of the personality, but it is based upon a very practical
argument grounded in daily life today.  Before you proceed, I
will remind you of the usual caveats.  First, you must not take
this opinion piece as representative of the blogger/translator's
own opinions.  This piece was chosen for the usual reason: I
wish to present something which is not usually represented in
English.  Second, there is no empirical data about the
prevalence of this particular opinion or any of the other
opinions among the Chinese people.  Th