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{{Short description|Leader of the People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1976}}
{{For|the TV series|Mao Zedong (TV series){{!}}''Mao Zedong'' (TV series)}}
{{Redirect|Mao}}
{{Redirect|Mao}}
<!-- Please DO NOT add {{family name hatnote}}; this article uses a footnote template to clarify the name. -->
{{Chinese name|[[Mao (surname)|Mao]]}}
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{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2012}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
{{stack begin}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = {{raise|0.2em|Mao Zedong}}
| name = Mao Zedong
|native_name = {{lower|0.1em|{{nobold|{{lang|zh-hans|毛泽东}}}}}}
| native_name = {{nobold|毛泽东|}}
| native_name_lang = zh
|honorific-prefix = [[Chairman of the Communist Party of China|Chairman]]
| image = Mao.jpg |caption = Official 1960–1966 portrait of Mao Zedong
| image = Mao Zedong in 1959 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize =
|nationality = Chinese
| caption = Mao in 1959
|order = 1st [[Chairman of the Communist Party of China|Chairman]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of China|Central Committee]] of the [[Communist Party of China]]
| office = [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]]
|1blankname = {{nowrap|1<sup>st</sup> vice-chairman}}
| term_start = 20 March 1943
|1namedata = [[Liu Shaoqi]]<br />[[Lin Biao]]<br />[[Zhou Enlai]]<br />[[Hua Guofeng]]
|term = June 19, 1945&nbsp;– September 9, 1976
| term_end = 9 September 1976
| predecessor = [[Zhang Wentian]] (as [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary]])
|predecessor= Himself (as Central Politburo Chairman)
|successor = [[Hua Guofeng]]
| successor = [[Hua Guofeng]]
| deputy = {{unbulleted list|[[Liu Shaoqi]]|[[Lin Biao]]|[[Zhou Enlai]]|Hua Guofeng}}
|order1 = 1st [[Chairman of the Communist Party of China|Chairman]] of the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of China|Central Politburo]] of the [[Communist Party of China]]
| order2 = 1st
|term1 = March 20, 1943&nbsp;– April 24, 1969
| office2 = Chairman of the People's Republic of China
|predecessor1= [[Zhang Wentian]]<br />(as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of China|Central Committee General Secretary]])
| term_start2 = 27 September 1954
|successor1= Himself (as Central Committee Chairman)
| term_end2 = 27 April 1959
|birth_date = {{birth date|1893|12|26}}
| premier2 = Zhou Enlai
|birth_place = [[Shaoshan]], [[Hunan]]
| deputy2 = [[Zhu De]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1976|9|9|1893|12|26}}
| predecessor2 =
|death_place = [[Beijing]]
| successor2 = Liu Shaoqi
|resting_place = [[Mausoleum of Mao Zedong|Chairman Mao Memorial Hall]], Beijing
| office3 = [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)|Chairman of the Central Military Commission]]
|occupation= Revolutionary, statesman
| deputy3 = {{unbulleted list|Zhu De|Lin Biao|[[Ye Jianying]]}}
|religion = None ([[atheist]])
| term_start3 = 8 September 1954
|spouse = [[Luo Yixiu]] (1907–1910) <br />[[Yang Kaihui]] (1920–1930) <br />[[He Zizhen]] (1930–1937) <br />[[Jiang Qing]] (1939–1976)
| term_end3 = 9 September 1976
|children = 10
| predecessor3 =
|signature = Mao Zedong signature.svg
| successor3 = Hua Guofeng
|party = [[Communist Party of China]]
|order2 = 1st [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission|Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission]]
| office4 = Chairman of the [[Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China (1949–1954)|Central People's Government]]
| term_start4 = 1 October 1949
|term2 = August 23, 1945&nbsp;– 1949<br>September 8, 1954&nbsp;– September 9, 1976
| term_end4 = 27 September 1954
|predecessor2 = Position created
| deputy4 =
|successor2 = [[Hua Guofeng]]
| premier4 = Zhou Enlai
|order3 = 1st [[Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC]]
| predecessor4 = ''Office established''<br />[[Li Zongren]] (as [[President of the Republic of China]])
|term3 = September 21, 1949&nbsp;– December 25, 1954<br>'''Honorary Chairman'''<br>December 25, 1954&nbsp;– September 9, 1976
| successor4 =
|predecessor3 = Position created
| office5 = [[Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
|successor3 = [[Zhou Enlai]]
| term_start5 = 9 October 1949
|order4 = 1st [[President of the People's Republic of China|Chairman of the People's Republic of China]]
| term_end5 = 25 December 1954
|premier4 = [[Zhou Enlai]]
| predecessor5 = ''Office established''
|deputy4 = [[Zhu De]]
| successor5 = Zhou Enlai
|term_start4 = September 27, 1954
| birth_name =
|term_end4 = April 27, 1959
| birth_date = {{birth date|1893|12|26|df=y}}
|predecessor4 = Position created
| birth_place = [[Shaoshan]], [[Hunan]], [[Qing China]]
|successor4 = [[Liu Shaoqi]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|9|9|1893|12|26|df=y}}
|office5 = Member of the<br>[[National People's Congress]]
| death_place = [[Beijing]], China
|term5 = September 15, 1954&nbsp;– April 18, 1959<br />December 21, 1964&nbsp;– September 9, 1976
| resting_place = [[Chairman Mao Memorial Hall]], Beijing
|constituency7 = Beijing At-large
| party = [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] (from 1921)
| otherparty = [[Kuomintang]] (1925–1926)
| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|[[Luo Yixiu]]|1907|February 11, 1910|reason=died}}|{{marriage|[[Yang Kaihui]]|December 1920|November 14, 1930|reason=died}}|{{marriage|[[He Zizhen]]|1928|1937|reason=divorced}}|{{marriage|[[Jiang Qing]]|20 November 1938}}}}
| children = {{plainlist|
* 10, including:
* [[Mao Anying]]
* [[Mao Anqing]]
* [[Mao Anlong]]
* [[Yang Yuehua]]
* [[Li Min (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Min]]
* [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]]}}
| parents = {{ubl|[[Mao Yichang]]|[[Wen Qimei]]}}
| alma_mater = [[Hunan First Normal University]]
| signature = Mao Zedong signature.svg
| module2 = {{Collapsible list
| titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
| title = Central institution membership
| bullets = on
| 1964–1976: Member, [[National People's Congress]]
| 1954–1959: Member, National People's Congress
|
| 1938–1976: Member, [[6th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|6th]], [[7th Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party|7th]], [[8th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|8th]], [[9th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|9th]], [[10th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|10th]] Politburo
| 1938–1976: Member, [[6th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|6th]], [[7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|7th]], [[8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|8th]], [[9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|9th]], [[10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|10th]] Central Committee
}}
}}
----
{{Contains Chinese text}}
{{Collapsible list
{{Chinese
| titlestyle = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
|s = 毛泽东
| title = Other offices held
|t = 毛澤東
| bullets = on
|w = Mao Tse-tung
| 1954–1959: Chairman of the People's Republic of China
|p = Máo Zédōng<br />{{IPA-cmn|mɑ̌ʊ tsɤ̌tʊ́ŋ|}}
| 1954–1976: Chairman, [[CPC Central Military Commission]]
|j = mou<sup>4</sup> zaak<sup>6</sup>dung<sup>1</sup>
| 1954–1959: President and Chairman, National Defence Council
|poj = Mô͘ Te̍k-tong
| 1954–1976: Honorary Chairman, [[CPPCC National Committee]]
|h = Mô Chhe̍t-tûng
| 1949–1954: Chairman, Central People's Revolutionary Military Commission
|showflag = p
| 1949–1954: Chairman, CPPCC National Committee
|order = st
| 1949–1954: Chairman, [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|PRC Central People's Government]]
| 1943–1956: Chairman, [[CPC Central Secretariat]]
| 1936–1949: Chairman, CPC Central Military Commission
}}
}}
| module3 = {{longitem|
{{stack end}}
'''[[Paramount leader|Paramount Leader of<br />the People's Republic of China]]'''}} {{flatlist
|
* ({{italics correction|''Inaugural holder''}})
* [[Hua Guofeng]] {{big|'''→'''}}
}}
| module = {{Infobox Chinese
| pic = Mao Zedong (Chinese characters).svg
| piccap = "Mao Zedong" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
| picupright = 0.525
| child = yes
| s = 毛泽东
| t = 毛澤東
| w = {{tone superscript|Mao2 Tse2-tung1}}
| p = Máo Zédōng
| tp = Máo Zé-dong
| bpmf = ㄇㄠˊ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄗㄜˊ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄉㄨㄥ
| gr =
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|AUD|Zh-Mao_Zedong.ogg|m|ao|2|-|z|e|2|.|d|ong|1}}
| suz = Máu Zéh-ton
| j = mou4 zaak6 dung1
| y = Mòuh Jaahk-dūng
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|m|ou|4|-|z|aak|6|-|d|ung|1}}
| poj = Mô͘ Te̍k-tong
| tl = Môo Ti̍k-tang
| h = Mô Chhe̍t-tûng
| order = st
| altname = [[Courtesy name]]
| t2 = 潤之
| s2 = 润之
| w2 = {{tone superscript|Jun4-chih1}}
| p2 = Rùnzhī
| tp2 = Rùn-jhih
| mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn|r|un|4|.|zhi|1}}
| bpmf2 = ㄖㄨㄣˋ&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ㄓ
| j2 = jeon6 zi1
| y2 = Yeuhn-jī
| ci2 = {{IPAc-yue|j|eon|6|-|z|i|1}}
| poj2 = Lūn-chi
}}
}}
{{Mao Zedong series}}
'''Mao Zedong'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aʊ|_|(|t|)|s|ə|ˈ|t|ʊ|ŋ}};<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=Mao Tse-tung |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mao-tse-tung |dictionary=[[Dictionary.com]] |access-date=17 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref> {{lang-zh|c=|s=毛泽东|t=|p=Máo Zédōng}} pronounced {{IPAc-cmn|m|ao|2|-|z|e|2|.|d|ong|1}}; traditionally [[Romanization of Chinese|romanised]] as '''Mao Tse-tung'''. {{family name explanation|lang=Chinese|[[Mao (surname)|Mao]]|Ze}}}} (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as '''Chairman Mao''', was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the [[China|People's Republic of China]] (PRC) and led the country from [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|its establishment]] in 1949 until [[Death and state funeral of Mao Zedong|his death]] in 1976. Mao also served as the [[chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) from 1943 until his death, and as the party's de facto leader from 1935. His theories, which he advocated as a Chinese adaptation of [[Marxism–Leninism]], are known as [[Maoism]].


Mao was the son of a peasant in [[Shaoshan]], [[Hunan]]. He was influenced early in his life by the events of the [[Xinhai Revolution|1911 Revolution]] and [[May Fourth Movement]] of 1919, supporting [[Chinese nationalism]] and [[anti-imperialism]]. He later adopted Marxism–Leninism while working as a librarian at [[Peking University]], and in 1921 was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. After the start of the [[Chinese Civil War]] between the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) and CCP in 1927, Mao led the failed [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]] and founded the [[Jiangxi Soviet]]. He helped establish the [[Chinese Red Army]] and developed a strategy of [[Guerrilla warfare|guerilla warfare]]. In 1935, Mao became the leader of the CCP during the [[Long March]]. Although the CCP allied with the KMT under the [[Second United Front]] during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], China's civil war resumed after [[Japan's surrender]] in 1945; Mao's forces defeated the [[Nationalist government]], which withdrew to [[Taiwan]] in 1949.
'''Mao Zedong''', also [[Wade–Giles|transcribed]] as '''Mao Tse-tung''' {{Audio|Zh-Mao_Zedong.ogg|listen}}, and commonly referred to as '''Chairman Mao''' (December 26, 1893{{spaced ndash}}September 9, 1976), was a [[Han Chinese|Chinese]] [[Communism|Communist]] revolutionary and the [[founding father]] of the [[People's Republic of China]], which he governed as [[Chairman of the Communist Party of China|Chairman]] of the [[Communist Party of China]] from its establishment in 1949 until his death. His [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] theories, military strategies and political policies are collectively known as [[Maoism]] or Mao Zedong Thought.


On 1 October 1949, Mao [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|proclaimed the foundation of the PRC]], a [[one-party state]] controlled by the CCP. He initiated campaigns of [[Land Reform Movement|land redistribution]] and [[Industry of China|industrialisation]], [[Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries|suppressed counter-revolutionaries]], intervened in the [[Korean War]], and began the [[Hundred Flowers Campaign|Hundred Flowers]] and [[Anti-Rightist Campaign]]s. In 1958, Mao launched the [[Great Leap Forward]], which aimed to transform China's economy from [[Agrarian society|agrarian]] to [[Industrial society|industrial]]; it resulted in [[Great Chinese Famine]]. In 1966, Mao initiated the [[Cultural Revolution]], a campaign to remove "counter-revolutionary" elements, marked by violent [[class struggle]], destruction of historical artifacts, and [[Mao's cult of personality]]. From the late 1950s, Mao's foreign policy was dominated by [[Sino-Soviet split|a political split with the Soviet Union]], and during the 1970s he began establishing [[China–United States relations|relations with the United States]]; China was also involved in the [[Vietnam War]] and [[Cambodian Civil War]]. In 1976, Mao died after suffering a series of [[heart attack]]s. He was succeeded as leader by [[Hua Guofeng]] and in 1978 by [[Deng Xiaoping]]. The CCP's [[Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China|official evaluation of Mao's legacy]] both praises him and acknowledges he made errors in his later years.
Born the son of a wealthy farmer in [[Shaoshan]], [[Hunan]], Mao adopted a [[Chinese nationalism|Chinese nationalist]] and [[anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] outlook in early life, particularly influenced by the events of the [[Xinhai Revolution]] of 1911 and [[May Fourth Movement]] of 1919. Mao converted to [[Marxism-Leninism]] while working at [[Peking University]] and became a founding member of the [[Communist Party of China]] (CPC), leading the [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]] in 1927. During the [[Chinese Civil War]] between the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) and the CPC, Mao helped to found the [[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People's Liberation Army to the Korean War|Red Army]], led the [[Jiangxi Soviet]]'s radical land policies and ultimately became head of the CPC during the [[Long March]]. Although the CPC temporarily allied with the KMT under the [[Second United Front|United Front]] during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (1937–45), after [[Victory over Japan Day|Japan's defeat]] China's civil war resumed and in 1949 Mao's forces defeated the [[Nationalist Government (China)|Nationalists]] who withdrew to [[Taiwan]].


<!-- Legacy -->Mao is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. His policies were responsible for a vast number of deaths, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims of starvation, persecution, [[Laogai|prison labour]], and mass executions, and his regime has been described as [[totalitarian]]. He has been also credited with transforming China from a [[semi-colony]] to a leading world power by advancing literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy. Under Mao, China's population grew from about 550 million to more than 900 million. Within China, he is revered as a national hero who liberated the country from foreign occupation and exploitation. He became an ideological figurehead and a prominent influence within the international communist movement, inspiring various Maoist organisations.
On October 1, 1949 Mao proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), a one-party socialist state controlled by the CPC. In the following years Mao solidified his control through [[land reform]]s and through a [[psychological]] victory in the [[Korean War]], and through campaigns against landlords, people he termed "[[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]]", and other perceived enemies of the state. In 1957 he launched a campaign known as the [[Great Leap Forward]] that aimed to rapidly transform China's economy from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. This campaign, along with natural disasters that occurred at the time, led to the [[Great Chinese Famine]]. In 1966, he initiated the [[Cultural Revolution|Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution]], a program to weed out supposed counter-revolutionary elements in Chinese society that lasted 10 years and was marked by violent class struggle, widespread destruction of cultural artefacts and unprecedented elevation of Mao's [[personality cult]] and which is officially regarded as a "severe setback" for the PRC.<ref>"Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China," (Adopted by the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on June 27, 1981 ''Resolution on CPC History (1949-81).'' (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1981). p. 32.</ref> In 1972, he [[1972 Nixon visit to China|welcomed American president Richard Nixon]] in Beijing, signalling a policy of opening China.


== English romanisation of name ==
A controversial figure, Mao is regarded as one of the most important individuals in modern world history.<ref>{{cite web|work=The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/samplep02|title=Mao Zedong|accessdate=August 23, 2008}}</ref> Mao is officially held in high regard in the People's Republic of China. Supporters regard him as a great leader and credit him with numerous accomplishments including modernising China and building it into a world power, promoting the status of women, improving education and health care, providing universal housing, and increasing life expectancy as China's population grew from around 550 to over 900 million during the period of his leadership.<ref name = "MoboGao" /><ref name="China 2010, pp. 327">''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', by Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 0-521-12433-6, pp. 327</ref><ref name="China 2010, pp. 327"/><ref>''Atlas of World History'', by Patrick Karl O'Brien, Oxford University Press US, 2002, ISBN 0-19-521921-X, pp 254, [http://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA254&dq=China's+population+almost+doubled+during+the+period+of+Mao's+leadership&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Clu5UMG6H4j28wTk2oDQDQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=China's%20population%20almost%20doubled%20during%20the%20period%20of%20Mao's%20leadership&f=false link]</ref> Maoists furthermore promote his role as theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary.<ref>{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=630}} "''Mao had an extraordinary mix of talents: he was visionary, statesman, political and military strategist of cunning intellect, a philosopher and poet.''"</ref> In contrast, critics and historians have characterised him as a [[dictator]] who oversaw systematic [[human rights abuse]]s, and whose rule is estimated to have contributed to the deaths of 40–70 million people through starvation, [[Laogai|forced labour]] and executions, ranking his tenure as the top incidence of [[democide]] in human history.<ref name="deathtoll">{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=631}}</ref><ref>[[R. J. Rummel|Rummel, R. J.]] ''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE2.HTM China's Bloody Century: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900]'' [[Transaction Publishers]], 1991. ISBN 0-88738-417-X p. 205: In light of recent evidence, Rummel has increased Mao's [[democide]] toll to [http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/getting-my-reestimate-of-maos-democide-out/ 77 million]; [[Daniel Jonah Goldhagen]]. ''Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity.'' [[PublicAffairs]], 2009. ISBN 1-58648-769-8 p. 53: "...&nbsp;the Chinese communists' murdering of a mind-boggling number of people, perhaps between 50 million and 70 million Chinese, and an additional 1.2 million Tibetans."</ref><ref name="Fenby"/>
During Mao's lifetime, the English-language media universally rendered his name as Mao Tse-tung, using the [[Wade–Giles]] system of transliteration though with the circumflex accent in the syllable ''Tsê'' dropped. Due to its recognizability, the spelling was used widely, even by the PRC's [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China|foreign ministry]] after [[Hanyu Pinyin]] became the PRC's official romanisation system for [[Mandarin Chinese]] in 1958; the well-known booklet of Mao's political statements was officially entitled ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'' in English translations. While the pinyin-derived spelling ''Mao Zedong'' is increasingly common, the Wade–Giles-derived spelling ''Mao Tse-tung'' continues to be used in modern publications to some extent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Explainer: Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung? We Have the Answer |last=Pottinger |first=Jesse |work=That's Online |date=26 August 2019 |access-date=24 April 2020 |url=https://www.thatsmags.com/china/post/29208/mao-zedong-or-mao-tse-tung-we-have-the-answer_1}}</ref>


==Early life==
== Early life ==
{{Main|Early life of Mao Zedong}}
{{Main|Early life of Mao Zedong}}


