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NYT Ripped for Tweet Saying Communism Taught Chinese Women to 'Dream Big'

A Chinese construction woman looks on as she walks in the old quarters in Shanghai on September 13, 2017 / Getty Images
A Chinese construction woman looks on as she walks in the old quarters in Shanghai on September 13, 2017 / Getty Images
September 26, 2017

The New York Times was lambasted on Tuesday for a tweet that downplayed the "flaws" of communism and argued how it benefited Chinese women.

The tweet linked to an op-ed from Chinese freelancer Helen Gao arguing that many Chinese women believed their lot was improved by the revolution. "The Communists did many terrible things," she quotes grandmother as saying. "But they made women’s lives much better."

The story was part of the "Red Century" series, in which the Times celebrated the 100-year anniversary by posting opinion piece on the legacy of communism. Some of the pieces have been critical of communism's legacy, but the Times has also published bizarre defenses of the totalitarian regimes.

Gao notes that the women's gains were mostly illusory and women were still forced into domestic roles, but argues that at least they had hope. "For all its flaws, the Communist revolution taught Chinese women to dream big," she concluded.

Outraged Twitter users pointed out that the "flaws" of Communism were enormous. Experts estimate that Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China's "Great Leap Forward," a 1958 to 1962 economic and social campaign,  led to the deaths of 65 million people as a result of starvation, forced labor, and state-sanctioned murder.