Is "of" has the meaning of "about"

[captain1]

Sorry for my title - It should be: Does "of" have the meaning of "about"?
Hello, I have seen in the past many places who wrote "of" and they had the same meaning of "about".

Please help me to understand this:
Three catastrophic events in China were responsible(the situation of more deaths than births):
1. The criticism of Ma Yinchu made it impossible to implement family planning.
My note: Ma Yinchu is the person who thought about the idea of "one child" to every family.
So It seems odd to me that the person who thought about the idea of "family planning" has criticism on himself.

So in other words: the sentence can be changed to this? The criticism about/on(someone criticized) Ma Yinchu made it impossible to implement family planning?

Thanks

 

[captain1]

Can you please tell me if the criticism was against Ma Yinchu or or that he criticized?

I didn't understand because he thought about the One Child policy= family planning. He thought about the idea of family planning, So, why did he criticize himself? I know that I have misunderstanding.
By the way: I am reading what you wrote and I understand it as the same meaning "about".
What is the difference between "of" and "about"?

 

[emsr2d2]

"The criticism of XXX" means that criticism was levelled/aimed at that person. It does not mean that that person criticised anything.

 

[captain1]

so here, Does someone have a criticism on Ma Yinchu?
Just want to summarize this post.
Thanks

 

[captain1]

You're right. I am sorry.I had wanted to remove it and open a new theard about of and about but than I have saw your answer. and because that I wrote my question again.

I want to take the stage for understanding something.

What is the difference between "of" and "about".

 

[captain1]

It creates a problem, how do you know if the criticism is against someone or if someone has the criticism?

 

[emsr2d2]

Because we don't use "criticism of XXX" when we mean that XXX criticised something else.

 

[SoothingDave]

We would say "John's criticism" to indicate possessive, if we needed to do that. John's criticism of Bob made Bob eventually stop being friends with John.

 

[captain1]

But generally, how can I know if to use "of" or "about"? what is the difference between them?
(without referring to what I wrote here)

 

[bhaisahab]

You will find a lot of information about the various uses of "of" here: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/of
And the various uses of "about" here: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/about