===Youth and the Xinhai Revolution: 1893–1911===
=== Youth and the Xinhai Revolution: 1893–1911 ===
[[File:Mao Zedong ca1910.jpg|left|thumb|Mao Zedong {{circa|1910s}}]]
Mao was born on December 26, 1893 in Shaoshan village, [[Shaoshan]], [[Hunan]].{{sfn|1a1=Schram|1y=1966|1p=19|2a1=Hollingworth|2y=1985|2p=15|3a1=Pantsov|3a2=Levine|3y=2012|3p=11}} His father, [[Mao Yichang]], was an impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. Zedong described his father as a stern disciplinarian, who would beat him and his three siblings, the boys [[Mao Zemin|Zemin]] and [[Mao Zetan|Zetan]], and an adopted girl, Zejian.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=19–20}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=4–5, 15}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=13–14}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=13–17}}.</ref> Yichang's wife, [[Wen Qimei]], was a devout [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] who tried to temper her husband's strict attitude.<ref name="Schram1966 p20 Terrill 1980 11">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=14, 17}}.</ref> Zedong too became a Buddhist, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years.<ref name="Schram1966 p20 Terrill 1980 11"/> Aged 8, Mao was sent to Shaoshan Primary School. Learning the value systems of [[Confucianism]], he later admitted that he didn't enjoy the [[Chinese classics|classical Chinese texts]] preaching Confucian morals, instead favouring popular novels like ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''[[Water Margin]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=20–21}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=8}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=15, 20}}</ref> Aged 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father [[Arranged marriage|had him married]] to the 17-year-old [[Luo Yigu]], uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognise her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=12}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=23}}, {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=25–28}}</ref>
Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893, near [[Shaoshan]] village in [[Hunan]].{{sfnm|1a1=Schram|1y=1966|1p=19|2a1=Hollingworth|2y=1985|2p=15|3a1=Pantsov|3a2=Levine|3y=2012|3p=11}} His father, [[Mao Yichang]], was a formerly impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. Growing up in rural Hunan, Mao described his father as a stern disciplinarian, who would beat him and his three siblings, the boys [[Mao Zemin|Zemin]] and [[Mao Zetan|Zetan]], as well as an adopted sister/cousin, [[Mao Zejian|Zejian]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=19–20}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=4–5, 15}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=13–14}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=13–}}.</ref> Mao's mother, [[Wen Qimei]], was a devout [[Buddhist]] who tried to temper her husband's strict attitude.<ref name="Schram1966 p20 Terrill 1980 11">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=14, 17}}.</ref> Mao too became a Buddhist, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years.<ref name="Schram1966 p20 Terrill 1980 11" /> At age 8, Mao was sent to Shaoshan Primary School. Learning the value systems of [[Confucianism]], he later admitted that he did not enjoy the [[Chinese classics|classical Chinese texts]] preaching Confucian morals, instead favouring [[Classic Chinese Novels|classic novels]] like ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''[[Water Margin]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=20–21}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=8}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=15, 20}}</ref> At age 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father united him in an [[arranged marriage]] to the 17-year-old [[Luo Yixiu]], thereby uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognise her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910 at 20 years old.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=12}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=23}}, {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=25–28}}</ref>


[[File:Shaoshan 01.JPG|thumb|left|[[Mao Zedong's Former Residence|Mao's childhood home]] in Shaoshan, in 2010, by which time it had become a tourist destination.]]
[[File:Shaoshan 01.JPG|thumb|left|[[Former Residence of Mao Zedong|Mao Zedong's childhood home]] in Shaoshan, in 2010, by which time it had become a tourist destination]]


Working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously,<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=10–11}}</ref> developing a "political consciousness" from [[Zheng Guanying]]'s booklet which lamented the deterioration of Chinese power and argued for the adoption of [[representative democracy]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=23}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=12–13}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=21}}</ref> Interested in history, Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of [[George Washington]] and [[Napoleon Bonaparte]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=20–21}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=29}}</ref> His political views were shaped by [[Gelaohui]]-led protests which erupted following a famine in Hunanese capital [[Changsha]]; Mao supported the protester's demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=13}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=17–18}}</ref> The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain; disapproving of their actions as morally wrong, Mao nevertheless claimed sympathy for their situation.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=14}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=18}}</ref> Aged 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan,<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=18}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=28}}</ref> where he was bullied for his peasant background.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=19}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=28–30}}</ref>
Working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=15}} {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=10–11}}</ref> and developed a "political consciousness" from [[Zheng Guanying]]'s booklet which lamented the deterioration of Chinese power and argued for the adoption of [[representative democracy]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=23}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=12–13}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=21}}</ref> Mao also read translations of works by Western authors including [[Adam Smith]], [[Montesquieu]], [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], [[Charles Darwin]], and [[Thomas Huxley]].<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last1=Marquis |first1=Christopher |url= |title=Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise |last2=Qiao |first2=Kunyuan |date=2022 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-26883-6 |location=New Haven |oclc=1348572572 |author-link=Christopher Marquis}}</ref>{{Rp|page=34}} Interested in history, Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of [[George Washington]] and [[Napoleon Bonaparte]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=25}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=20–21}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=29}}</ref> His political views were shaped by [[Gelaohui]]-led protests which erupted following a famine in [[Changsha]], the capital of Hunan; Mao supported the protesters' demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=13}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=17–18}}</ref> The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain. He disapproved of their actions as morally wrong, but claimed sympathy for their situation.<ref>{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=14}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=18}}</ref> At age 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan,<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=15}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=18}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=28}}</ref> where he was bullied for his peasant background.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=19}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=28–30}}</ref>


In 1911, Mao began middle school in Changsha.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=22–23}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=30}}</ref> Revolutionary sentiment was strong in the city, with widespread animosity towards Emperor [[Puyi]]'s [[absolute monarchy]] and many advocating [[republicanism]]. The republicans' figurehead was [[Sun Yat-sen]], an American-educated Christian who led the [[Tongmenghui]] society.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=18–19}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=32–34}}</ref> In Changsha, Mao was influenced by Sun's newspaper, ''The People's Independence'' (''Minli bao''),<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=27}};{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=33}}</ref> and called for Sun to become president in a school essay.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=26–27}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=22–24}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=33}}</ref> As a symbol of rebellion against the [[Manchu]] monarch, Mao and a friend cut off their [[Queue (hairstyle)|queue]] pigtails, a sign of subservience to the emperor.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=23}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=33}}</ref>
In 1911, Mao began middle school in [[Changsha]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=22–23}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=30}}</ref> Revolutionary sentiment was strong in the city, where there was widespread animosity towards Emperor [[Puyi]]'s [[absolute monarchy]] and many were advocating [[republicanism]]. The republicans' figurehead was [[Sun Yat-sen]], an American-educated Christian who led the [[Tongmenghui]] society.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=32–34}}</ref> In Changsha, Mao was influenced by Sun's newspaper, ''The People's Independence'' (''Minli bao''),<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=27}};{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=22}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=33}}</ref> and called for Sun to become president in a school essay.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=26–27}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=22–24}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=33}}</ref> As a symbol of rebellion against the [[Manchu]] monarch, Mao and a friend cut off their [[Queue (hairstyle)|queue]] pigtails, a sign of subservience to the emperor.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=23}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=33}}</ref>


Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the [[Xinhai Revolution]]. Changsha's governor fled, leaving the city in republican control.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=30–32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=32–35}}</ref> Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a [[private soldier]], but was not involved in fighting. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general [[Yuan Shikai]]. The monarchy would be abolished, creating the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], but the monarchist Yuan would become president. The revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months of being a soldier.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=34}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=34–35}}</ref> Around this time, Mao discovered [[socialism]] from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by [[Jiang Kanghu]], the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=34–35}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=23–24}}</ref>
Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the [[Xinhai Revolution]]. Changsha's governor fled, leaving the city in republican control.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=30–32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=32–35}}</ref> Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a [[private soldier]], but was not involved in fighting or combat. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general [[Yuan Shikai]]. The monarchy was abolished, creating the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], but the monarchist Yuan became president. With the revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months as a soldier.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=34}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=34–35}}</ref> Around this time, Mao discovered [[socialism]] from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by [[Jiang Kanghu]], the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=34–35}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=23–24}}</ref>


===Fourth Normal School of Changsha: 1912–19===
=== Fourth Normal School of Changsha: 1912–1919 ===
Mao enrolled and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school, an economics school, and the government-run Changsha Middle School.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=35–36}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=22, 25}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=35}}.</ref> Studying independently, he spent much time in Changsha's library, reading core works of [[classical liberalism]] such as [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'' and [[Montesquieu]]'s ''[[The Spirit of the Laws]]'', as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]], [[John Stuart Mill|Mill]], [[Rousseau]], and [[Herbert Spencer|Spencer]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=36}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=35–36}}.</ref> Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=36–37}}.</ref> Inspired by [[Friedrich Paulsen]], the liberal emphasis on individualism led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for the greater good; that the [[Consequentialism|end justifies the means]].<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=40–41}}.</ref> Seeing no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, Mao's father cut off his allowance, forcing him to move into a hostel for the destitute.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=36}}.</ref>
Over the next few years, Mao Zedong enrolled in and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school, an economics school, and the government-run [[Changsha Middle School]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=35–36}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=22, 25}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=35}}.</ref> Studying independently, he spent much time in Changsha's library, reading core works of [[classical liberalism]] such as [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[The Wealth of Nations]]'' and [[Montesquieu]]'s ''[[The Spirit of the Laws]]'', as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]], [[John Stuart Mill|Mill]], [[Rousseau]], and [[Herbert Spencer|Spencer]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=36}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=35–36}}.</ref> Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=36–37}} He was inspired by [[Friedrich Paulsen]], a [[Neo-Kantianism|neo-Kantian]] philosopher and educator whose emphasis on the achievement of a carefully defined goal as the highest value led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for a great goal.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=40–41}} His father saw no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, cut off his allowance and forced him to move into a hostel for the destitute.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=36}}


[[File:Mao Zedong 1913.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Mao in 1913.]]
[[File:Mao Zedong 1913.jpg|thumb|upright|Mao in 1913]]


Desiring to become a teacher, Mao enrolled at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which soon merged with the First Normal School of Changsha, widely seen as the best school in Hunan.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=36–37}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=27}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=37}}.</ref> Befriending Mao, professor [[Yang Changji]] urged him to read a radical newspaper, ''[[La Jeunesse|New Youth]]'' (''Xin qingnian''), the creation of his friend [[Chen Duxiu]], a dean at [[Peking University]]. Although a [[Chinese nationalism|Chinese nationalist]], Chen argued that China must look to the west to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=38–39}}</ref> Mao published his first article in ''New Youth'' in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=41}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=42}}.</ref> He joined the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi (''Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she''), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate the philosopher [[Wang Fuzhi]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=40–41}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=30–31}}.</ref>
Mao wanted to become a teacher and enrolled at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which soon merged with the [[First Normal School of Hunan]], widely seen as the best in Hunan.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=36–37}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=27}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=37}}.</ref> Befriending Mao, professor [[Yang Changji]] urged him to read a radical newspaper, ''[[New Youth]]'' (''Xin qingnian''), the creation of his friend [[Chen Duxiu]], a dean at [[Peking University]]. Although he was a supporter of [[Chinese nationalism]], Chen argued that China must look to the west to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=38–39}} In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, [[Xiao Zisheng]]; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=43}}; see also {{cite book |first=Hsiao |last=Yu |author-link=Xiao Zisheng |title=Mao Tse-Tung and I Were Beggars |location=Syracuse, N.Y. |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |date=1959}}</ref>


In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Yu; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=43}}; see also Hsiao Yu (Xiao Yu). ''Mao Tse-Tung and I Were Beggars.'' ([Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1959).</ref> A popular student, in 1915 Mao was elected secretary of the Students Society. Forging an Association for Student Self-Government, he led protests against school rules.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=42–43}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=48}}.</ref> In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=43}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=49–50}}.</ref> Increasingly interested in the techniques of war, he took a keen interest in [[World War I]], and also began to develop a sense of solidarity with workers.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=49–50}}.</ref> Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Yu and [[Cai Hesen]], and with other young revolutionaries they formed the Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 70–80 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=44}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=33}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=50–52}}.</ref> Mao graduated in June 1919, being ranked third in the year.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=45}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=34}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=52}}.</ref>
A popular student, in 1915 Mao was elected secretary of the Students' Society. He organised the Association for Student Self-Government and led protests against school rules.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=42–43}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=48}}.</ref> Mao published his first article in ''New Youth'' in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=41}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=42}}.</ref> He joined the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi (''Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she''), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate the philosopher [[Wang Fuzhi]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=40–41}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|pp=30–31}}.</ref> In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=43}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=32}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=49–50}}.</ref> Increasingly interested in the techniques of war, he took a keen interest in [[World War I]], and also began to develop a sense of solidarity with workers.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=49–50}} Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Zisheng and [[Cai Hesen]], and with other young revolutionaries they formed the Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 70–80 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=44}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=33}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=50–52}}.</ref> Mao graduated in June 1919, ranked third in the year.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=45}}; {{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=34}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=52}}.</ref>


==Early Revolutionary Activity==
== Early revolutionary activity ==
=== Beijing, anarchism, and Marxism: 1917–1919 ===
{{Main|Early revolutionary activity of Mao Zedong}}
[[File:Mao Zedong in 1924.jpg|left|thumb|Mao Zedong in 1924]]
Mao moved to Beijing, where his mentor Yang Changji had taken a job at Peking University.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=47, 56–57}}.</ref> Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome",<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=18}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=39}}.</ref> securing him a job as assistant to the university librarian [[Li Dazhao]], who would become an early Chinese Communist.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=59}}.</ref> Li authored a series of ''New Youth'' articles on the [[October Revolution]] in Russia, during which the Communist [[Bolshevik Party]] under the leadership of [[Vladimir Lenin]] had seized power. Lenin was an advocate of the socio-political theory of [[Marxism]], first developed by the German sociologists [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], and Li's articles added Marxism to the doctrines in the Chinese revolutionary movement.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=47}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=59–62}}.</ref>


Becoming "more and more radical", Mao was initially influenced by [[Peter Kropotkin]]'s [[anarchism]], which was the most prominent radical doctrine of the day. [[Anarchism in China|Chinese anarchists]], such as [[Cai Yuanpei]], Chancellor of Peking University, called for complete [[social revolution]] in social relations, family structure, and [[Gender inequality in China|women's equality]], rather than the simple change in the form of government called for by earlier revolutionaries. He joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=48–49}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=62–64}}.</ref> Paid a low wage, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven other Hunanese students, but believed that Beijing's beauty offered "vivid and living compensation".<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=57–58}}.</ref> A number of his friends took advantage of the anarchist-organised ''[[Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement|Mouvement Travail-Études]]'' to study in France, but Mao declined, perhaps because of an inability to learn languages.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=51}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=53–55, 65}}.</ref> Mao raised funds for the movement, however.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=35}}
===Beijing, Anarchism, and Marxism: 1917–19===
{{double image|right|Marx6.jpg|130|Vladimir Lenin 140-190 for collage.jpg|140|Following the success of the [[October Revolution]] in the Russian Empire, in which Marxists took power, Mao came under the theoretical influence of [[Karl Marx]] (left) and [[Vladimir Lenin]] (right).}}
Mao moved to [[Beijing]], where his mentor Yang Changji had taken a job at Peking University.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=47, 56–57}}.</ref> Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome",<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=18}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=39}}.</ref> securing him a job as assistant to the university librarian [[Li Dazhao]], an early Chinese Communist.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=59}}.</ref> Li authored a series of ''New Youth'' articles on the [[October Revolution]] in Russia, during which the Communist [[Bolshevik Party]] under the leadership of [[Vladimir Lenin]] had seized power. Lenin was an advocate of the socio-political theory of [[Marxism]], first developed by the German sociologists [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], and Li's articles brought an understanding of Marxism to the Chinese revolutionary movement.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=47}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=59–62}}.</ref> Becoming "more and more radical", Mao was influenced by [[Peter Kropotkin]]'s [[anarchism]] but joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=48–49}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=62–64}}.</ref>


Paid a low wage, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven other Hunanese students, but believed that Beijing's beauty offered "vivid and living compensation".<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=57–58}}.</ref> At the university, Mao was widely snubbed due to his rural accent and lowly position. By joining the university's Philosophy and Journalism Societies, he attended lectures and seminars by the likes of [[Chen Duxiu]], [[Hu Shi]], and [[Qian Xuantong]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=62, 66}}.</ref> Mao's time in Beijing ended in the spring of 1919, when he travelled to [[Shanghai]] with friends departing for France,<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=50–52}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=66}}.</ref> before returning to Shaoshan, where his mother was terminally ill; she died in October 1919, with her husband dying in January 1920.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=66–67}}.</ref>
At the university, Mao was snubbed by other students due to his rural Hunanese accent and lowly position. He joined the university's Philosophy and Journalism Societies and attended lectures and seminars by the likes of [[Chen Duxiu]], [[Hu Shih]], and [[Qian Xuantong]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=48}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=62, 66}}.</ref> Mao's time in Beijing ended in the spring of 1919, when he travelled to Shanghai with friends who were preparing to leave for France.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=50–52}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=66}}.</ref> He did not return to Shaoshan, where his mother was terminally ill. She died in October 1919 and her husband died in January 1920.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=66–67}}


=== New Culture and political protests: 1919–1920 ===
===Student rebellions: 1919–20===
[[File:Mao Zedong in 1919 (02).jpg|thumb|Mao Zedong in 1919]]
China had fallen victim to the expansionist policies of the [[Empire of Japan]], who had conquered large areas of Chinese-controlled territory with the support of France, the UK and the US at the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. Under the control of the warlord [[Duan Qirui]], the Chinese [[Beiyang Government]] had accepted Japanese dominance, agreeing to their [[Twenty-One Demands]] despite popular opposition.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=51–52}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=68–69}}.</ref> In May 1919, the [[May Fourth Movement]] erupted in Beijing, with Chinese patriots rallying against the Japanese and Duan's government. Duan's troops were sent in to crush the protests, but unrest spread throughout China.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=52}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=21–22}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=69–70}}.</ref> In Changsha, Mao had gained employment teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=68}}.</ref>
On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing gathered at [[Tiananmen]] to protest the Chinese government's weak resistance to Japanese expansion in China. Patriots were outraged at the influence given to Japan in the [[Twenty-One Demands]] in 1915, the complicity of [[Duan Qirui]]'s [[Beiyang government]], and the betrayal of China in the [[Treaty of Versailles]], wherein Japan was allowed to [[Shandong Problem|receive territories in Shandong]] which had been surrendered by [[German Empire|Germany]]. These demonstrations ignited the nationwide [[May Fourth Movement]] and fuelled the [[New Culture Movement]] which blamed China's diplomatic defeats on social and cultural backwardness.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=51–52}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=21–22}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=69–70}}.</ref>
He began organizing protests against the pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, [[Zhang Jingyao]], popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=76}}.</ref> In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with [[He Shuheng]] and [[Deng Zhongxia]], organizing a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, ''Xiang River Review'' (''Xiangjiang pinglun''). Using vernacular language that would be understandable to the majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution; his ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of [[Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution|mutual aid]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=53–54}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=71–76}}.</ref>


In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=68}} and organising protests against the pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, [[Zhang Jingyao]], popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=76}} In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with [[He Shuheng]] and [[Deng Zhongxia]], organising a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, ''[[The Shian Kian Weekly Review|Xiang River Review]]''. Using vernacular language that would be understandable to the majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", and strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution.{{clarify|date=May 2016}} His ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of [[Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution|mutual aid]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=53–54}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=71–76}}.</ref>
[[File:Beijing students protesting the Treaty of Versailles (May 4, 1919).jpg|thumb|left|200px|Students in Beijing rallied during the May Fourth Movement.]]
Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of liberal magazine ''New Hunan'' (''Xin Hunan'') and offering articles in popular local newspaper ''Justice'' (''Ta Kung Po''). Several of these articles advocated [[feminism|feminist]] views, calling for the liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=55}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=76–77}}.</ref> In December 1919, Mao helped organise a general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=55–56}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=79}}.</ref> Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=80}}.</ref> Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, [[Karl Kautsky]], and Marx and Engels—notably ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]''—he came under their increasing influence, but was still eclectic in his views.<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=81–83}}.</ref>


[[File:Beijing students protesting the Treaty of Versailles (May 4, 1919).jpg|thumb|Students in Beijing rallying during the May Fourth Movement]]
Mao visited [[Tianjin]], [[Jinan]], and [[Qufu]],<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=84}}.</ref> before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met [[Chen Duxiu]], noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, Yi Peiji, a revolutionary and member of the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General [[Tan Yankai]], a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with [[Guangdong]]. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organizing the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, while Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganization of the provincial administration, Mao was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui in the winter of 1920.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=56–57}}.</ref>
Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of the liberal magazine ''New Hunan'' (''Xin Hunan'') and authored articles in popular local newspaper ''[[Ta Kung Pao]]''. Several of these advocated [[Feminism in China|feminist]] views, calling for the liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=55}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=76–77}}.</ref> In fall 1919, Mao organized a seminar in Changsha studying economic and political issues, as well as ways to unite the people, the feasibility of socialism, and issues regarding Confucianism.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Huang |first=Yibing |url= |title=An ideological history of the Communist Party of China |date=2020 |others=Qian Zheng, Guoyou Wu, Xuemei Ding, Li Sun, Shelly Bryant |isbn=978-1-4878-0425-1 |edition= |volume=1 |publisher=Royal Collins Publishing Group |location=Montreal, Quebec |pages=16 |oclc=1165409653}}</ref> During this period, Mao involved himself in political work with manual laborers, setting up night schools and trade unions.<ref name=":9" /> In December 1919, Mao helped organise a general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=55–56}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=79}}.</ref> Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=80}} Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, [[Karl Kautsky]], and Marx and Engels—notably ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]''—he came under their increasing influence, but was still eclectic in his views.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=81–83}}


