Mao is not an easy family name to carry in China, and a great-nephew of the epochal Chinese leader Mao Zedong, seems to understand that well, and acknowledges the importance his family attaches to maintaining their ancestor’s good name.

Mao Anping, 72, spoke about his great-uncle’s life and his memories of him, at his house in Shaoshan, Mao’s birthplace in Hunan province, in advance of the 40th anniversary of the former president’s death this Friday.

Inside the small living room, Anping admits the distinguished name has meant a special responsibility for his family, and some privileges too, although the name failed to mitigate their sufferings during the Great Leap Forward economic campaign, or the later purges of the Cultural Revolution.

Mao Zedong’s direct descendants usually avoid the media, but Anping – from the only family branch that remains in Shaoshan – has no such qualms.

Tall and thin, the retired local official is comfortable in his house slippers, chopping vegetables for lunch, while talking in a soft but heavily Hunan-accented voice about his illustrious forefather and recent Chinese history, while his wife tends to their small kitchen garden.

“We care a lot about Mao’s reputation,” he says.

“We feel bad if someone speaks ill of him,” he adds.

Following the proclamation of the creation of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1, 1949, Mao returned to his native town only two times; once was in 1959 when Anping was 13.

During that visit, Anping recalls Mao shaking hands with him and later dining with village leaders and elders, including Anping’s father, where he “cracked jokes.”

Anping is quiet and pensive when he recounts the miseries his family had to endure during the Great Leap Forward (1958-61), the ambitious economic program that left the economy in ruins, and when millions died due to hunger and disease.

“My father and uncle nearly starved to death,” he says.

The family received some financial help from Mao, but the leader’s busy traveling schedule meant he was not always accessible.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), Anping – a local official at the time – was branded a “conservative,” sacked, and put under house arrest for several months.

All this notwithstanding, Anping maintains that Mao “was a great person,” because his leadership pulled the Chinese out of backwardness and introduced them to “better lives.”

The failed economic campaign, as well as the Cultural Revolution, he insists, were the collective responsibility of the top brass of the party, not just Mao, although he admits Mao chose his successors badly.

Mao’s rule saw drastic measures against private economic activity and fierce promotion of collectivization, often with disastrous results, but his great-nephew feels Mao would not have rejected the capitalist reforms enacted after his death.

Anping is unhappy about the ills accompanying recent reforms in China such as gambling, prostitution, and drugs, besides the corruption of officials and Communist Party members.

“The Party at that time was much better than the one today,” he says, while effusively praising President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft measures.

Anping is confident Mao would have been pleased with present-day China.

“I think Mao’s soul, in the heavens above, will be happy to see people living better lives.” Rafael Cañas, EFE