Does china's dynastic history shed any light in explaining Mao's hold of power over China. I ask this question because even after the horrors of the cultural revolution and his subsequent death, Mao was still revered almost like a godlike figure unlike many other authoritarian rulers. And I was wondering if chinese history before the communist revolution helps in understanding that.
I would not argue that the dynasties of the past helped Mao's legacy. Mao was renowned for his ability to mobilize the peasants for the Great Leap Forward. Even today, Mao's legacy remains somewhat untainted because to do discredit him would discredit the Communist Party, which is still in power today.
Source: Mao's Great Famine (documentary). Can be found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-woaDniFQc
I would argue that it isn't exactly the history of dynastic rule, but the prevalence and predominance of Confucianism that helps to explain the reverence for Mao in China. Confucianism stresses order and a hierarchy very heavily and privileges communal over individual good (the concept of rights isn't really a part of it). I would say that this helped both the Emperors and Mao maintain power past the point that would have been possible in Europe for example. In addition, even though the Communist party moved past Mao in a lot of ways, it still held him in high regard (at least publicly) because he had been so essential to the establishment of the government in China. They couldn't really disown him without delegitimizing their own power to some extent and the Communist Party has control of the media. A final point, many of the horrible atrocities that happened because of Mao are far enough back that there is a large portion of the population that was never directly affected.