Mao visited Tianjin, [[Jinan]], and [[Qufu]],{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=84}} before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met [[Chen Duxiu]], noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, [[Yi Peiji]], a revolutionary and member of the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General [[Tan Yankai]], a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organising the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganisation of the provincial administration, Mao was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui, daughter of Yang Changji, in the winter of 1920.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=56–57}}<ref name="Mair_2013_p211">{{cite book |last1=Mair |first1=Victor H. |last2=Sanping |first2=Sanping |last3=Wood |first3=Frances |title=Chinese Lives: The people who made a civilization |date=2013 |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=978-0500251928 |page=211}}</ref>
===Founding the Communist Party of China: 1921–22===
[[File:Location of the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Xintiandi Shanghai July 1921.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Location of the first Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, in [[Xintiandi]], former [[French Concession]], Shanghai.]]
The [[Communist Party of China]] was founded by Chen Duxiu and [[Li Dazhao]] in the [[French concession]] of Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and informal network. Mao set up a Changsha branch, also establishing a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps. Opening a bookstore under the control of his new Cultural Book Society, its purpose was to propagate revolutionary literature throughout Hunan.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=63}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=23, 28}}</ref> Helping to organise workers' strikes in the winter of 1920–21,<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=64}}</ref> he was involved in the movement for Hunan autonomy, hoping that a Hunanese constitution would increase [[civil liberty|civil liberties]] in the province, making his revolutionary activity easier; although the movement was successful, in later life, he denied any involvement.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=63–64}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=23–24, 28, 30}}</ref> By 1921, small Marxist groups existed in Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Canton and Jinan, and it was decided to hold a central meeting, which began in Shanghai on July 23, 1921. The first session of the [[National Congress of the Communist Party of China]] was attended by 13 delegates, Mao included, and met in a girls' school that was closed for the summer. After the authorities sent a police spy to the congress, the delegates moved to a boat on South Lake near Chiahsing to escape detection. Although Soviet and [[Comintern]] delegates attended, the first congress ignored Lenin's advice to accept a temporary alliance between the Communists and the "bourgeois democrats" who also advocated national revolution; instead they stuck to the orthodox Marxist belief that only the urban proletariat could lead a socialist revolution.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=64–66}}.</ref>


=== Founding the Chinese Communist Party: 1921–1922 ===
Now party secretary for Hunan, Mao was stationed in Changsha, from which he went on a Communist recruitment drive.<ref name="Schram1966 p68">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=68}}</ref> In August 1921, he founded the Self-Study University, through which readers could gain access to revolutionary literature, housed in the premises of the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi.<ref name="Schram1966 p68"/> Taking part in the [[Y.C. James Yen#Biography|YMCA]] mass education movement to fight illiteracy, he opened a Changsha branch, though replaced the usual textbooks with revolutionary tracts in order to spread Marxism among the students.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=68–69}}</ref> He continued organizing the labour movement to strike against the administration of Hunan Governor [[Zhao Hengti]], particularly following the execution of two anarchists.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=69}}.</ref> In July 1922, the Second Congress of the Communist Party took place in Shanghai, though Mao lost the address and couldn't attend. Adopting Lenin's advice, the delegates agreed to an alliance with the "bourgeois democrats" of the KMT for the good of the "national revolution". Communist Party members joined the KMT, hoping to push its politics leftward.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=69–70}}}.</ref>
[[File:Location of the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party Xintiandi Shanghai July 1921.jpg|thumb|upright|Location of the first Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, in [[Xintiandi]], former [[French Concession]], Shanghai]]
Mao enthusiastically agreed with this decision, arguing for an alliance across China's socio-economic classes; a vocal anti-imperialist, in his writings he lambasted the governments of Japan, UK and US, describing the latter as "the most murderous of hangmen".<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=73–74}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=33}}</ref> Mao's strategy for the successful and famous [[Anyuan Coal Mine Strike|Anyuan coal mines strikes]] (contrary to later Party historians) depended on both "proletarian" and "bourgeois" strategies. The success depended on innovative organizing by Liu Shaoqi and Li Lisan who not only mobilised the miners, but formed schools and cooperatives. They also engaged local intellectuals, gentry, military officers, merchants, Red Gang dragon heads and church clergy in support.<ref>Elizabeth J. Perry,[http://www.japanfocus.org/-Elizabeth-Perry/3882 "Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition]," ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'' 11.1 (January 14, 2013), reprinting Ch 2 of Elizabeth J. Perry. ''Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition.'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-520-27189-0.</ref>


The Chinese Communist Party was founded by [[Chen Duxiu]] and [[Li Dazhao]] in the [[Shanghai French Concession]] in 1921 as a study society and informal network. Mao set up a Changsha branch, also establishing a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps and a Cultural Book Society which opened a bookstore to propagate revolutionary literature throughout Hunan.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=63}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=23, 28}}</ref> He was involved in the movement for Hunan autonomy, in the hope that a Hunanese constitution would increase [[civil liberty|civil liberties]] and make his revolutionary activity easier. When the movement was successful in establishing provincial autonomy under a new warlord, Mao forgot his involvement.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=63–64}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=23–24, 28, 30}}</ref>{{clarification needed|date=July 2023}} By 1921, small Marxist groups existed in Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Jinan; it was decided to hold a central meeting, which began in Shanghai on 23 July 1921. The [[1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|first session of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]] was attended by 13 delegates, Mao included. After the authorities sent a police spy to the congress, the delegates moved to a boat on South Lake near [[Jiaxing]], in Zhejiang, to escape detection. Although Soviet and [[Comintern]] delegates attended, the first congress ignored Lenin's advice to accept a temporary alliance between the Communists and the "bourgeois democrats" who also advocated national revolution; instead they stuck to the orthodox Marxist belief that only the urban proletariat could lead a socialist revolution.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=64–66}}
===Collaboration with the Kuomintang: 1922–27===
[[File:Mao1927.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Mao the revolutionary in 1927.]]
At the Third Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai in June 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to working with the KMT against the Beiyang government and imperialists. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai.
<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=74–76}}</ref> Attending the First KMT Congress, held in [[Guangzhou]] in early 1924, Mao was elected an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee, and put forward four resolutions to decentralise power to urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for the KMT earned him the suspicion of some Communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=76–82}}</ref> In late 1924, Mao returned to Shaoshan to recuperate from an illness. Discovering that the peasantry were increasingly restless due to the upheaval of the past decade, some had seized land from wealthy landowners to found communes; this convinced him of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, an idea advocated by the KMT but not the Communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=78}}.</ref> As a result, he was appointed to run the KMT's [[Peasant Movement Training Institute at Guangzhou|Peasant Movement Training Institute]], also becoming Director of its Propaganda Department and editing its ''Political Weekly'' (''Zhengzhi zhoubao'') newsletter.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=85, 87}};</ref><ref name="Feigon 2002 36">{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=36}}</ref>
Through the Peasant Movement Training Institute, Mao took an active role in organizing the revolutionary Hunanese peasants and preparing them for militant activity, taking them through military training exercises and getting them to study various left-wing texts.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=82, 90–91}}</ref> In the winter of 1925, Mao fled to [[Guangzhou|Canton]] after his revolutionary activities attracted the attention of Zhao's regional authorities.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=83}}</ref>


Mao was party secretary for Hunan stationed in Changsha, and to build the party there he followed a variety of tactics.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=68}} In August 1921, he founded the Self-Study University, through which readers could gain access to revolutionary literature, housed in the premises of the Society for the Study of [[Wang Fuzhi]], a Qing dynasty Hunanese philosopher who had resisted the Manchus.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=68}} He joined the [[YMCA]] Mass Education Movement to fight illiteracy, though he edited the textbooks to include radical sentiments.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=68–69}} He continued organising workers to strike against the administration of Hunan Governor [[Zhao Hengti]].{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=69}} Yet labour issues remained central. The successful and famous {{Interlanguage link|Anyuan coal mines strikes|zh|安源路矿工人大罢工}} (contrary to later Party historians) depended on both "proletarian" and "bourgeois" strategies. [[Liu Shaoqi]] and [[Li Lisan]] and Mao not only mobilised the miners, but formed schools and cooperatives and engaged local intellectuals, gentry, military officers, merchants, Red Gang dragon heads and even church clergy.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Elizabeth J. |last=Perry |url=http://apjjf.org/2013/11/1/Elizabeth-Perry/3882/article.html |title=Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition |journal=[[The Asia-Pacific Journal]] |volume=11 |number=1 |date=14 January 2013 |quote=reprinting Ch 2 of Elizabeth J. Perry. ''Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. |isbn=978-0520271890}}</ref> Mao's labour organizing work in the Anyuan mines also involved his wife Yang Kaihui, who worked for women's rights, including literacy and educational issues, in the nearby peasant communities.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/503828045 |title=Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world : a concise history |date=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |location=Durham [NC] |pages=22–23 |oclc=503828045}}</ref> Although Mao and Yang were not the originators of this political organizing method of combining labor organizing among male workers with a focus on women's rights issues in their communities, they were among the most effective at using this method.<ref name=":8" /> Mao's political organizing success in the Anyuan mines resulted in Chen Duxiu inviting him to become a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/503828045 |title=Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world : a concise history |date=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |location=Durham [NC] |page=23 |oclc=503828045}}</ref>
The Communists controlled the left wing of the KMT, struggling for power with the party's right wing. When party leader Sun Yat-sen died in May 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, [[Chiang Kai-shek]], who initiated moves to marginalise the position of the Communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=84,89}}.</ref> Mao nevertheless supported Chiang's decision to overthrow the Beiyang government and their foreign imperialist allies using the [[National Revolutionary Army]], who embarked on the [[Northern Expedition]] in 1926.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=87, 92–93}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=39}}</ref> In the wake of this expedition, peasants rose up, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, whom were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasizing the growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=95}}</ref>
{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|bgcolor=#ACE1AF|quote="Revolution is not a dinner party, nor an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."|source=— Mao, February 1927.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1900_mao_war.htm |title= Mao Zedong on War and Revolution |publisher= Columbia University |work= Quotations from Mao Zedong on War and Revolution |accessdate= November 12, 2011 }}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=41}}</ref> }}


Mao claimed that he missed the July 1922 Second Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai because he lost the address. Adopting Lenin's advice, the delegates agreed to an alliance with the "bourgeois democrats" of the KMT for the good of the "national revolution". Communist Party members joined the KMT, hoping to push its politics leftward.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=69–70}}
In March 1927, Mao appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing [[Wang Jingwei]] leader. There, Mao played an active role in the discussions regarding the peasant issue, defending a set of "Regulations for the Repression of Local Bullies and Bad Gentry", which advocated the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of [[counter-revolution]]ary activity, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods cannot suffice".<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=98}}</ref><ref name="Feigon 2002 42">{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=42}}</ref> In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the KMT's five-member Central Land Committee, urging peasants to refuse to pay rent. Mao led another group to put together a "Draft Resolution on the Land Question", which called for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in the villages". Proceeding to carry out a "Land Survey", he stated that anyone owning over 30 ''mou'' (four and a half acres), constituting 13% of the population, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=99–100}}</ref> Presenting his conclusions at the Enlarged Land Committee meeting, many expressed reservations, some believing that it went too far, and others not far enough. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=100}}</ref>
Mao enthusiastically agreed with this decision, arguing for an alliance across China's socio-economic classes, and eventually rose to become propaganda chief of the KMT.<ref name="Mair_2013_p211"/> Mao was a vocal anti-imperialist and in his writings he lambasted the governments of Japan, the UK and US, describing the latter as "the most murderous of hangmen".<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=73–74}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=33}}</ref>


=== Collaboration with the Kuomintang: 1922–1927 ===
==Civil War==
[[File:Chairman Mao-1.webm|thumb|Mao giving a speech (no audio)]]
{{Main|Chinese Civil War|Chinese Revolution (1949)}}


At the Third Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai in June 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to working with the KMT. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=74–76}} At the First KMT Congress, held in [[Guangzhou]] in early 1924, Mao was elected an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee, and put forward four resolutions to decentralise power to urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for the KMT earned him the suspicion of Li Li-san, his Hunan comrade.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=76–82}}
===The Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings: 1927===
[[File:中國工農紅軍軍旗.svg|thumb|180px|Flag of the [[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People.27s Liberation Army to the Korean War|Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]]]]
Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. Although the Communists welcomed Chiang's arrival, he turned on them, massacring 5000 with the aid of the [[Green Gang]].<ref name="Feigon 2002 42"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=106}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=61–62}}</ref> Chiang's army then marched on Wuhan, but was prevented from taking the city by Communist General [[Ye Ting]] and his troops.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=112}}</ref> Chiang's allies also attacked Communists; in Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by [[Zhang Zuolin]], while in Changsha, He Jian's forces machine gunned hundreds of peasant militiamen.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=106–109, 112–113}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p62">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=62}}</ref> That May, tens of thousands of Communists and their sympathisers were killed by nationalists, with the CPC losing approximately {{formatnum:15000}} of its {{formatnum:25000}} members.<ref name="Carter1976 p62"/>


In late 1924, Mao returned to Shaoshan, perhaps to recuperate from an illness. He found that the peasantry were increasingly restless and some had seized land from wealthy landowners to found communes. This convinced him of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, an idea advocated by the KMT leftists but not the Communists.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=78}}.</ref> Mao and many of his colleagues also proposed the end of cooperation with the KMT, which was rejected by the [[Comintern]] representative [[Mikhail Borodin]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RHIAeZEYjIC |title=Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920–1927 |last1=Wilbur |first1=C. Martin |last2=How |first2=Julie Lien-ying |date=1989 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0674576520 |language=en}}</ref> In the winter of 1925, Mao fled to Guangzhou after his revolutionary activities attracted the attention of Zhao's regional authorities.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=83}} There, he ran the 6th term of the KMT's [[Peasant Movement Training Institute]] from May to September 1926.<ref>{{citation |page=465 |last=Mao |first=Zedong |author-mask=Mao Zedong |editor1-last=Schram |editor1-first=Stuart Reynolds |editor2-first=Nancy Jane |editor2-last=Hodes |display-editors=1 |ref={{harvid|Schram & al.|1992}} |series=''Mao's Road to Power'', Vol. II |title=National Revolution and Social Revolution, December 1920 – June 1927 |publisher=[[M. E. Sharpe]] |date=1992}}.</ref><ref>{{citation |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mpqApZWrJyIC&pg=PA66 66] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpqApZWrJyIC |title=Frontier Passages: Ethnopolitics and the Rise of Chinese Communism, 1921–1945 |last=Liu |first=Xiaoyuan |author-mask=Liu Xiaoyuan |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |location=Stanford |year=2004 |isbn=978-0804749602 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Peasant Movement Training Institute under Mao trained cadres and prepared them for militant activity, taking them through military training exercises and getting them to study basic left-wing texts.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=82, 90–91}}
{{Quote box|width=15em|align=left|bgcolor=#ACE1AF|quote="'Eagles cleave the air,<br>Fish glide in the limpid deep;<br>Under freezing skies a million<br>creatures contend in freedom.<br>Brooding over this immensity,<br>I ask, on this boundless land<br>Who rules over man's destiny?"|source=— Excerpt from Mao's<br> poem "Changsha", September 1927.<ref name="Carter1976 p64">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=64}}</ref> }}
The CPC continued supporting the Wuhan KMT government, a position Mao initially supported,<ref name="Carter1976 p62"/> but he had changed his mind by the time of the CPC's Fifth Congress, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia.<ref name="Carter1976 p63">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=63}}</ref> The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July.<ref name="Carter1976 p63"/> The CPC founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as the "[[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People's Liberation Army to the Korean War|Red Army]]", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General [[Zhu De]] was ordered to take the city of [[Nanchang]] on 1 August 1927 in what became known as the [[Nanchang Uprising]]; initially successful, they were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to [[Shantou]], and from there being driven into the wilderness of [[Fujian]].<ref name="Carter1976 p63"/> Appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army, Mao led four regiments against Changsha in the [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]], hoping to spark peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat, with 1000 survivors marching east to the [[Jinggang Mountains]] of [[Jiangxi]].<ref name="Carter1976 p64"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=122–125}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=46–47}}</ref>


[[File:Mao 1925.jpg|thumb|Mao in Guangzhou in 1925]]
In their biography of Mao, Mao: the unknown story, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday dispute this version of events.<ref>Jung Chang and Jon Halliday; Mao: The unknown story, 2005, Random House</ref> Chang and Halliday claim that the 'uprising' was in fact sabotaged by Mao to allow him to snare a force of Nationalist mutineers from Nanchang who were crossing over to the CPC, prevent them from defecting to any other CPC leader, and enhance his own personal power within the CPC. They claim that Mao's three-day delay in seeing the other leaders of the Hunan uprising, scheduled for 15 August but delayed by Mao until 18 August, was to allow Mao to check that the mutineers would still be passing close by and that if Mao had not had the opportunity of adding this force to his own forces within the CPC he would not have gone to south Hunan.<ref name="ChangHalliday">Chang, Halliday; Mao, Chapt.5</ref>


When party leader Sun Yat-sen died in May 1925, he was succeeded by [[Chiang Kai-shek]], who moved to marginalise the left-KMT and the Communists.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=84, 89}} Mao nevertheless supported Chiang's [[National Revolutionary Army]], who embarked on the [[Northern Expedition]] attack in 1926 on warlords.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=87, 92–93}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=39}}</ref> In the wake of this expedition, peasants rose up, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising the growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=95}}
Chang and Halliday also claim that Mao lobbied to 'narrow down' the uprising and talked the other leaders (including Russian diplomats at the Soviet consulate in Changsha who, Chang and Halliday claim, had been controlling much of the CPC activity) into striking only at Changsha. This, they say, was in order to allow Mao to also gain control of a force of 1,700 peasant rebels and defectors from the Nationalist army who were near Changsha. Chang and Halliday point out that once Mao had gained control of these men, he then moved to a position 100&nbsp;km east of Changsha at Wenjiashi and was there on 11 September, the uprising's launch date, far from his troops, and that on 14 September, before the troops had reached Changsha or met heavy resistance, Mao ordered them to abandon the assault on Changsha and converge on his position. Chang and Halliday report a view sent to Moscow by the secretary of the Soviet Consulate in Changsha that the retreat was 'the most despicable treachery and cowardice.'<ref name="ChangHalliday" />


[[File:KMT 3rd Plenary Session of 2nd Central Committee.jpg|thumb|left|Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in March 1927. Mao is third from the right in the second row.]]
Chang and Halliday allege that Mao later fabricated the version of events in order to hide the fact that far from leading a peasant uprising, he hijacked it for his own personal ends, sabotaged the organisation, and departed with the new troops before the attack on Changsha had begun.<ref name="ChangHalliday" />


In March 1927, Mao appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing [[Wang Jingwei]] leader. There, Mao played an active role in the discussions regarding the peasant issue, defending a set of "Regulations for the Repression of Local Bullies and Bad Gentry", which advocated the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of [[counter-revolution]]ary activity, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods cannot suffice".{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=98}}{{sfn|Feigon|2002|p=42}} In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the KMT's five-member Central Land Committee, urging peasants to refuse to pay rent. Mao led another group to put together a "Draft Resolution on the Land Question", which called for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in the villages". Proceeding to carry out a "Land Survey", he stated that anyone owning over 30 ''mou'' (four and a half acres), constituting 13% of the population, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=99–100}} Presenting his conclusions at the Enlarged Land Committee meeting, many expressed reservations, some believing that it went too far, and others not far enough. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=100}}
===Base in Jinggangshan: 1927–1928===
Hiding in Shanghai, the CPC Central Committee expelled Mao from their rank and from the Hunan Provincial Committee, punishment for his "military opportunism", for his focus on rural activity, and for being too lenient with "bad gentry". They nevertheless adopted three policies he had long championed: the immediate formation of [[Workers' council]]s, the confiscation of all land without exemption, and the rejection of the KMT. Mao's response was to ignore them.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=125}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=68}}</ref> Setting up base in [[Jinggangshan City]], an area of the Jinggang Mountains, Mao united five villages as a self-governing state, supporting the confiscation of land from rich landlords, who were "re-educated" and sometimes executed. He ensured that no massacres took place in the region, pursuing a more lenient approach than that advocated by the Central Committee.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=130}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=67–68}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=48}}</ref> Proclaiming that "Even the lame, the deaf and the blind could all come in useful for the revolutionary struggle", he boosted the army's numbers,<ref name="Carter1976 p69">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=69}}</ref> incorporating two groups of bandits into his army, building a force of around {{formatnum:1800}} troops.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=126–127}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=66–67}}</ref> He laid down rules for his soldiers: prompt obedience to orders, all confiscations were to be turned over to the government, and nothing was to be confiscated from poorer peasants. In doing so, he molded his men into a disciplined, efficient fighting force.<ref name="Carter1976 p69"/>


