What makes you so sure of this? More to the point, what makes you sure that a society that tied status more closely to such skills wouldn't have promoted someone better than Mao to the top?
Mao was the son of a farmer. Mao actually worked on his father farm instead of learning the piano and was bullied for his farmer background in high school.
I don't think good aesthetics tell you about how to grow crops or bake bread.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, then it goes here.
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