The death of Communist China’s founding father Mao Zedong 40 years ago this week was akin to the demise of an emperor and helped pave the way for the modern nation, says one of the few Westerners in Beijing at the time. Ragnar Baldursson, a young Marxist from Iceland, was a student in Beijing in … Continue reading No tears for Mao: Witness recalls death of chairman as ‘dynastical shift’ 40 years later