== Civil War ==
{{Quote box|width=20em|align=left|bgcolor=#ACE1AF|quote="When the enemy advances, we retreat.<br>When the enemy retreats, we advance.<br>When the enemy rests, we harass him.<br>When the enemy avoids a battle, we attack."|source= Mao's advice in combating the Kuomintang, 1928.<ref name="Carter1976 p70">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=70}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=159}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=47}}</ref> }}
{{Main|Chinese Civil War|Chinese Communist Revolution}}


=== Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings: 1927 ===
In spring 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao's troops to southern Hunan, hoping to spark peasant uprisings. Mao was skeptical, but complied. Reaching Hunan, they were attacked by the KMT and fled after heavy losses. Meanwhile, KMT troops had invaded Jinggangshan, leaving them without a base.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=131}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=68–69}}</ref> Wandering the countryside, Mao's forces came across a CPC regiment led by General [[Zhu De]] and [[Lin Biao]]; they united, attempting to retake Jinggangshan. Initially successful, the KMT counter-attacked, pushing the CPC back; over the next few weeks, they fought an entrenched guerrilla war in the mountains.<ref name="Carter1976 p70"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=128, 132}}</ref> Central Committee again ordered Mao to march to south Hunan, but he refused, remaining at his base. Contrastingly, Zhu complied, leading his armies away; the KMT attacked Mao's base, and although his troops fended them off for 25 days, Mao left the camp at night to find reinforcements. Reuniting with the decimated Zhu's army, they returned to Jinggangshan and retook the base. Joined by a defecting KMT regiment and [[Peng Dehuai]]'s Fifth Red Army, the mountainous area was unable to grow enough crops to feed everyone, leading to food shortages throughout the winter.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=133–137}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=70–71}}</ref><ref name="Feigon 2002 50">{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=50}}.</ref>
[[File:中國工農紅軍軍旗.svg|thumb|Flag of the [[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People's Liberation Army to the Korean War|Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army]]]]


Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition against the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who then numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Chiang ignored the orders of the [[Wuhan Nationalist government|Wuhan-based leftist KMT government]] and marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. As the Communists awaited Chiang's arrival, he loosed the [[White Terror (mainland China)|White Terror]], massacring {{formatnum:5000}} with the aid of the [[Green Gang]].{{sfn|Feigon|2002|p=42}}<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=106}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=61–62}}</ref> In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by [[Zhang Zuolin]].{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=106–109, 112–113}}{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=62}} That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and the CCP lost approximately {{formatnum:15000}} of its {{formatnum:25000}} members.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=62}}
===Jiangxi Soviet Republic of China: 1929–1934===
[[File:1928 Mao and third wife He Jijen.jpg|thumb|220px|Mao with his third wife, [[He Zizhen]].]]
In January 1929, Mao and Zhu evacuated the base and took their armies south, to the area around [[Tonggu County|Tonggu]] and [[Xinfeng County, Jiangxi|Xinfeng]] in [[Jiangxi]], which they consolidated as a new base.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=138}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=71–72}}</ref> Together having 2000 men, with a further 800 provided by Peng, the evacuation led to a drop in morale, and many troops became disobedient and began thieving; this worried [[Li Lisan]] and the Central Committee, who saw Mao's army as ''[[lumpenproletariat]]'' unable to share in proletariat [[class consciousness]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=138, 141}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p72">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=72}}</ref> In keeping with orthodox Marxist thought, Li believed that only the urban proletariat could lead a successful revolution, and saw little need for Mao's peasant guerrillas; he ordered Mao to disband his army into units to be sent out to spread the revolutionary message. Mao replied that while concurring with Li's theoretical position, he would not disband his army or abandon his base.<ref name="Carter1976 p72"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=139}}</ref> Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to [[world revolution]], believing that a CPC victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. Officials in Moscow desired greater control over the CPC, removing Li from power by calling him to Russia for an inquest into his errors.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=146–149}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p75">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=75}}</ref><ref name="Feigon 2002 51">{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=51}}</ref> They replaced him with Soviet-educated Chinese Communists, known as the "[[28 Bolsheviks]]", two of whom, [[Bo Gu]] and [[Zhang Wentian]], took control of the Central Committee. Mao disagreed with the new leadership, believing they grasped little of the Chinese situation, and soon emerged as their key rival.<ref name="Carter1976 p75"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=149–151}}</ref>


The CCP continued supporting the leftist KMT government in Wuhan, a position Mao initially supported,{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=62}} but by the time of the [[5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP's Fifth Congress]] he had changed his mind, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}} The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}} The CCP founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as the "[[History of the People's Liberation Army#From the founding of the People's Liberation Army to the Korean War|Red Army]]", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General [[Zhu De]] was ordered to take the city of [[Nanchang]] on 1 August 1927, in what became known as the [[Nanchang Uprising]]. They were initially successful, but were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to [[Shantou]], and from there they were driven into the wilderness of [[Fujian]].{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=63}} Mao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army and led four regiments against Changsha in the [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]], in the hope of sparking peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat and with 1000 survivors marched east to the [[Jinggang Mountains]] of [[Jiangxi]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=64}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=122–125}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=46–47}}</ref>
In February 1930, Mao created the Southwest Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in the region under his control,<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=149}}</ref> in November suffering emotional trauma after his wife and sister were captured and beheaded by KMT general He Jian.<ref name="Feigon 2002 50"/><ref name="Carter1976 p75"/><ref name="Schram1966 p153">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=153}}</ref> He then married [[He Zizhen]], an 18-year-old revolutionary who bore him five children over the following nine years.<ref name="Feigon 2002 51"/><ref name="Schram p208"/> Facing internal problems, members of the Jiangxi Soviet accused him of being too moderate, and hence anti-revolutionary. In December, they tried to overthrow Mao, resulting in the [[Futian incident]]; putting down the rebels, Mao's loyalists tortured many and executed between 2000 and 3000 dissenters.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=152}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p76">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=76}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=51–53}}</ref> Seeing it as a secure area, the CPC Central Committee moved to Jiangxi, which in November was proclaimed to be the [[Soviet Republic of China]], an independent Communist-governed state. Although proclaimed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Mao's power was diminished, with control of the Red Army being allocated to [[Zhou Enlai]]; Mao meanwhile recovered from [[tuberculosis]].<ref name="Carter1976 p77">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=77}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=154–155}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=54–55}}</ref>


=== Base in Jinggangshan: 1927–1928 ===
[[File:Mao1931.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Mao in 1931.]]
[[File:Mao1927.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mao in 1927]]
Attempting to defeat the Communists, the KMT armies adopted a policy of [[Encirclement Campaigns|encirclement and annihilation]]; outnumbered, Mao responded with guerrilla tactics influenced by the works of ancient military strategists like [[Sun Tzu]], but Zhou and the new leadership replaced this approach with a policy of open confrontation and conventional warfare. In doing so the Red Army successfully defeated [[First Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet|the first]] and [[Second Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet|second encirclements]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=155–161}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p78">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=78}}</ref> Angered at his armies' failure, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the operation; also facing setbacks, he retreated to deal with the [[Mukden Incident|further Japanese incursions into China]].<ref name="Carter1976 p77"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=161–165}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=53–54}}</ref> Victorious, the Red Army expanded its area of control, eventually encompassing a population of 3 million.<ref name="Carter1976 p78"/> Mao proceeded with his land reform program, in November 1931 announcing the start of a "land verification project" which was expanded in June 1933, also orchestrating education programs and implementing measures to increase female political participation.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=166−168}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=55}}</ref> Viewing the Communists as a greater threat than the Japanese, Chiang returned to Jiangxi, initiating the [[Fifth Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet|fifth encirclement campaign]], involving the construction of a concrete and barbed wire "wall of fire" around the state, accompanied by aerial bombardment, to which Zhou's tactics proved ineffective. Trapped inside, morale among the Red Army dropped as food and medicine became scarce, and the leadership decided to evacuate.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=175−177}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=80−81}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=56−57}}</ref>
{{Quote box| quote = {{lang|zh|革命不是請客吃飯,不是做文章,不是繪畫繡花,不能那樣雅緻,那樣從容不迫,文質彬彬,那樣溫良恭讓。革命是暴動,是一個階級推翻一個階級的暴烈的行動。}}<br /><br />[[Revolution is not a dinner party]], nor an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.|source= — Mao, February 1927<ref>{{cite web |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1900_mao_war.htm |title=Mao Zedong on War and Revolution |work=Quotations from Mao Zedong on War and Revolution |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |access-date=12 November 2011}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=41}}</ref>
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The CCP Central Committee, hiding in Shanghai, expelled Mao from their ranks and from the Hunan Provincial Committee, as punishment for his "military opportunism", for his focus on rural activity, and for being too lenient with "bad gentry". The more orthodox Communists especially regarded the peasants as backward and ridiculed Mao's idea of mobilizing them.<ref name="Mair_2013_p211"/> They nevertheless adopted three policies he had long championed: the immediate formation of [[workers' council]]s, the confiscation of all land without exemption, and the rejection of the KMT. Mao's response was to ignore them.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=125}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=68}}</ref> He established a base in [[Jinggangshan City]], an area of the Jinggang Mountains, where he united five villages as a self-governing state, and supported the confiscation of land from rich landlords, who were "re-educated" and sometimes executed. He ensured that no massacres took place in the region, and pursued a more lenient approach than that advocated by the Central Committee.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=130}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=67–68}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=48}}</ref> In addition to land redistribution, Mao promoted literacy and non-hierarchical organizational relationships in Jinggangshan, transforming the area's social and economic life and attracted many local supporters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/503828045 |title=Mao Zedong and China in the twentieth-century world : a concise history |date=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |location=Durham [NC] |pages=36 |oclc=503828045}}</ref>
===The Long March: 1934–1935===
On 14 October 1934, the Red Army broke through the KMT line on the Jiangxi Soviet's south-west corner at Xinfeng with {{formatnum:85000}} soldiers and {{formatnum:15000}} party cadres and embarked on the "[[Long March]]". In order to make the escape, many of the wounded and the ill, as well as women and children, were left behind, defended by a group of guerrilla fighters whom the KMT massacred.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=180}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=81−82}}</ref><ref name="Feigon 2002 57">{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=57}}</ref> The {{formatnum:100000}} who escaped headed to southern Hunan, first crossing the [[Xiang River]] after heavy fighting,<ref name="Feigon 2002 57"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=180−181}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=83}}</ref> and then the [[Wu River (Yuan River, north)|Wu River]], in [[Guizhou]] where they took [[Zunyi]] in January 1935. Temporarily resting in the city, they [[Zunyi Conference|held a conference]]; here, Mao was elected to a position of leadership, becoming Chairman of [[Politburo of the Communist Party of China|the Politburo]], and ''de facto'' leader of both Party and Red Army, in part because his candidacy was supported by Soviet Premier [[Joseph Stalin]]. Insisting that they operate as a guerrilla force, he laid out a destination: the Shenshi Soviet in [[Shaanxi]], Northern China, from where the Communists could focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that in focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the Communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, who in turn would renounce the KMT.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=181}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=84−86}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=58}}</ref>


Mao proclaimed that "Even the lame, the deaf and the blind could all come in useful for the revolutionary struggle", he boosted the army's numbers,<ref name="Carter1976 p69">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=69}}</ref> incorporating two groups of bandits into his army, building a force of around {{formatnum:1800}} troops.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=126–127}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=66–67}}</ref> He laid down rules for his soldiers: prompt obedience to orders, all confiscations were to be turned over to the government, and nothing was to be confiscated from poorer peasants. In doing so, he moulded his men into a disciplined, efficient fighting force.<ref name="Carter1976 p69" />
From Zunyi, Mao led his troops to [[Loushan Pass]], where they faced armed opposition but successfully crossed the river. Chiang flew into the area to lead his armies against Mao, but the Communists outmanoeuvred him and crossed the [[Jinsha River]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=183}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=86−87}}</ref> Faced with the more difficult task of crossing the [[Tatu River]], they managed it by fighting a battle over the [[Luding Bridge]] in May, taking [[Luding County|Luding]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=184−186}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=88−90}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=59−60}}</ref> Marching through the mountain ranges around [[Ma'anshan]],<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=90−91}}</ref> in Moukung, Western Szechuan they encountered the {{formatnum:50000}}-strong CPC Fourth Front Army of [[Zhang Guotao]], together proceeding to Maoerhkai and then [[Gansu]]. However, Zhang and Mao disagreed over what to do; the latter wished to proceed to Shaanxi, while Zhang wanted to flee east to [[Tibet]] or [[Sikkim]], far from the KMT threat. It was agreed that they would go their separate ways, with [[Zhu De]] joining Zhang.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=186}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=91−92}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=60}}</ref> Mao's forces proceeded north, through hundreds of miles of [[Mongolian-Manchurian grassland|Grasslands]], an area of quagmire where they were attacked by [[Manchu people|Manchu tribesman]] and where many soldiers succumbed to famine and disease.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=187−188}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=92−93}}</ref><ref name="Feigon 2002 61">{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=61}}</ref> Finally reaching [[Shaanxi]], they fought off both the KMT and an Islamic cavalry militia before crossing over the [[Min Mountains]] and Mount Liupan and reaching the Shenshi Soviet; only 7-8000 had survived.<ref name="Feigon 2002 61"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=188}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=93}}</ref> The Long March cemented Mao's status as the dominant figure in the party. In November 1935, he was named chairman of the Military Commission. From this point onward, Mao was the Communist Party's undisputed leader, even though he would not become party chairman until 1943.<ref>Barnouin, Barbara and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life''. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. ISBN 962-996-280-2. Retrieved March 12, 2011. [http://books.google.com/books?id=NztlWQeXf2IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=zhou+enlai&hl=en&ei=wBkuTdKyB4H_8AaJucigAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false p.62]</ref>


{{Quote box
Many if not most of the events as later described by Mao and which the CPC claims are true are seen as false by historians such as Jung Chang. During the decade spent researching the book, ''Mao: The Unknown Story'',<ref>Chang, Jung and Jon Halliday; ''Mao: The Unknown Story'', Jonathan Cape, 2005</ref> for instance, Chang found evidence that there was no battle at Luding and that the CPC crossed the bridge unopposed. Chang interviewed an eye witness to the crossing of the Dadu (Tatu) River at Luding, Mrs Zhu De, then 93 years old, who recalled no deaths, except for two people who fell from the bridge at Luding while repairing it. Chang also points out the contradictions in the version of events as told by the CPC, which said the bridge was taken by a suicide attack by 22 men, but that these men were also present at a ceremony following the crossing of the bridge.<ref name="ChangHalliday_a">Chang, Halliday; Mao, Ch. 13</ref>
| quote = <poem>{{lang|zh|敵進我退,
敵駐我騷,
敵疲我打,
敵退我追。}}


When the enemy advances, we retreat.
Chang and Halliday also dispute the Communist Party of China's official version by claiming that far from the Long March being a masterful piece of strategy by the CPC, it was in fact devised by Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the KMT. Chiang's aim was to give the CPC an easy route to follow through warlord controlled areas. Hemmed in by Nationalist troops on three sides, the CPC was forced to follow the route dictated by the KMT. The aim of this was to allow KMT forces to follow the reds into warlord controlled areas such as Sichuan and win over warlords scared of the sudden arrival of the Communist force. The only glitch in this plan came when Mao refused to follow the easy route into Sichuan where he was to meet up with a red army much larger than his own and led by a more senior CPC member, Chang Kuo Tao. Mao recognised the threat Chang posed to his rising position in the CPC and doubled back to give himself time to further cement his political power, causing the needless deaths of thousands of his own troops.<ref name="ChangHalliday_a" />
When the enemy rests, we harass him.
When the enemy avoids a battle, we attack.
When the enemy retreats, we advance.</poem>
| source = — Mao's advice in combating the Kuomintang, 1928<ref name="Carter1976 p70">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=70}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=159}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=47}}</ref>
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}}
[[File:Bare foot revolutionary.jpg|thumb|Chinese Communist revolutionaries in the 1920s]]
In spring 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao's troops to southern Hunan, hoping to spark peasant uprisings. Mao was skeptical, but complied. They reached Hunan, where they were attacked by the KMT and fled after heavy losses. Meanwhile, KMT troops had invaded Jinggangshan, leaving them without a base.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=131}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=68–69}}</ref> Wandering the countryside, Mao's forces came across a CCP regiment led by General [[Zhu De]] and [[Lin Biao]]; they united, and attempted to retake Jinggangshan. They were initially successful, but the KMT counter-attacked, and pushed the CCP back; over the next few weeks, they fought an entrenched guerrilla war in the mountains.<ref name="Carter1976 p70"/>{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=128, 132}} The Central Committee again ordered Mao to march to south Hunan, but he refused, and remained at his base. Contrastingly, Zhu complied, and led his armies away. Mao's troops fended the KMT off for 25 days while he left the camp at night to find reinforcements. He reunited with the decimated Zhu's army, and together they returned to Jinggangshan and retook the base. There they were joined by a defecting KMT regiment and [[Peng Dehuai]]'s Fifth Red Army. In the mountainous area they were unable to grow enough crops to feed everyone, leading to food shortages throughout the winter.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=133–137}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=70–71}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=50}}</ref>


In 1928, Mao met and married [[He Zizhen]], an 18-year-old revolutionary who would bear him six children.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/232503.htm |title=Memorial opened to commemorate Mao's 2nd wife |date=20 November 2007 |website=www.china.org.cn |access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ni |first=Ching-ching |date=27 March 2007 |title=Death illuminates niche of Mao life |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-27-fg-mao27-story.html |url-status=live |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |location=Beijing |publication-place=Los Angeles, California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011132708/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-27-fg-mao27-story.html |archive-date=11 October 2020 |access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref>
Chang and Halliday also claim that Mao and other top CPC leaders did not walk the Long March, but were carried on litters – Mao himself told his staff that being carried on the Long March gave him much time to read – with the litter bearers' knees being worn to the bone when forced to carry Mao up mountains.<ref name="ChangHalliday_a" />


=== Jiangxi Soviet Republic of China: 1929–1934 ===
===Alliance with the Kuomintang: 1935–1940===
[[File:Mao Zedong in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|Mao in [[Yan'an]] (1930s)]]
{{Main|Second Sino-Japanese War}}
[[File:1946 Mao and Chiang.jpg|thumb|In an effort to defeat the Japanese, Mao (left) agreed to collaborate with Chiang (right).]]
Arriving at the [[Yan'an]] Soviet during October 1935, Mao's troops settled in Pao An. Remaining there till spring 1936, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment and began literacy programs.<ref name="Feigon 2002 61"/><ref name="Schram p193">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=193}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=94−96}}</ref> Mao now commanded {{formatnum:15000}} soldiers, boosted by the arrival of [[He Long]]'s men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu Den and Zhang Guotao, returning from Tibet.<ref name="Schram p193"/> In February 1936 they established the North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=206−207}}</ref> In January 1937 they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", sending groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks,<ref name="Schram1966 p20">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=20}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=101}}</ref> while in May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=202}}</ref> Western reporters also arrived in the "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were [[Edgar Snow]], who used his experiences as a basis for ''[[Red Star Over China]]'', and [[Agnes Smedley]], whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=209−210}}</ref>


In January 1929, Mao and Zhu evacuated the base with 2,000 men and a further 800 provided by Peng, and took their armies south, to the area around [[Tonggu County|Tonggu]] and [[Xinfeng County, Jiangxi|Xinfeng]] in Jiangxi.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=138}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=71–72}}</ref> The evacuation led to a drop in morale, and many troops became disobedient and began thieving; this worried [[Li Lisan]] and the Central Committee, who saw Mao's army as ''[[lumpenproletariat]]'', that were unable to share in proletariat [[class consciousness]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=138, 141}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p72">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=72}}</ref> In keeping with orthodox Marxist thought, Li believed that only the urban proletariat could lead a successful revolution, and saw little need for Mao's peasant guerrillas; he ordered Mao to disband his army into units to be sent out to spread the revolutionary message. Mao replied that while he concurred with Li's theoretical position, he would not disband his army nor abandon his base.<ref name="Carter1976 p72"/>{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=139}} Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to [[world revolution]], believing that a CCP victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. Officials in Moscow desired greater control over the CCP and removed Li from power by calling him to Russia for an inquest into his errors.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=146–149}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=75}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=51}}</ref> They replaced him with Soviet-educated Chinese Communists, known as the "[[28 Bolsheviks]]", two of whom, [[Bo Gu]] and [[Zhang Wentian]], took control of the Central Committee. Mao disagreed with the new leadership, believing they grasped little of the Chinese situation, and he soon emerged as their key rival.{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=75}}{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=149–151}}
On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizen had been injured from a shrapnel wound to the head, and so traveled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, [[Jiang Qing]].<ref name="Schram p208">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=208}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=95}}</ref> Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorizing.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=95−96}}</ref> He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=194}}</ref> Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as a "traitor to the nation",<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=196}}</ref> on May 5 he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanking National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=197}}</ref> Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, [[Zhang Xueliang]], in [[Xi'an]], leading to the [[Xi'an Incident]]; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with the Communists, resulting in the formation of a [[Second United Front (China)|United Front]] with concessions on both sides on December 25, 1937.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=198−200}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=98−99}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=64−65}}</ref>


[[File:1931 military parade of formation of Chinese Soviet Republic.jpg|thumb|left|Military parade at the founding of a Chinese Soviet Republic in 1931]]
[[File:Mao1938a.jpg|left|thumb|Mao in 1938, writing ''On Protracted War''.]]
In February 1930, Mao created the Southwest Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in the region under his control.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=149}} In November, he suffered emotional trauma after his second wife Yang Kaihui and sister were captured and beheaded by KMT general [[He Jian]].<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=50}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=75}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=153}}</ref> Facing internal problems, members of the Jiangxi Soviet accused him of being too moderate, and hence anti-revolutionary. In December, they tried to overthrow Mao, resulting in the [[Futian incident]], during which Mao's loyalists tortured many and executed between 2000 and 3000 dissenters.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=152}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=76}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=51–53}}</ref> The CCP Central Committee moved to Jiangxi which it saw as a secure area. In November, it proclaimed Jiangxi to be the [[Soviet Republic of China]], an independent Communist-governed state. Although he was proclaimed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Mao's power was diminished, as his control of the Red Army was allocated to [[Zhou Enlai]]. Meanwhile, Mao recovered from [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=77}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=154–155}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=54–55}}</ref>


The KMT armies adopted a policy of [[Encirclement campaigns|encirclement and annihilation]] of the Red armies. Outnumbered, Mao responded with guerrilla tactics influenced by the works of ancient military strategists like [[Sun Tzu]], but Zhou and the new leadership followed a policy of open confrontation and conventional warfare. In doing so, the Red Army successfully defeated [[First encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|the first]] and [[Second encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|second encirclements]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=155–161}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p78">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=78}}</ref> Angered at his armies' failure, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the operation. He too faced setbacks and retreated to deal with the [[Mukden Incident|further Japanese incursions into China]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=77}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=161–165}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=53–54}}</ref> As a result of the KMT's change of focus to the defence of China against Japanese expansionism, the Red Army was able to expand its area of control, eventually encompassing a population of 3 million.<ref name="Carter1976 p78"/> Mao proceeded with his land reform program. In November 1931 he announced the start of a "land verification project" which was expanded in June 1933. He also orchestrated education programs and implemented measures to increase female political participation.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=166–168}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=55}}</ref> Chiang viewed the Communists as a greater threat than the Japanese and returned to Jiangxi, where he initiated the [[Fifth encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet|fifth encirclement campaign]], which involved the construction of a concrete and barbed wire "wall of fire" around the state, which was accompanied by aerial bombardment, to which Zhou's tactics proved ineffective. Trapped inside, morale among the Red Army dropped as food and medicine became scarce. The leadership decided to evacuate.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=175–177}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=80–81}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=56–57}}</ref>
The Japanese had taken both [[Shanghai]] and [[Nanjing|Nanking (Nanjing)]]—resulting in the [[Nanking Massacre]], an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—pushing the Kuomintang government inland to [[Chongqing|Chungking]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=211}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=100−101}}</ref> The Japanese's brutality led increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, with the Red Army growing from {{formatnum:50000}} to {{formatnum:500000}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=205}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p105">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=105}}</ref> In August 1938, the Red Army formed the [[New Fourth Army]] and the [[Eighth Route Army]], which were nominally under the command of Chiang's [[National Revolutionary Army]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=204}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=66}}</ref> In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the [[Hundred Regiments Campaign]], in which {{formatnum:400000}} troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces; a military success, it resulted in the death of {{formatnum:20000}} Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine.<ref name="Carter1976 p105"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=217}}</ref> From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including ''Philosophy of Revolution'', which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge, ''Protracted Warfare'', which dealt with guerilla and mobile military tactics, and ''New Democracy'', which laid forward ideas for China's future.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=211−216}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=101−10}}</ref>


===Resuming civil war: 1940–1949===
=== Long March: 1934–1935 ===
[[File:Map of the Long March 1934-1935-en.svg|thumb|250px|An overview map of the Long March]]
[[File:Mao Zhou Zhu.jpg|thumb|right|[[Zhou Enlai]], Mao Zedong, and [[Zhu De]] during the [[Long March]].]]
On 14 October 1934, the Red Army broke through the KMT line on the Jiangxi Soviet's south-west corner at Xinfeng with {{formatnum:85000}} soldiers and {{formatnum:15000}} party cadres and embarked on the "[[Long March]]". In order to make the escape, many of the wounded and the ill, as well as women and children, were left behind, defended by a group of guerrilla fighters whom the KMT massacred.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=180}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=81–82}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=57}}</ref> The {{formatnum:100000}} who escaped headed to southern Hunan, first crossing the [[Xiang River]] after heavy fighting,<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=57}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=180–181}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=83}}</ref> and then the [[Wu River (Yuan River, north)|Wu River]], in [[Guizhou]] where they took [[Zunyi]] in January 1935. Temporarily resting in the city, they [[Zunyi Conference|held a conference]]; here, Mao was elected to a position of leadership, becoming Chairman of the [[Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo]], and ''de facto'' leader of both Party and Red Army, in part because his candidacy was supported by Soviet Premier [[Joseph Stalin]]. Insisting that they operate as a guerrilla force, he laid out a destination: the Shenshi Soviet in [[Shaanxi]], Northern China, from where the Communists could focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that in focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the Communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, who in turn would renounce the KMT.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=181}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=84–86}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=58}}</ref>


From Zunyi, Mao led his troops to [[Loushan Pass]], where they faced armed opposition but successfully crossed the river. Chiang flew into the area to lead his armies against Mao, but the Communists outmanoeuvred him and crossed the [[Jinsha River]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=183}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=86–87}}</ref> Faced with the more difficult task of crossing the [[Tatu River]], they managed it by fighting a battle over the [[Luding Bridge]] in May, taking [[Luding County|Luding]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=184–186}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=88–90}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=59–60}}</ref> In Moukung, Western Sichuan, they encountered the {{formatnum:50000}}-strong CCP Fourth Front Army of [[Zhang Guotao]] (who had marched from the mountain ranges around [[Ma'anshan]]{{sfn|Carter|1976|pp=90–91}}), and together proceeded to Maoerhkai and then [[Gansu]]. Zhang and Mao disagreed over what to do; the latter wished to proceed to Shaanxi, while Zhang wanted to retreat west to [[Tibet]] or [[Sikkim]], far from the KMT threat. It was agreed that they would go their separate ways, with [[Zhu De]] joining Zhang.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=186}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=91–92}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=60}}</ref> Mao's forces proceeded north, through hundreds of kilometres of [[Mongolian–Manchurian grassland|grasslands]], an area of quagmire where they were attacked by [[Manchu people|Manchu tribesman]] and where many soldiers succumbed to famine and disease.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=187–188}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=92–93}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=61}}</ref> Finally reaching Shaanxi, they fought off both the KMT and an Islamic cavalry militia before crossing the [[Min Mountains]] and Mount Liupan and reaching the Shenshi Soviet; only 7,000–8,000 had survived.<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=61}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=188}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=93}}</ref> The Long March cemented Mao's status as the dominant figure in the party. In November 1935, he was named chairman of the Military Commission. From this point onward, Mao was the Communist Party's undisputed leader, even though he would not become party chairman until 1943.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barnouin |first1=Barbara |last2=Yu |first2=Changgen |title=Zhou Enlai: A Political Life |location=Hong Kong |publisher=[[Chinese University of Hong Kong]] |date=2006 |isbn=9629962802 |access-date=12 March 2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NztlWQeXf2IC&q=zhou+enlai |page=62 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
In 1944, the Americans sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the [[Dixie Mission]], to the Communist Party of China. According to Edwin Moise, in ''Modern China: A History 2nd Edition'':


== World War II ==
<blockquote>
{{Main|Second Sino-Japanese War}}
''Most of the Americans were favourably impressed. The CPC seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the KMT. United States fliers shot down over North China&nbsp;... confirmed to their superiors that the CPC was both strong and popular over a broad area. In the end, the contacts with the USA developed with the CPC led to very little.''
</blockquote>
[[File:Marshallmao.jpg|250px|thumb|right|General [[George Marshall]] and Mao Zedong in Yan'an]]
After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the [[People's Liberation Army]] (PLA) led by Mao Zedong in the [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]] for control of China. Likewise, the [[Soviet Union]] gave quasi-covert support to Mao by their occupation of north east China, which allowed the PLA to move in en masse and took large supplies of arms left by the Japanese's [[Kwantung Army]].{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}


[[File:1938 Mao Zedong Zhang Guotao in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|left|[[Zhang Guotao]] (left) and Mao in Yan'an, 1937]]
In 1948, under direct orders from Mao, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying the city of [[Changchun]]. At least {{formatnum:160000}} civilians are believed to have perished during the [[Siege of Changchun|siege]], which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, who documented the siege in his book ''[[White Snow, Red Blood]]'', compared it to [[Hiroshima]]: ''"The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months."''<ref>{{cite news|title= China Is Wordless on Traumas of Communists' Rise |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/asia/02anniversary.html |work= The New York Times |accessdate= October 2, 2009 |first= Andrew |last= Jacobs |date= October 2, 2009}}</ref> On January 21, 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in battles against Mao's forces. In the early morning of December 10, 1949, PLA troops laid siege to Chengdu, the last KMT-held city in [[mainland China]], and Chiang Kai-shek evacuated from the mainland to Taiwan.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}


Mao's troops arrived at the [[Yan'an]] Soviet during October 1935 and settled in [[Bao'an Subdistrict, Zhidan County|Bao'an]], until spring 1936. While there, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment, and began literacy programs.<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=61}}; {{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=193}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=94–96}}</ref> Mao now commanded {{formatnum:15000}} soldiers, boosted by the arrival of [[He Long]]'s men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao returned from Tibet.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=193}} In February 1936, they established the North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=206–207}} In January 1937, they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", that sent groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=20}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=101}}</ref> In May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=202}} Western reporters also arrived in the "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were [[Edgar Snow]], who used his experiences as a basis for ''[[Red Star Over China]]'', and [[Agnes Smedley]], whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=209–210}}
==Leadership of China==
[[File:China, Mao (2).jpg|thumb|left|280px|Mao Zedong declares the founding of the modern People's Republic of China, October 1, 1949]]


[[File:1945 Mao and Chiang.jpg|thumb|In an effort to defeat the Japanese, Mao (left) agreed to collaborate with Chiang (right).]]
The People's Republic of China was established on October 1, 1949. It was the culmination of over two decades of civil and international wars. From 1943 to 1976, Mao was the [[Chairman of the Communist Party of China]]. During this period, Mao was called Chairman Mao ({{lang|zh-cn|毛主席}}, ''Máo Zhǔxí'') or the Great Leader Chairman Mao ({{lang|zh-cn|伟大领袖毛主席}}, ''Wěidà Lǐngxiù Máo Zhǔxí''). Mao famously announced: "We (the Chinese people) have stood up."<ref>{{cite book | quote = The phrase is often mistakenly said to have been delivered during the speech from the Gate of Heavenly Peace, but was first used on September 21, at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, then repeated on several occasions | editor = Cheek T | title = Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents | location = New York | publisher = [[Palgrave Macmillan]] | year = 2002 | page = 125 | isbn = 0-312-25626-4 }}</ref>
[[File:Mao1938a.jpg|thumb|Mao in 1938, writing ''On Protracted War'']]


On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizhen had been injured by a shrapnel wound to the head. She travelled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, [[Jiang Qing]].<ref name="Schram p208">{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=208}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=95}}</ref> He Zizhen was reportedly "dispatched to a mental asylum in Moscow to make room" for Qing.<ref>{{cite news |last=Terrill |first=Ross |date=8 March 1998 |title=What Mao Traded for Sex |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-op-26719-story.html |url-status=live |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200524045009/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-08-op-26719-story.html |archive-date=24 May 2020 |access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref> Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorising.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=95–96}}</ref> He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=194}}</ref> Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as a "traitor to the nation",<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=196}}</ref> on 5 May, he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanjing National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=197}}</ref> Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, [[Zhang Xueliang]], in [[Xi'an]], leading to the [[Xi'an Incident]]; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with the Communists, resulting in the formation of a [[Second United Front (China)|United Front]] with concessions on both sides on 25 December 1937.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=198–200}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=98–99}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=64–65}}</ref>
Mao took up residence in [[Zhongnanhai]], a compound next to the [[Forbidden City]] in Beijing, and there he ordered the construction of an indoor swimming pool and other buildings. Mao's physician [[Li Zhisui]] described him as conducting business either in bed or by the side of the pool, preferring not to wear formal clothes unless absolutely necessary.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|p=xi}}</ref> Li's book, ''[[The Private Life of Chairman Mao]]'', is regarded as controversial, especially by those sympathetic to Mao.<ref>See for example, {{cite book |title= Manufacturing History: Sex, Lies and Random House's Memoirs of Mao's Physician |last= DeBorja, Q.M. and Xu L. Dong (eds) |year= 1996 |publisher= China Study Group |location= New York |ref=De96 | pages = 48}}</ref>


The Japanese had taken both Shanghai and [[Nanjing]]—resulting in the [[Nanjing Massacre]], an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—and was pushing the Kuomintang government inland to [[Chongqing]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=211}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=100–101}}</ref> The Japanese's brutality led to increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, and the Red Army grew from {{formatnum:50000}} to {{formatnum:500000}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=205}}</ref><ref name="Carter1976 p105">{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=105}}</ref> In August 1938, the Red Army formed the [[New Fourth Army]] and the [[Eighth Route Army]], which were nominally under the command of Chiang's [[National Revolutionary Army]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=204}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=66}}</ref> In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the [[Hundred Regiments Offensive]], in which {{formatnum:400000}} troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in the death of {{formatnum:20000}} Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine.<ref name="Carter1976 p105"/><ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=217}}</ref> From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including ''Philosophy of Revolution'', which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge; ''Protracted Warfare'', which dealt with guerrilla and mobile military tactics; and ''[[On New Democracy]]'', which laid forward ideas for China's future.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=211–216}}; {{harvnb|Carter|1976|pp=101–110}}</ref>
In October 1950, Mao made the decision to send the [[People's Volunteer Army]] into Korea and fight against the United Nations forces led by the U.S. Historical records showed that Mao directed the PVA campaigns in the [[Korean War]] to the minute details.<ref name="Burkitt">{{Cite book
| last1 = Burkitt | first1 = Laurie
| last2 = Scobell | first2 = Andrew
| last3 = Wortzel | first3 = Larry M.
| title = The lessons of history: The Chinese people's Liberation Army at 75
| publisher = [[Strategic Studies Institute]]
| pages = 340–341
| date = July 2003
| isbn = 1-58487-126-1
| url = http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB52.pdf}}</ref>


[[File:Kang Seng Mao Zedong in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|Mao with [[Kang Sheng]] in Yan'an, 1945]]In 1944, the U.S. sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the [[Dixie Mission]], to the Chinese Communist Party. The American soldiers who were sent to the mission were favourably impressed. The party seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the Kuomintang. The soldiers confirmed to their superiors that the party was both strong and popular over a broad area.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Moise |first=Edwin E. |author-link=Edwin Moise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c2787J5UfAQC |title=Modern China, a History |date=2008 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |isbn=978-0582772779 |pages=105 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the end of the mission, the contacts which the U.S. developed with the Chinese Communist Party led to very little.<ref name=":3" /> After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their diplomatic and military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the [[People's Liberation Army]] (PLA) led by Mao Zedong during the [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]] and abandoned the idea of a [[coalition government]] which would include the CCP.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Eastman |first1=Lloyd E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Wrw4RrFpUkC&pg=PA353 |title=The Nationalist Era in China, 1927–1949 |last2=Ch'en |first2=Jerome |last3=Pepper |first3=Suzanne |last4=Slyke |first4=Lyman P. Van |date=30 August 1991 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521385916 |pages=353 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Likewise, the [[Soviet Union]] gave support to Mao by [[Soviet occupation of Manchuria|occupying north-eastern China]], and secretly giving it to the Chinese communists in March 1946.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=揚子晚報網 |script-title=zh:"张莘夫事件"与苏军撤出东北 |title="Zhāngshēnfū shìjiàn"yǔ sū jūn chè chū dōngběi |trans-title="Zhang Xinfu Incident" and Soviet Army's Withdrawal from Northeast China |url=http://epaper.yangtse.com/yzwb/2009-04/20/content_12663469.htm |author=作者:劉向上 |date=20 April 2009 |access-date=20 April 2009 |language=Chinese |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101182923/http://epaper.yangtse.com/yzwb/2009-04/20/content_12663469.htm |archive-date=1 November 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Mao and Jiang Qing 1946.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Mao with his fourth wife, [[Jiang Qing]], called "Madame Mao," 1946]]


== Leadership of China ==
Along with [[Land reforms by country#China|land reform]], during which significant numbers of landlords and well-to-do peasants were beaten to death at mass meetings organised by the Communist Party as land was taken from them and given to poorer peasants,<ref>{{Harvnb|Short|2001|pp=436–437}}</ref> there was also the [[Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries|Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries]],<ref name="Yang Kuisong">{{Harvnb|Kuisong|2008}}</ref> which involved public executions targeting mainly former Kuomintang officials, businessmen accused of "disturbing" the market, former employees of Western companies and intellectuals whose loyalty was suspect.<ref>Steven W. Mosher. ''China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality.'' [[Basic Books]], 1992. ISBN 0-465-09813-4 pp 72, 73</ref> The [[United States Department of State|U.S. State department]] in 1976 estimated that there may have been a million killed in the land reform, and {{formatnum:800000}} killed in the counter-revolutionary campaign.<ref>Stephen Rosskamm Shalom. ''Deaths in China Due to Communism.'' Center for Asian Studies Arizona State University, 1984. ISBN 0-939252-11-2 pg 24</ref>
{{See also|History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)}}


=== Establishment of the People's Republic of China ===
Mao himself claimed that a total of {{formatnum:700000}} people were killed in attacks on "counter-revolutionaries" during the years 1950–52.<ref>{{Harvnb|Spence|1999}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}. Mao got this number from a report submitted by Xu Zirong, Deputy Public Security Minister, which stated {{formatnum:712000}} counter-revolutionaries were executed, {{formatnum:1290000}} were imprisoned, and another {{formatnum:1200000}} were "subjected to control.": see {{Harvnb|Kuisong|2008}}.</ref> However, because there was a policy to select "at least one landlord, and usually several, in virtually every village for public execution",<ref name="Cambridge history of China">{{cite book |last=Twitchett |first=Denis |coauthors=[[John K. Fairbank]], [[Roderick MacFarquhar]] |title=The Cambridge history of China |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=0-521-24336-X |url=http://books.google.com/?id=ioppEjkCkeEC&pg=PA87&dq=at+least+one+landlord,+and+usually+several,+in+virtually+every+village+for+public+execution |accessdate=August 23, 2008 |date=June 26, 1987}}</ref> the number of deaths range between 2 million<ref name="Cambridge history of China"/><ref>[[Maurice Meisner]]. ''Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, Third Edition.'' Free, Press, 1999. ISBN 0-684-85635-2 p. 72: "...&nbsp;the estimate of many relatively impartial observers that there were {{formatnum:2000000}} people executed during the first three years of the People's Republic is probably as accurate a guess as one can make on the basis of scanty information."</ref> and 5 million.<ref>Steven W. Mosher. ''China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality.'' [[Basic Books]], 1992. ISBN 0-465-09813-4 pg 74: "...&nbsp;a figure that [[John K. Fairbank|Fairbank]] has cited as the upper range of "sober" estimates."</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=96}}: "By 1952 they had extended land reform throughout the countryside, but in the process somewhere between two and five million landlords had been killed."</ref> In addition, at least 1.5 million people,<ref>{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=436}}</ref> perhaps as many as 4 to 6 million,<ref name="Valentino2004 121–122">{{Harvnb|Valentino|2004|pp=121–122}}</ref> were sent to [[laogai|"reform through labour"]] camps where many perished.<ref name="Valentino2004 121–122"/> Mao played a personal role in organizing the mass repressions and established a system of execution quotas,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.4.2005/CRF-2005-4_Quota.pdf|format=PDF|title=Mao's "Killing Quotas." Human Rights in China (HRIC). September&nbsp;26, 2005, at Shandong University|last=Changyu|first=Li|accessdate=June 21, 2009}}</ref> which were often exceeded.<ref name="Yang Kuisong"/> He defended these killings as necessary for the securing of power.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/chinesehistory/pgp/jeremy50sessay.htm |title= Terrible Honeymoon: Struggling with the Problem of Terror in Early 1950s China |last= Brown |first= Jeremy }}</ref>
[[File:PLAHuaihai.jpg|thumb|left|PLA troops, supported by captured [[M5 Stuart]] light tanks, attacking the Nationalist lines in 1948]]


In 1948, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying [[Changchun]]. At least {{formatnum:160000}} civilians are believed to have perished during [[Siege of Changchun|the siege]], which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, in his book ''[[White Snow, Red Blood]]'', compared it to [[Hiroshima]]: "The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months."<ref>{{cite news |title=China Is Wordless on Traumas of Communists' Rise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/world/asia/02anniversary.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2 October 2009 |first=Andrew |last=Jacobs |date=2 October 2009}}</ref> On 21 January 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in decisive battles against Mao's forces.<ref name="Palestini2011">{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Palestini |title=Going Back to the Future: A Leadership Journey for Educators |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9n_DUv1_NkAC&pg=PA170 |year=2011 |publisher=R&L Education |isbn=978-1607095866 |page=170 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In the early morning of 10 December 1949, PLA troops laid siege to [[Chongqing]] and [[Chengdu]] on [[mainland China]], and Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland to Taiwan.<ref name="Palestini2011" /><ref name="Perkins2013">{{cite book |first=Dorothy |last=Perkins |title=Encyclopedia of China: History and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KMQeAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |year=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1135935627 |page=79 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>[[File:Mao Proclaiming New China.JPG|thumb|left|Mao declares the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949]]
Starting in 1951, Mao initiated two successive movements in an effort to rid urban areas of corruption by targeting wealthy capitalists and political opponents, known as the [[three-anti/five-anti campaigns]]. While the three-anti campaign was a focused purge of government, industrial and party officials, the five-anti campaign set its sights slightly broader, targeting capitalist elements in general.<ref>John Fairbank and Merle Goldman, ''China: A New History'', (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002), 349.</ref> Workers denounced their bosses, spouses turned on their spouses, and children informed on their parents; the victims were often humiliated at [[Struggle Session|struggle sessions]], a method designed to intimidate and terrify people to the maximum. Mao insisted that minor offenders be criticised and reformed or sent to labour camps, "while the worst among them should be shot." These campaigns took several hundred thousand additional lives, the vast majority via suicide.<ref>{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=437}}</ref>


Mao proclaimed the [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|establishment of the People's Republic of China]] from the [[Tiananmen|Gate of Heavenly Peace]] (Tian'anmen) on 1 October 1949, and later that week declared "The Chinese people have stood up" ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=中国人民从此站起来了}}).<ref>{{cite book |quote=The phrase is often mistakenly said to have been delivered during the speech from the Gate of Heavenly Peace, but was first used on September 21, at the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, then repeated on several occasions |editor-last=Cheek |editor-first=T. |title=Mao Zedong and China's Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents |location=New York |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2002 |page=125 |isbn=978-0312256265}}</ref> Mao went to Moscow for talks in the winter of 1949–50. Mao initiated the talks which focused on the political and economic revolution in China, foreign policy, railways, naval bases, and Soviet economic and technical aid. The resulting treaty reflected Stalin's dominance and his willingness to help Mao.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Odd Arne |last=Westad |title=Fighting for Friendship: Mao, Stalin, and the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1950. |journal=Cold War International History Project Bulletin |volume=8 |number=9 |date=1996 |pages=224–236}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Robert C. |last=North |title=The Sino-Soviet Agreements of 1950 |journal=Far Eastern Survey |volume=19 |number=13 |date=1950 |pages=125–130 |doi=10.2307/3024085 |jstor=3024085| issn = 0362-8949 }}</ref>
In Shanghai, suicide by jumping from tall buildings became so commonplace that residents avoided walking on the pavement near skyscrapers for fear that suicides might land on them.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808241-5,00.html|title=High Tide of Terror|date=March 5, 1956|work=Time|accessdate=May 11, 2009}}</ref> Some biographers have pointed out that driving those perceived as enemies to suicide was a common tactic during the Mao-era. For example, in his biography of Mao, [[Philip Short]] notes that in the [[Yan'an Rectification Movement]], Mao gave explicit instructions that "no cadre is to be killed," but in practice allowed security chief [[Kang Sheng]] to drive opponents to suicide and that "this pattern was repeated throughout his leadership of the People's Republic."<ref name="deathtoll"/>
[[File:Mao, Bulganin, Stalin, Ulbricht Tsedenbal.jpeg|thumb|280 px|left|Mao at [[Joseph Stalin]]'s 70th birthday celebration in Moscow, December 1949 ]]
Following the consolidation of power, Mao launched the First [[Five-year plans of the People's Republic of China|Five-Year Plan]] (1953–58). The plan aimed to end Chinese dependence upon agriculture in order to become a world power. With the [[Soviet Union]]'s assistance, new industrial plants were built and agricultural production eventually fell to a point where industry was beginning to produce enough capital that China no longer needed the USSR's support. The success of the First-Five Year Plan was to encourage Mao to instigate the Second [[Five-year plans of the People's Republic of China|Five-Year Plan]], the Great Leap Forward, in 1958. Mao also launched a phase of rapid [[collectivization]]. The CPC introduced price controls as well as a [[Simplified Chinese character|Chinese character simplification]] aimed at increasing literacy. Large-scale industrialization projects were also undertaken.


Following the Marxist–Leninist theory of [[vanguardism]],<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last1=Cai |first1=Xiang |url= |title=Revolution and its narratives: China's socialist literary and cultural imaginaries (1949-1966) |last2=蔡翔 |date=2016 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |others=Rebecca E. Karl, Xueping Zhong, 钟雪萍 |isbn=978-0-8223-7461-9 |location=Durham |pages=100 |oclc=932368688}}</ref> Mao believed that only the correct leadership of the Communist Party could advance China into socialism.<ref name=":10" /> Conversely, Mao also believed that mass movements and mass criticism were necessary in order to check the bureaucracy.<ref name=":10" />
Programs pursued during this time include the [[Hundred Flowers Campaign]], in which Mao indicated his supposed willingness to consider different opinions about how China should be governed. Given the freedom to express themselves, liberal and intellectual Chinese began opposing the Communist Party and questioning its leadership. This was initially tolerated and encouraged. After a few months, Mao's government reversed its policy and persecuted those, totalling perhaps {{formatnum:500000}},{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} who criticised, as well as those who were merely alleged to have criticised, the party in what is called the [[Anti-Rightist Movement]]. Authors such as [[Jung Chang]] have alleged that the Hundred Flowers Campaign was merely a ruse to root out "dangerous" thinking.<ref>{{harvnb|Chang|Halliday|2005|p=410}}</ref>


[[File:Mao and Jiang Qing 1946.jpg|thumb|Mao with his fourth wife, [[Jiang Qing]], nicknamed "Madame Mao", 1946]]
Li Zhisui, Mao's physician, suggested that Mao had initially seen the policy as a way of weakening those within his party who opposed him and was surprised by the extent of criticism and the fact that it began to be directed at his own leadership.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|pp=198, 200, 468–469}}</ref> It was only then that he used it as a method of identifying and subsequently persecuting those critical of his government. The Hundred Flowers movement led to the condemnation, silencing, and death of many citizens, also linked to Mao's Anti-Rightist Movement, with death tolls possibly in the millions.{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}}


===Great Leap Forward===
=== Korean War ===
Mao pushed the Party to organise campaigns to reform society and extend control. These campaigns were given urgency in October 1950, when the [[People's Volunteer Army]] was sent into the [[Korean War]] to fight as well as reinforce the armed forces of North Korea, the [[Korean People's Army]], which had been in full retreat. The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the [[Korean War]], lasting until [[Richard Nixon]]'s improvements of relations. At least 180,000 Chinese troops died during the war.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.china.org.cn/china/2010-06/28/content_20365659.htm |title=180,000 Chinese soldiers killed in Korean War |website=china.org.cn |access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref>
In January 1958, Mao launched the second [[Five-year plans of the People's Republic of China|Five-Year Plan]], known as the [[Great Leap Forward]], a plan intended as an alternative model for economic growth to the Soviet model focusing on heavy industry that was advocated by others in the party. Under this economic program, the relatively small agricultural collectives which had been formed to date were rapidly merged into far larger [[people's commune]]s, and many of the peasants were ordered to work on massive infrastructure projects and on the production of iron and steel. Some private food production was banned; livestock and farm implements were brought under collective ownership.


As the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Mao was also the Supreme Commander in Chief of the PLA and the People's Republic and Chairman of the Party. Chinese troops in Korea were under the overall command of then newly installed Premier [[Zhou Enlai]], with General [[Peng Dehuai]] as field commander and political commissar.<ref name="Burkitt">{{Cite book |last1=Burkitt |first1=Laurie |last2=Scobell |first2=Andrew |last3=Wortzel |first3=Larry M. |author3-link=Larry Wortzel |title=The lessons of history: The Chinese people's Liberation Army at 75 |publisher=[[Strategic Studies Institute]] |pages=340–341 |year=2003 |isbn=978-1584871262 |url=http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB52.pdf |access-date=14 July 2009 |archive-date=5 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205072610/http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB52.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Under the Great Leap Forward, Mao and other party leaders ordered the implementation of a variety of unproven and unscientific new agricultural techniques by the new communes. Combined with the diversion of labour to steel production and infrastructure projects, these projects combined with cyclical [[natural disasters]] led to an approximately 15% drop in grain production in 1959 followed by a further 10% decline in 1960 and no recovery in 1961.<ref name="Spence1999 p553">{{Harvnb|Spence|1999}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}<!-- Book has only 188 pages, so page 553 does not look right --></ref>


=== Social reform ===
In an effort to win favour with their superiors and avoid being purged, each layer in the party hierarchy exaggerated the amount of grain produced under them. Based upon the fabricated success, party cadres were ordered to requisition a disproportionately high amount of the true harvest for state use, primarily in the cities and urban areas but also for export. The net result, which was compounded in some areas by drought and in others by floods, left rural peasants with little food for themselves and many millions starved to death in the largest [[famine]] known as the [[Great Chinese Famine]]. This famine was a direct cause of the death of some 30 million Chinese peasants between 1959 and 1962 and about the same number of births were lost or postponed.<ref>{{cite pmid | 10600969}}</ref> Further, many children who became emaciated and malnourished during years of hardship and struggle for survival died shortly after the Great Leap Forward came to an end in 1962.<ref name="Spence1999 p553"/>
During the [[Chinese Land Reform|land reform campaigns]], large numbers of landlords and rich peasants were beaten to death at mass meetings as land was taken from them and given to poorer peasants, which reduced [[economic inequality]].{{sfn|Short|2001|pp=436–437}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Scheidel |title=The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0691165028 |url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10921.html |page=226 |quote="In Zhangzhuangcun, in the more thoroughly reformed north of the country, most "landlords" and "rich peasants" had lost all their land and often their lives or had fled. All formerly landless workers had received land, which eliminated this category altogether. As a result, "middling peasants," who now accounted for 90 percent of the village population, owned 90.8 percent of the land, as close to perfect equality as one could possibly hope for."}}</ref> The [[Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries|Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries]]{{sfn|Kuisong|2008}} targeted bureaucratic bourgeoisie, such as compradors, merchants and Kuomintang officials who were seen by the party as economic parasites or political enemies.<ref>{{cite book |first=Steven W. |last=Mosher |title=China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |date=1992 |isbn=0465098134 |pages=72–73}}</ref> In 1976, the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]] estimated as many as a million were killed in the land reform, and {{formatnum:800000}} killed in the counter-revolutionary campaign.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stephen Rosskamm |last=Shalom |title=Deaths in China Due to Communism |publisher=Center for Asian Studies [[Arizona State University]] |date=1984 |isbn=0939252112 |page=24}}</ref>


Mao himself claimed that a total of {{formatnum:700000}} people were killed in attacks on "counter-revolutionaries" during the years 1950–1952.<ref>{{Harvnb|Spence|1999}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}. Mao got this number from a report submitted by Xu Zirong, Deputy Public Security Minister, which stated {{formatnum:712000}} counter-revolutionaries were executed, {{formatnum:1290000}} were imprisoned, and another {{formatnum:1200000}} were "subjected to control.": see {{Harvnb|Kuisong|2008}}.</ref> Because there was a policy to select "at least one landlord, and usually several, in virtually every village for public execution",<ref name="Cambridge history of China">{{cite book |last1=Twitchett |first1=Denis |first2=John K. |last2=Fairbank |author2-link=John K. Fairbank |first3=Roderick |last3=MacFarquhar |author3-link=Roderick MacFarquhar |title=The Cambridge history of China |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521243360 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioppEjkCkeEC&q=at+least+one+landlord,+and+usually+several,+in+virtually+every+village+for+public+execution&pg=PA87 |access-date=23 August 2008 |year=1987 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> the number of deaths range between 2 million<ref name="Cambridge history of China"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Meisner |first=Maurice |author-link=Maurice Meisner |title=Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic |edition=Third |publisher=Free Press |date=1999 |isbn=0684856352 |page=72 |quote=... the estimate of many relatively impartial observers that there were {{formatnum:2000000}} people executed during the first three years of the People's Republic is probably as accurate a guess as one can make on the basis of scanty information.}}</ref>{{sfn|Kuisong|2008}} and 5 million.<ref>{{cite book |first=Steven W. |last=Mosher |title=China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |date=1992 |isbn=0465098134 |page=74 |quote=... a figure that [[John K. Fairbank|Fairbank]] has cited as the upper range of 'sober' estimates.}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=96}}: "By 1952 they had extended land reform throughout the countryside, but in the process somewhere between two and five million landlords had been killed."</ref> In addition, at least 1.5 million people,{{sfn|Short|2001|p=436}} perhaps as many as 4 to 6 million,{{sfn|Valentino|2004|pp=121–122}} were sent to [[laogai|"reform through labour"]] camps where many perished.{{sfn|Valentino|2004|pp=121–122}} Mao played a personal role in organising the mass repressions and established a system of execution quotas,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.4.2005/CRF-2005-4_Quota.pdf |title=Mao's "Killing Quotas." Human Rights in China (HRIC). September&nbsp;26, 2005, at Shandong University |last=Changyu |first=Li |access-date=21 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090729194758/http://www.hrichina.org/public/PDFs/CRF.4.2005/CRF-2005-4_Quota.pdf |archive-date=29 July 2009}}</ref> which were often exceeded.{{sfn|Kuisong|2008}} He defended these killings as necessary for the securing of power.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/chinesehistory/pgp/jeremy50sessay.htm |title=Terrible Honeymoon: Struggling with the Problem of Terror in Early 1950s China |last=Brown |first=Jeremy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627092313/http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/chinesehistory/pgp/jeremy50sessay.htm |archive-date=27 June 2009}}</ref>
The extent of Mao's knowledge of the severity of the situation has been disputed. Mao's physician believed that he may have been unaware of the extent of the famine, partly due to a reluctance to criticise his policies and decisions and the willingness of his staff to exaggerate or outright fake reports regarding food production.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|pp=283–4, 295}}</ref> Upon learning of the extent of the starvation, Mao vowed to stop eating meat, an action followed by his staff.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|p=340}}</ref>


[[File:Mao, Bulganin, Stalin, Ulbricht Tsedenbal.jpeg|thumb|left|Mao at [[Joseph Stalin]]'s 71st birthday celebration in Moscow, December 1949]]
[[File:People's commone canteen3.jpg|thumb|left|250px|In the beginning, commune members were able to eat for free at the commune canteens. This changed when food production slowed to a halt.]]


The government is credited with eradicating both consumption and production of [[opium]] during the 1950s.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Bottelier |first=Pieter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMhUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131 |title=Economic Policy Making In China (1949–2016): The Role of Economists |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-1351393812 |pages=131 |language=en |quote=We should remember, however, that Mao also did wonderful things for China; apart from reuniting the country, he restored a sense of natural pride, greatly improved women's rights, basic healthcare and primary education, ended opium abuse, simplified Chinese characters, developed pinyin and promoted its use for teaching purposes. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="McCoy opium" /> Ten million addicts were forced into compulsory treatment, dealers were executed, and opium-producing regions were planted with new crops. Remaining opium production shifted south of the Chinese border into the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] region.<ref name="McCoy opium">{{cite web |url=http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/opi010.htm |title=Opium History, 1858 to 1940 |first=Alfred W. |last=McCoy |access-date=4 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404134938/http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/opi010.htm |archive-date=4 April 2007}}</ref>
Hong Kong-based historian [[Frank Dikötter]], <ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/opinion/16iht-eddikotter16.html | title=Mao's Great Leap to Famine | author=Dikötter, Frank | newspaper=[[International Herald Tribune]] | date=15 December 15, 2010}}</ref> challenged the notion that Mao did not know about the famine until it was too late:


=== Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns ===
<blockquote>The idea that the state mistakenly took too much grain from the countryside because it assumed that the harvest was much larger than it was is largely a myth—at most partially true for the autumn of 1958 only. In most cases the party knew very well that it was starving its own people to death. At a secret meeting in the Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai dated March 25, 1959, Mao specifically ordered the party to procure up to one third of all the grain, much more than had ever been the case. At the meeting he announced that "When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill."
Starting in 1951, Mao initiated movements to rid urban areas of corruption; the [[Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns]]. Whereas the three-anti campaign was a focused purge of government, industrial and party officials, the five-anti campaign set its sights slightly more broadly, targeting capitalist elements in general.<ref>{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Fairbank |first2=Merle |last2=Goldman |title=China: A New History |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=The [[Belknap Press]] of [[Harvard University Press]] |date=2002 |page=349}}</ref> Workers denounced their bosses, spouses turned on their spouses, and children informed on their parents; the victims were often humiliated at [[struggle session]]s, where a targeted person would be verbally and physically abused until they confessed to crimes. Mao insisted that minor offenders be criticised and reformed or sent to labour camps, "while the worst among them should be shot". These campaigns took several hundred thousand additional lives, the vast majority via suicide.{{sfn|Short|2001|p=437}}
<ref name="Dikottersite">[http://web.mac.com/dikotter/Dikotter/Famine_2.html Frank Dikötter, Mao's Great Famine, Key Arguments]</ref></blockquote>


[[File:Mao dalai lama-1955.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Mao and [[Zhou Enlai]] meeting with the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] (right) and [[Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama|Panchen Lama]] (left) to celebrate the [[Losar|Tibetan New Year]], Beijing, 1955]]
In ''Hungry Ghosts'', [[Jasper Becker]] notes that Mao was dismissive of reports he received of food shortages in the countryside and refused to change course, believing that peasants were lying and that [[rightists]] and [[kulaks]] were hoarding grain. He refused to open state granaries,<ref name="Becker81">{{Harvnb|Becker|1998|p=81}}</ref> and instead launched a series of "anti-grain concealment" drives that resulted in numerous purges and suicides.<ref>{{Harvnb|Becker|1998|p=86}}</ref> Other violent campaigns followed in which party leaders went from village to village in search of hidden food reserves, and not only grain, as Mao issued quotas for pigs, chickens, ducks and eggs. Many peasants accused of hiding food were tortured and beaten to death.<ref>{{Harvnb|Becker|1998|p=93}}</ref>


In Shanghai, suicide by jumping from tall buildings became so commonplace that residents avoided walking on the pavement near skyscrapers for fear that suicides might land on them.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808241-5,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318093047/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808241-5,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 March 2008 |title=High Tide of Terror |date=5 March 1956 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=11 May 2009}}</ref> Some biographers have pointed out that driving those perceived as enemies to suicide was a common tactic during the Mao-era. In his biography of Mao, [[Philip Short]] notes that Mao gave explicit instructions in the [[Yan'an Rectification Movement]] that "no cadre is to be killed" but in practice allowed security chief [[Kang Sheng]] to drive opponents to suicide and that "this pattern was repeated throughout his leadership of the People's Republic".{{sfn|Short|2001|p=631}}
In contrast, socialist journals such as the ''[[Monthly Review]]'' have disputed the reliability of the figures commonly cited, the qualitative evidence of a "massive death toll", and Mao's complicity in those deaths which occurred.<ref>[http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?] by Joseph Ball, ''[[Monthly Review]]'', September 21, 2006</ref>


[[File:Mao Zedong sitting.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Photo of Mao sitting, published in "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung", ca. 1955]]
Whatever the case, the Great Leap Forward caused Mao to lose esteem among many of the top party cadres and was eventually forced to abandon the policy in 1962, while losing some political power to moderate leaders, perhaps most notably [[Liu Shaoqi]] and [[Deng Xiaoping]] in the process. However, Mao, supported by national propaganda, claimed that he was only partly to blame. As a result, he was able to remain Chairman of the Communist Party, with the Presidency transferred to Liu Shaoqi.


=== Five-year plans ===
The Great Leap Forward was a tragedy for the vast majority of the Chinese. Although the steel quotas were officially reached, almost all of the supposed steel made in the countryside was iron, as it had been made from assorted scrap metal in home-made furnaces with no reliable source of fuel such as coal. This meant that proper [[smelting]] conditions could not be achieved. According to Zhang Rongmei, a geometry teacher in rural Shanghai during the Great Leap Forward:
Following the consolidation of power, Mao launched the [[First five-year plan (China)|first five-year plan]] (1953–1958), which emphasised rapid industrial development. Within industry, iron and steel, electric power, coal, heavy engineering, building materials, and basic chemicals were prioritised with the aim of constructing large and highly capital-intensive plants. Many of these plants were built with Soviet assistance and heavy industry grew rapidly.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=1998 |title=China – Economic policies |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/China/Economic-policies |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Agriculture, industry and trade were organised as [[worker cooperative]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zJaAAAAYAAJ |title=Doing Business in the People's Republic of China |date=1994 |publisher=Price, Waterhouse |pages=3 |quote=At the same time, agriculture was organized on a collective basis (socialist cooperatives), as were industry and trade. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> This period marked the beginning of China's rapid industrialisation and it resulted in an enormous success.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=1998 |title=China – The transition to socialism, 1953–57 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/China/The-transition-to-socialism-1953-57 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>


Despite being initially sympathetic towards the [[Governments of Imre Nagy|reformist government]] of [[Imre Nagy]], Mao feared the "reactionary restoration" in Hungary as the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] continued and became more hardline. Mao opposed the withdrawal of Soviet troops by asking [[Liu Shaoqi]] to inform the Soviet representatives to use military intervention against "Western imperialist-backed" protestors and Nagy's government. However, it was unclear to what degree Mao's stance played a role in [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s decision to invade Hungary. It was also unclear if China was forced to conform to the Soviet position due to economic concerns and China's poor power projections compared to the USSR. Despite his disagreements with Moscow's hegemony in the [[Eastern Bloc]], Mao viewed the integrity of the international communist movement as more important than the national autonomy of the countries in the Soviet sphere of influence. The Hungarian crisis also influenced Mao's [[Hundred Flowers Campaign]]. Mao decided to soften his stance on Chinese intelligentsia and allow them to express their social dissatisfaction and criticisms of the errors of the government. Mao wanted to use this movement to prevent a similar uprising in China. However, as people in China began to criticize the CCP's policies and Mao's leadership following the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao cracked down on the movement he initiated and compared it to the "counter-revolutionary" Hungarian Revolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.globalpoliticsreview.com/publications/2464-9929_v01_i01_p18.pdf |journal=Global Politics Review |volume=1 |number=1 |date=October 2015 |pages=18–34 |title=The Hungarian Connection: the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and its Impact on Mao Zedong's Domestic Policies in the late 1950s |first=David Tibor |last=Teszar}}</ref>
<blockquote>
"We took all the furniture, pots, and pans we had in our house, and all our neighbours did likewise. We put everything in a big fire and melted down all the metal."
</blockquote>


During the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao indicated his supposed willingness to consider different opinions about how China should be governed. Given the freedom to express themselves, liberal and intellectual Chinese began opposing the Communist Party and questioning its leadership. This was initially tolerated and encouraged. After a few months, Mao's government reversed its policy and persecuted those who had criticised the party, totalling perhaps {{formatnum:500000}},<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vidal |first=Christine |year=2016 |title=The 1957–1958 Anti-Rightist Campaign in China: History and Memory (1978–2014) |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01306892/document |journal=Hal-SHS}}</ref> as well as those who were merely alleged to have been critical, in what is called the [[Anti-Rightist Movement]]. The movement led to the persecution of at least 550,000 people, mostly intellectuals and dissidents.<ref name="1Mac">{{Cite book |last=MacFarquhar |first=Roderick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrkpx6iKq48C&dq=550000+anti-rightist+china&pg=PA82 |title=The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng |date=13 January 1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-58863-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Li Zhisui, Mao's physician, suggested that Mao had initially seen the policy as a way of weakening opposition to him within the party and that he was surprised by the extent of criticism and the fact that it came to be directed at his own leadership.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|pp=198, 200, 468–469}}</ref>
The worst of the famine was steered towards enemies of the state.<ref>{{Harvnb|Valentino|2004|p=128}}</ref> As [[Jasper Becker]] explains:
<blockquote>
"The most vulnerable section of China's population, around five per cent, were those whom Mao called '[[enemies of the people]]'. Anyone who had in previous campaigns of repression been labeled a 'black element' was given the lowest priority in the allocation of food. Landlords, rich peasants, former members of the nationalist regime, religious leaders, rightists, counter-revolutionaries and the families of such individuals died in the greatest numbers."''<ref>{{Harvnb|Becker|1998|p=103}}</ref>
</blockquote>


=== Military projects ===
[[File:Kissinger Mao.jpg|thumb|Mao with [[Henry Kissinger]] and [[Zhou Enlai]]; Beijing, 1972.]]
United States President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s threats during the [[First Taiwan Strait Crisis]] to use nuclear weapons against military targets in [[Fujian]] province prompted Mao to begin China's nuclear program.<ref name=":172">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=89–90}} Under Mao's [[Two Bombs, One Satellite]] program, China developed the atomic and hydrogen bombs in record time{{Quantify|date=February 2024}} and launched a satellite a few years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Jin |first=Keyu |title=The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism |date=2023 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-1-9848-7828-1 |location=New York |author-link=Keyu Jin}}</ref>{{Rp|page=218}}


[[Project 523]]<ref name=hsu2006>{{cite journal |last1 = Hsu |first1 = Elisabeth |title = Reflections on the 'discovery' of the antimalarial qinghao |journal = [[British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology]] |year = 2006 |volume = 61 |issue = 6 |pages = 666–670 |doi = 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2006.02673.x |pmid = 16722826 |pmc = 1885105}}</ref> is a 1967 military project to find [[antimalarial medication]]s.<ref name="meera">{{cite web |last1 = Senthilingam |first1 = Meera |title = Chemistry in its element: compounds: Artemisinin |url = http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/podcast/CIIEcompounds/transcripts/artemisinin.asp |work = [[Chemistry World]] |publisher = [[Royal Society of Chemistry]] |access-date = 27 April 2015}}</ref> It addressed [[malaria]], an important threat in the [[Vietnam War]]. [[Zhou Enlai]] convinced Mao Zedong to start the mass project "to keep [the] allies' troops combat-ready", as the [[meeting minutes]] put it. The one for investigating [[traditional Chinese medicine]] discovered and led to the development of a class of new antimalarial drugs called [[artemisinin]]s.<ref name="tu2011">{{cite journal |last1 = Tu |first1 = Youyou |title = The discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu) and gifts from Chinese medicine |journal = Nature Medicine |year = 2011 |volume = 17 |issue = 10 |pages = 1217–1220 |doi = 10.1038/nm.2471 |pmid = 21989013|s2cid = 10021463 }}</ref>
===Consequences===
At the [[Lushan Conference]] in July/August 1959, several leaders expressed concern that the Great Leap Forward had not proved as successful as planned. The most direct of these was Minister of Defence and [[Korean War]] General [[Peng Dehuai]]. Following Peng's criticism of the Great Leap Forward, Mao orchestrated a purge of Peng and his supporters, stifling criticism of the Great Leap policies. Senior officials who reported the truth of the famine to Mao were branded as "right opportunists."<ref>{{Harvnb|Becker|1998|pp=92–93}}</ref> A campaign against right opportunism was launched and resulted in party members and ordinary peasants being sent to camps where many would subsequently die in the famine. Years later the CPC would conclude that 6 million people were wrongly punished in the campaign.<ref>{{Harvnb|Valentino|2004|p=127}}</ref>


=== Great Leap Forward ===
The number of deaths by starvation during the Great Leap Forward is deeply controversial. Until the mid-1980s, when official census figures were finally published by the Chinese Government, little was known about the scale of the disaster in the Chinese countryside, as the handful of Western observers allowed access during this time had been restricted to model villages where they were deceived into believing that the Great Leap Forward had been a great success. There was also an assumption that the flow of individual reports of starvation that had been reaching the West, primarily through Hong Kong and Taiwan, must have been localised or exaggerated as China was continuing to claim record harvests and was a net exporter of grain through the period. Because Mao wanted to pay back early to the Soviets debts totalling 1.973 billion [[Chinese yuan|yuan]] from 1960 to 1962,<ref name="Yang Jisheng"/> exports increased by 50%, and fellow Communist regimes in [[North Korea]], [[North Vietnam]] and [[Socialist People's Republic of Albania|Albania]] were provided grain free of charge.<ref name="Becker81"/>
{{Main|Great Leap Forward}}
[[File:Nikita Khrushchev, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh and Soong Ching-ling.jpg|thumb|Mao with [[Nikita Khrushchev]], [[Ho Chi Minh]], and [[Soong Ching-ling]] during a state dinner in Beijing, 1959]]


In January 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, to turn China from an agrarian nation to an industrialised one.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-silence-that-preceded-chinas-great-leap-into-famine-51898077/ |title=The Silence that Preceded China's Great Leap into Famine |last=King |first=Gilbert |website=[[Smithsonian]] |access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> The relatively small agricultural collectives that had been formed were merged into far larger [[people's commune]]s, and many peasants were ordered to work on infrastructure projects and on the production of iron and steel. Some private food production was banned, and livestock and farm implements were brought under collective ownership.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Slatyer |first=Will |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tprrCQAAQBAJ |title=The Life/Death Rhythms of Capitalist Regimes - Debt Before Dishonour: Timetable of World Dominance 1400-2100 |date=20 February 2015 |publisher=Partridge Publishing Singapore |isbn=978-1-4828-2961-7 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]|page=509}}</ref>
Censuses were carried out in China in 1953, 1964 and 1982. The first attempt to analyse this data to estimate the number of famine deaths was carried out by American demographer Dr. Judith Banister and published in 1984. Given the lengthy gaps between the censuses and doubts over the reliability of the data, an accurate figure is difficult to ascertain. Nevertheless, Banister concluded that the official data implied that around 15 million excess deaths incurred in China during 1958–61, and that based on her modelling of Chinese demographics during the period and taking account of assumed under-reporting during the famine years, the figure was around 30 million. The official statistic is 20 million deaths, as given by [[Hu Yaobang]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=761}}</ref> [[Yang Jisheng]], a former [[Xinhua News Agency]] reporter who had privileged access and connections available to no other scholars, estimates a death toll of 36 million.<ref name="Yang Jisheng">Mark O'Neill. [http://en.chinaelections.org/newsinfo.asp?newsid=18328# A hunger for the truth: A new book, banned on the mainland, is becoming the definitive account of the Great Famine.] South China Morning Post, July 6, 2008.</ref> Frank Dikötter estimates that there were at least 45 million premature deaths attributable to the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1962.<ref>{{Cite news |url= http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html |title= Mao's Great Leap Forward 'killed 45 million in four years' |last= Akbar |first= Arifa |date= September 17, 2010 |accessdate= September 20, 2010 |location= London |work= The Independent}}; {{Harvnb|Dikötter|2010|p=333}}</ref> Various other sources have put the figure at between 20 and 46 million.<ref name="maostats"/>


The effect of the diversion of labour to steel production and infrastructure projects, and cyclical [[natural disaster]]s led to an approximately 15% drop in grain production in 1959 followed by a further 10% decline in 1960 and no recovery in 1961.<ref name="Spence1999 p553">{{Harvnb|Spence|1999}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}<!-- Book has only 188 pages, so page 553 does not look right --></ref>
On the international front, the period was dominated by the further isolation of China. The [[Sino-Soviet split]] resulted in [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s withdrawal of all Soviet technical experts and aid from the country. The split was triggered by arguments over the control and direction of [[world Communism]] (also known as international Communism or global Communism) and other disputes pertaining to foreign policy.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} Most of the problems regarding Communist unity resulted from the death of [[Joseph Stalin]] in March 1953 and his replacement by Khrushchev. Only [[People's Republic of Albania|Albania]] under the leadership of [[Enver Hoxha]] openly sided with China against the Soviets, which began an alliance between the two countries which would last until the [[Sino-Albanian split]] after Mao's death in 1976.


To win favour with their superiors and avoid being purged, each layer in the party exaggerated the amount of grain produced under them. Based upon the falsely reported success, party cadres were ordered to requisition a high amount of that fictitious harvest. The result, compounded in some areas by drought and in others by floods, was that farmers were left with little food and many millions starved to death in the [[Great Chinese Famine]]. The people of urban areas were given food stamps each month, but the people of rural areas were expected to grow their own crops and give some of the crops back to the government. The death count in rural parts of China surpassed the deaths in the urban centers.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Yushi |first1=Mao |title=Lessons from China's Great Famine |journal=The Cato Journal |date=22 September 2014 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=483–491 |id={{Gale|A387348115}} |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/7453e8c6f7d53a0684e517742c966e39/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=37750}}</ref> The famine was a direct cause of the death of some 30 million Chinese peasants between 1959 and 1962.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smil |first1=V. |title=China's great famine: 40 years later |journal=[[British Medical Journal|BMJ]] |date=18 December 1999 |volume=319 |issue=7225 |pages=1619–1621 |doi=10.1136/bmj.319.7225.1619 |pmid=10600969 |pmc=1127087}}</ref> Many children became malnourished.<ref name="Spence1999 p553"/>
Stalin had established himself as the successor of "correct" [[Marxist]] thought well before Mao controlled the [[Communist Party of China]], and therefore Mao never challenged the suitability of any Stalinist doctrine (at least while Stalin was alive). Upon the death of Stalin, Mao believed (perhaps because of seniority) that the leadership of the "correct" Marxist doctrine would fall to him. The resulting tension between Khrushchev (at the head of a politically and militarily superior government), and Mao (believing he had a superior understanding of Marxist ideology) eroded the previous patron-client relationship between the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] and the CPC.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} In China, the formerly favourable Soviets were now denounced as "revisionists" and listed alongside "American imperialism" as movements to oppose.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}}


In late autumn 1958, Mao condemned the practices used during Great Leap Forward such as forcing peasants to do labour without enough food or rest which resulted in epidemics and starvation. He also acknowledged that anti-rightist campaigns were a major cause of "production at the expense of livelihood." He refused to abandon the Great Leap Forward, but he did demand that they be confronted. After the July 1959 [[Lushan Conference|clash at Lushan]] Conference with [[Peng Dehuai]], Mao launched a new anti-rightist campaign along with the radical policies that he previously abandoned. It wasn't until the spring of 1960, that Mao would again express concern about abnormal deaths and other abuses, but he did not move to stop them. Bernstein concludes that the Chairman "wilfully ignored the lessons of the first radical phase for the sake of achieving extreme ideological and developmental goals".<ref name="wilfulness">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas P.|first1=Bernstein |title=Mao Zedong and the Famine of 1959–1960: A Study in Wilfulness |journal=The China Quarterly |date=June 2006 |volume=186 |issue=186 |pages=421–445 |doi=10.1017/S0305741006000221 |jstor=20192620 |s2cid=153728069}}</ref>
Partly surrounded by hostile American military bases (in South Korea, Japan, and [[Taiwan]]), China was now confronted with a new [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] threat from the north and west. Both the internal crisis and the external threat called for extraordinary statesmanship from Mao, but as China entered the new decade the statesmen of the People's Republic were in hostile confrontation with each other.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}


[[File:Mao Zedong shakes hands with People's commune workers.jpg|thumb|Mao shaking hands with a people's commune farmer, 1959]]
At a large Communist Party conference in Beijing in January 1962, called the "Conference of the Seven Thousand," State Chairman Liu Shaoqi denounced the Great Leap Forward as responsible for widespread famine.<ref name="Chang">{{Harvnb|Chang|Halliday|2005|pp=568, 579}}</ref> The overwhelming majority of delegates expressed agreement, but Defense Minister [[Lin Biao]] staunchly defended Mao.<ref name="Chang"/> A brief period of liberalization followed while Mao and Lin plotted a comeback.<ref name="Chang"/> Liu Shaoqi and [[Deng Xiaoping]] rescued the economy by disbanding the people's communes, introducing elements of private control of peasant smallholdings and importing grain from Canada and Australia to mitigate the worst effects of famine.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}}
Mao stepped down as President of China on 27 April 1959; he retained other top positions such as Chairman of the Communist Party and of the Central Military Commission.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1=Li |first1=Xiaobing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fm5BAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |title=Evolution of Power: China's Struggle, Survival, and Success |last2=Tian |first2=Xiansheng |year=2013 |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |isbn=978-0739184981 |pages=41 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Presidency was transferred to [[Liu Shaoqi]].<ref name=":5" /> Mao eventually abandoned the policy in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Three Chinese Leaders: Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_leaders.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211053051/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_leaders.htm |archive-date=11 December 2013 |access-date=22 April 2020 |website=[[Columbia University]]}}</ref> Liu Shaoqi and [[Deng Xiaoping]] rescued the economy by disbanding the people's communes, introducing elements of private control of peasant smallholdings and importing grain from Canada and Australia to mitigate the worst effects of famine.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lsHLDAAAQBAJ&q=Liu+Shaoqi+and+Deng+Xiaoping+rescued+the+economy+by+disbanding+the+people's+communes,+introducing+elements+of+private+control+of+peasant+smallholdings+and+importing+grain+from+Canada+and+Australia+to+mitigate+the+worst+effects+of+famine.&pg=PT373 |title=50 Great Military Leaders of All Time |last=Tibbetts |first=Jann |year=2016 |publisher=Vij Books India Pvt Ltd |isbn=978-9385505669 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>


At the [[Lushan Conference]] in July/August 1959, several ministers expressed concern that the Great Leap Forward had not proved as successful as planned. The most direct of these was Minister of Defence [[Peng Dehuai]]. Following Peng's criticism of the Great Leap Forward, Mao made a purge of Peng and his supporters, stifling criticism of the Great Leap policies. A campaign was launched and resulted in party members and ordinary peasants being sent to prison labour camps. Years later the CCP would conclude that as many as six million people were wrongly punished in the campaign.{{sfn|Valentino|2004|p=127}}
===Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution===
{{Main|Cultural Revolution}}
<!-- Commented out: [[File:Destroy the old world Cultural Revolution poster.png|thumb|200px|Chinese propaganda poster from the Cultural Revolution: "Destroy the old world. Forge the new world." A Red Guard crushes the crucifix, Buddha, and classical Chinese texts with a hammer; 1967.]] -->


=== Split from Soviet Union ===
Mao was concerned with the nature of post-1959 China. He saw that the revolution had replaced the old elite with a new one. He was concerned that those in power were becoming estranged from the people they were supposed to serve. Mao believed that a revolution of culture would unseat and unsettle the "ruling class" and keep China in a state of "perpetual revolution" that, theoretically, would serve the interests of the majority, not a tiny elite.<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=140}}</ref> [[Liu Shaoqi]] and [[Deng Xiaoping]], then the State Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, had favoured the idea that Mao should be removed from actual power but maintain his ceremonial and symbolic role, with the party upholding all of his positive contributions to the revolution. They attempted to marginalise Mao by taking control of economic policy and asserting themselves politically as well. Many claim that Mao responded to Liu and Deng's movements by launching the [[Cultural Revolution|Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution]] in 1966. Some scholars, such as Mobo Gao, claim the case for this is perhaps overstated.<ref>For a full treatment of this idea, see {{Harvnb|Gao|2008}}</ref> Others, such as [[Frank Dikötter]], hold that Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to wreak revenge on those who had dared to challenge him over the Great Leap Forward.<ref>Jonathan Mirsky. [http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/mirsky_09_10.html ''Livelihood Issues.''] [[Literary Review]]</ref>
{{Main|Sino-Soviet split}}
[[File:President Gerald Ford and Daughter Susan Watch as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Shakes Hands with Mao Tse-Tung.jpg|thumb|U.S. President [[Gerald Ford]] watches as [[Henry Kissinger]] shakes hands with Mao during their visit to China, 2 December 1975]]


The [[Sino-Soviet split]] resulted in [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s withdrawal of Soviet technical experts and aid from the country. The split concerned the leadership of [[world communism]]. The USSR had a network of Communist parties it supported; China now created its own rival network to battle it out.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=20029719 |title=Sino-Soviet Competition in Africa |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]] |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=640–654 |last1=Scalapino |first1=Robert A. |year=1964 |doi=10.2307/20029719}}</ref> Lorenz M. Lüthi writes: "The Sino-Soviet split was one of the key events of the Cold War, equal in importance to the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Second Vietnam War, and Sino-American rapprochement. The split helped to determine the framework of the Second Cold War in general, and influenced the course of the Second Vietnam War in particular."<ref>{{cite book |first=Lorenz M. |last=Lüthi |title=The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dl4TRDxqexMC |year=2010 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |page=1 |isbn=978-1400837625 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
Believing that certain liberal bourgeois elements of society continued to threaten the socialist framework, groups of young people known as the [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]] struggled against authorities at all levels of society and even set up their own tribunals. Chaos reigned in much of the nation, and millions were persecuted, including a famous philosopher, Chen Yuen. During the Cultural Revolution, the schools in China were closed and the young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to the countryside to be "re-educated" by the peasants, where they performed hard manual labour and other work.


The split resulted from Khrushchev's more moderate Soviet leadership after the death of Stalin in March 1953. Only Albania openly sided with China, thereby forming an alliance between the two countries. Warned that the Soviets had nuclear weapons, Mao minimised the threat.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jasper |last=Becker |title=The Chinese |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyGtw4cXJjMC&pg=PA271 |year=2002 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=271 |isbn=978-0199727223 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Struggle against Soviet revisionism and U.S. imperialism was an important aspect of Mao's attempt to direct the revolution in the right direction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garver |first=John W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_OuCgAAQBAJ |title=China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China |date=2016 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0190261054 |pages=132 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
The Revolution led to the destruction of much of China's traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge number of Chinese citizens, as well as creating general economic and social chaos in the country. Millions of lives were ruined during this period, as the Cultural Revolution pierced into every part of Chinese life, depicted by such Chinese films as ''[[To Live (film)|To Live]]'', ''[[The Blue Kite]]'' and ''[[Farewell My Concubine (film)|Farewell My Concubine]]''. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.<ref name="maostats">{{cite web|url= http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#Mao |title= Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm |publisher= Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century |accessdate= August 23, 2008 }}</ref>


In the late 1950s, Mao wrote reading notes responding to the Soviet Book ''Political Economy: A Textbook'' and essays (''[[A Critique of Soviet Economics]]'') responding to Stalin's ''[[Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR]].<ref name=":322">{{Cite book |last=Hammond |first=Ken |title=China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future |publisher=1804 Books |year=2023 |isbn=9781736850084 |location=New York, NY |pages=}}</ref>''{{Rp|page=51}} These texts reflect Mao's views that the USSR was becoming alienated from the masses and distorting socialist development.<ref name=":322" />{{Rp|page=51}}
When Mao was informed of such losses, particularly that people had been driven to suicide, he is alleged to have commented: "People who try to commit suicide&nbsp;— don't attempt to save them!&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. China is such a populous nation, it is not as if we cannot do without a few people."<ref>{{Harvnb|MacFarquhar|2006|p=110}}</ref> The authorities allowed the Red Guards to abuse and kill opponents of the regime. Said [[Xie Fuzhi]], national police chief: "Don't say it is wrong of them to beat up bad persons: if in anger they beat someone to death, then so be it."<ref>{{Harvnb|MacFarquhar|2006|p=125}}</ref> As a result, in August and September 1966, there were 1,772 people murdered in Beijing alone.<ref>{{Harvnb|MacFarquhar|2006|p=124}}</ref>


=== Third Front ===
[[File:Struggle session against class enemy.jpg|thumb|left|1967 mass rally in [[Shenyang]] against "class enemies" during the Cultural Revolution.]]
[[File:Kissinger Mao.jpg|thumb|Mao with [[Henry Kissinger]] and [[Zhou Enlai]], Beijing, 1972]]
[[File:Mao Zedong with Emperor Haile Selassie I.webp|thumb|Ethiopian Emperor [[Haile Selassie|Haile Selassie I]] with Mao in 1971 after the death of [[Lin Biao]] ]]
{{Main|Third Front (China)}}
After the Great Leap Forward, China's leadership slowed the pace of industrialization.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Meyskens |first=Covell F. |url= |title=Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China |date=2020 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-78478-8 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |doi=10.1017/9781108784788 |oclc=1145096137 |s2cid=218936313}}</ref>{{Rp|page=3}} It invested more on in China's coastal regions and focused on the production of consumer goods.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=3}} Preliminary drafts of the Third Five Year Plan contained no provision for developing large scale industry in China's interior.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=29}} After an April 1964 General Staff report concluded that the concentration of China's industry in its major coastal cities made it vulnerable to attack by foreign powers, Mao argued for the development of basic industry and national defense industry in protected locations in China's interior.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=4, 54}} Although other key leaders did not initially support the idea, the 2 August 1964 [[Gulf of Tonkin incident]] increased fears of a potential invasion by the United States and crystallized support for Mao's industrialization proposal, which came to be known as the Third Front.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=7}} Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, Mao's own concerns of invasion by the United States increased.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Hou |first=Li |title=Building for oil: Daqing and the Formation of the Chinese Socialist State |date=2021 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |isbn=978-0-674-26022-1 |edition= |series=[[Harvard-Yenching Institute]] monograph series |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=100}} He wrote to central cadres, "A war is going to break out. I need to reconsider my actions" and pushed even harder for the creation of the Third Front.<ref name=":12" />{{Rp|page=100}}


The secretive Third Front construction involved massive projects including extensive railroad infrastructure like the [[Chengdu–Kunming railway|Chengdu–Kunming line]],<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=153–164}} aerospace industry including satellite launch facilities,<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=218–219}} and steel production industry including [[Panzhihua Iron and Steel]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=9}}
It was during this period that Mao chose [[Lin Biao]], who seemed to echo all of Mao's ideas, to become his successor. Lin was later officially named as Mao's successor. By 1971, however, a divide between the two men became apparent. Official history in China states that Lin was planning a military coup or an assassination attempt on Mao. Lin Biao died in a plane crash over the air space of Mongolia, presumably on his way to flee China, probably anticipating his arrest. The CPC declared that Lin was planning to depose Mao, and posthumously expelled Lin from the party. At this time, Mao lost trust in many of the top CPC figures. The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. [[Ion Mihai Pacepa]] described his conversation with [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]] who told him about a plot to kill Mao Zedong with the help of [[Lin Biao]] organised by the [[KGB]].<ref name="Pacepa0">{{cite web|url= http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzY4NWU2ZjY3YWYxMDllNWQ5MjQ3ZGJmMzg3MmQyNjQ= |title= The Kremlin's Killing Ways |author= Ion Mihai Pacepa |work= National Review |date= November 28, 2006 |accessdate= August 23, 2008 }}</ref>


Development of the Third Front slowed in 1966, but accelerated again after the [[Sino-Soviet border conflict]] at Zhenbao Island, which increased the perceived risk of Soviet Invasion.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=12, 150}} Third Front construction again decreased after United States President [[1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China|Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China]] and the resulting rapprochement between the United States and China.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=225–229}} When Reform and Opening up began after Mao's death, China began to gradually wind down Third Front projects.<ref name=":92">{{Cite book |last1=Marquis |first1=Christopher |url= |title=Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise |last2=Qiao |first2=Kunyuan |date=2022 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-26883-6 |location=New Haven |doi=10.2307/j.ctv3006z6k |jstor=j.ctv3006z6k |oclc=1348572572 |author-link=Christopher Marquis |s2cid=253067190}}</ref>{{Rp|page=180}} The Third Front distributed physical and human capital around the country, ultimately decreased regional disparities and created favorable conditions for later market development.<ref name=":92" />{{Rp|pages=177–182}}
In 1969, Mao declared the Cultural Revolution to be over, although the official history of the People's Republic of China marks the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 with Mao's death. In the last years of his life, Mao was faced with declining health due to either [[Parkinson's disease]] or, according to his physician, [[amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|p=581}}</ref> as well as lung ailments due to smoking and heart trouble. Some also attributed Mao's decline in health to the betrayal of Lin Biao. Mao remained passive as various factions within the Communist Party mobilised for the power struggle anticipated after his death.


=== Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution ===
This period is often looked at in official circles in China and in the West as a great stagnation or even of reversal for China. While many—an estimated 100 million—did suffer,<ref>{{Harvnb|Chirot|1996|p=198}}</ref> some scholars, such as Lee Feigon and Mobo Gao, claim there were many great advances, and in some sectors the Chinese economy continued to outperform the west.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvnb|Gao|2008}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}</ref> They hold that the Cultural Revolution period laid the foundation for the spectacular growth that continues in China. During the Cultural Revolution, China exploded its [[Test No. 6|first H-Bomb]] (1967), launched the [[Dong Fang Hong]] satellite (January 30, 1970), commissioned its first nuclear submarines and made various advances in science and technology. Healthcare was free, and living standards in the countryside continued to improve.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
{{Main|Cultural Revolution}}
[[File:1966-11 1966年毛泽东林彪与红卫兵.jpg|thumb|200px|right|A public appearance of Chairman Mao and [[Lin Biao]] among [[Red Guards]], in Beijing, during the [[Cultural Revolution]] (November 1966)]]
During the early 1960s, Mao became concerned with the nature of post-1959 China. He saw that the old ruling elite was replaced by a new one. He was concerned that those in power were becoming estranged from the people they were to serve. Mao believed that a revolution of culture would unseat and unsettle the "ruling class" and keep China in a state of "[[Continuous revolution theory|continuous revolution]]" that, theoretically, would serve the interests of the majority, rather than a tiny and privileged elite.{{sfn|Feigon|2002|p=140}}


The Cultural Revolution led to the destruction of much of China's traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of many Chinese citizens, as well as the creation of chaos in the country. Millions of lives were ruined, as the Cultural Revolution pierced into Chinese life. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.<ref name="maostats">{{cite web |url=http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#Mao |title=Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm |publisher=Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century |access-date=23 August 2008}}</ref> This included prominent figures such as Liu Shaoqi.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/05/cultural-revolution-china/482964/ |title=The Cultural Revolution's Legacy in China |last=Vasilogambros |first=Matt |date=16 May 2016 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/1179 |title=Debating the Cultural Revolution in China |website=Reviews in History |access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pye |first=Lucian W. |year=1986 |title=Reassessing the Cultural Revolution |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=108 |issue=108 |pages=597–612 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000037085 |issn=0305-7410 |jstor=653530 |s2cid=153730706}}</ref>
==Death and aftermath==
{{Tone|section|date=April 2012}}
{{further|Mausoleum of Mao Zedong}}


It was during this period that Mao chose [[Lin Biao]] to become his successor. Lin was later officially named as Mao's successor. By 1971, a divide between the two men had become apparent. [[Lin Biao incident|Lin Biao died on 13 September 1971]], in a plane crash over the air space of Mongolia, presumably as he fled China, probably anticipating his arrest. The CCP declared that Lin was planning to depose Mao and posthumously expelled Lin from the party. At this time, Mao lost trust in many of the top CCP figures. The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. [[Ion Mihai Pacepa]] claimed he had a conversation with [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], who told him about a plot to kill Mao with the help of Lin Biao organised by the [[KGB]].<ref name="Pacepa0">{{cite web |url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzY4NWU2ZjY3YWYxMDllNWQ5MjQ3ZGJmMzg3MmQyNjQ= |title=The Kremlin's Killing Ways |author=Ion Mihai Pacepa |work=National Review |date=28 November 2006 |access-date=23 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808171854/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzY4NWU2ZjY3YWYxMDllNWQ5MjQ3ZGJmMzg3MmQyNjQ%3D |archive-date=8 August 2007}}</ref>
Mao had been in poor health for several years and had declined visibly for at least six months prior to his death. A heavy smoker and drinker during most of his adult life, he had multiple lung and heart ailments during his later years. There are unconfirmed reports that he possibly had [[Parkinson's disease]] or [[Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]], also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Mao's last public appearance—and the last known photograph of him alive—was on May 27, 1976, where he met the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] during the latter's one-day visit to Beijing. The Chairman suffered two major heart attacks in early 1976 before a third struck on September 5, rendering him an invalid. Mao Zedong died nearly four days later at 00:10 hours on September 9, 1976. The party delayed the announcement of his death until 16:00 later that day, when a radio message broadcast across the nation broke the news while appealing for party unity.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0909.html#article</ref> His embalmed, CPC flag-draped body lay in state at the Great Hall of the People for one week. During that period, millions of Chinese—the majority crying openly or otherwise displaying some kind of sadness—and many foreign dignitaries (including numerous grief-stricken heads of state) filed past Mao to pay their last respects. As the clock struck 15:00 Beijing time on September 18, a sombre cacophony of guns, sirens, whistles and horns all across China were spontaneously blown in observance of a three-minute silence. At the same time, those who heard the sustained noise ceased all activity. The final service on that day was concluded by Hua Guofeng's 20-minute-long eulogy atop Tiananmen Gate, packed with and surrounded by millions of people. Mao's body was later permanently interred [[Mausoleum of Mao Zedong|a spectacular mausoleum]], even though he had wished to be cremated and had been one of the first high-ranking officials to sign the "Proposal that all Central Leaders be Cremated after Death" in November 1956.[203]


In 1969, Mao declared the Cultural Revolution to be over. Various historians mark the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, following Mao's death and the arrest of the [[Gang of Four]].<ref>Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution lasting until 1976:
As anticipated after Mao's death, there was a power struggle for control of China. On one side was the left wing led by the [[Gang of Four]], who wanted to continue the policy of revolutionary mass mobilization. On the other side was the right wing opposing these policies. Among the latter group, the right wing restorationists, led by Chairman Hua Guofeng, advocated a return to central planning along the Soviet model, whereas the right wing reformers, led by Deng Xiaoping, wanted to overhaul the Chinese economy based on market-oriented policies and to de-emphasise the role of Maoist ideology in determining economic and political policy. Eventually, the reformers won control of the government. Deng Xiaoping, with clear seniority over Hua Guofeng, defeated Hua in a bloodless power struggle a few years later.


* {{cite web |title=Marxists.org Glossary: Cultural Revolution |url=https://www.marxists.org/glossary/events/c/u.htm |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |publisher=Encyclopedia of Marxism}}
==Legacy==
* {{cite web |title=The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, 1966–1976 |url=http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cultrev.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424130644/http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/cultrev.htm |archive-date=24 April 2019 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=sjsu.edu |publisher=San José State University Department of Economics}}
[[File:Tiananmen Mao.jpg|thumb|A large portrait of Mao by [[Zhang Zhenshi]] at [[Tiananmen]]]]
* {{cite web |last1=Spence |first1=Jonathan |year=2001 |title=Introduction to the Cultural Revolution |url=http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/115/CRintro.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131124840/http://iis-db.stanford.edu/docs/115/CRintro.pdf |archive-date=31 January 2016 |access-date=6 October 2015 |website=iis-db.stanford.edu}} – Adapted from ''[[The Search for Modern China]]''</ref> The Central Committee in 1981 [[Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China|officially declared]] the Cultural Revolution a "severe setback" for the PRC.<ref>"Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", (Adopted by the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 27 June 1981) ''Resolution on CPC History (1949–81).'' (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1981). p. 32.</ref>


An estimate of around 400,000 deaths is a widely accepted minimum figure, according to [[Maurice Meisner]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YpV7vbvclfgC&pg=PA354 |title=Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic |edition=3rd |first=Maurice |last=Meisner |page=354 |publisher=Free Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0684856353 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> MacFarquhar and Schoenhals assert that in rural China alone some 36&nbsp;million people were persecuted, of whom between 750,000 and 1.5&nbsp;million were killed, with roughly the same number permanently injured.{{sfn|MacFarquhar|Schoenhals|2006|p=262}}
Mao remains a controversial figure and there is little agreement over his legacy both in China and abroad. Supporters generally credit him with and praise him for having unified China and for ending the previous decades of civil war. He is also credited for having improved the status of women in China and for improving literacy and education. His policies caused the deaths of tens of millions of people during his 27-year reign, more than any other Twentieth Century leader, however supporters point out that in spite of this, life expectancy improved during his reign. His supporters claim that he rapidly industrialised China; however, others have claimed that his policies such as the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution", were impediments to industrialisation and modernisation. His supporters claim that his policies laid the groundwork for China's later rise to become an economic superpower, while others claim that his policies delayed economic development and that China's economy only underwent its rapid growth after Mao's policies had been widely abandoned. Mao's revolutionary tactics continue to be used by insurgents, and his political ideology continues to be embraced by many Communist organizations around the world.


== State visits ==
In mainland China, Mao is still revered by many supporters of the Communist Party and respected by the majority of the general population as the "[[List of national founders|Founding Father]] of modern China", credited for giving "the Chinese people dignity and self-respect."<ref name="Biography 2005">[[Biography (TV series)]] [http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3081083673/ Mao Tse Tung: China's Peasant Emperor] [[A&E Network]] 2005, ASIN B000AABKXG {{time needed|date=January 2013}}</ref> Mobo Gao in his 2008 book ''The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution'', credits Mao for raising the average life expectancy from 35 in 1949 to 63 by 1975, bringing "unity and stability to a country that had been plagued by civil wars and foreign invasions", and laying the foundation for China to "become the equal of the great global powers".<ref name = "MoboGao" /> Gao also lauds Mao for carrying out massive [[land reform]], promoting the status of women, improving popular literacy, and positively "transform(ing) Chinese society beyond recognition."<ref name = "MoboGao">{{Harvnb|Gao|2008|p=81}}</ref>
During his leadership, Mao traveled outside China on two occasions, both times for state visits to the Soviet Union. In his first visit on 16 December 1949, Mao traveled to celebrate the 70th birthday of [[Joseph Stalin]] in Moscow, an event that was also attended by East German deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers [[Walter Ulbricht]] and Mongolian general secretary [[Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal]].<ref>{{lang|ru|Лев Котюков.}} [http://www.ykt.ru/ilken/n0803/s13.htm Забытый поэт.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928062213/http://www.ykt.ru/ilken/n0803/s13.htm |date=28 September 2007 }}</ref> Mao's second visit took place between 2 November and 19 November 1957; highlights included his attendance at the 40th anniversary ([[Ruby Jubilee]]) celebrations of the [[October Revolution]] (he attended the annual [[1957 October Revolution Parade|military parade]] of the Moscow Garrison on [[Red Square]] as well as a banquet in the [[Kremlin]]) and the [[1957 International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties|International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties]], where he met with other communist leaders.<ref name="ParkSnyder2012">{{cite book |first1=Kyung-Ae |last1=Park |first2=Scott |last2=Snyder |title=North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwoD97Y8XPMC&pg=PA214 |year=2012 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-1442218130 |page=214}}</ref>


== Death and aftermath ==
However, Mao has many Chinese critics, both those who live inside and outside China. Opposition to Mao is subject to restriction and censorship in mainland China, but is especially strong elsewhere, where he is often reviled as a brutish ideologue. In the West, his name is generally associated with tyranny and his economic theories are widely discredited—though to some political activists he remains a symbol against [[capitalism]], [[imperialism]] and western influence. Even in China, key pillars of his economic theory have been largely dismantled by market reformers like [[Deng Xiaoping]] and [[Zhao Ziyang]], who succeeded him as leaders of the Communist Party.
{{Main|Death and state funeral of Mao Zedong}}
[[File:Mao Zedong youth art sculpture 4.jpg|thumb|180px|Statue of young Mao in [[Changsha]], the capital of [[Hunan]]]]
{{Further|Chairman Mao Memorial Hall}}{{external media|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raZmROeAo1o Official Chinese documentary on Mao's funeral]|width=210px|float=right}}[[File:Mao Zedong with Z Bhutto.jpeg|left|thumb|upright=0.8|Ailing Mao with Pakistani prime minister [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto|Zulfiqar Bhutto]] during a private visit in May 1976]]
[[File:Mubarak_and_Mao_Zedong.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|With Egyptian vice-president [[Hosni Mubarak]] during the latter's visit to Beijing in 1976]]
Mao's health declined in his final years, probably aggravated by his chain-smoking.<ref>Heavy smoker:
*{{cite book |first=Rebecca E. |last=Karl |title=Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History |year=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0822393023 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqOhYRUITWwC&pg=PA79 |access-date=28 July 2015}}
*{{cite news |first=Heather |last=Timmons |title=The End of China's 'Ashtray Diplomacy' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/12/the-end-of-chinas-ashtray-diplomacy/282703/ |access-date=28 July 2015 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=30 December 2013}}
*{{cite news |first=Johan |last=Nylander |title=Stubbing out Mao's smoky legacy |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/stubbing-out-mao-smoky-legacy-2014255326672545.html |access-date=28 July 2015 |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |date=9 February 2014}}
*{{cite news |first=Jamie |last=Florcruz |title=China clouded in cigarette smoke |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/07/florcruz.china.smokers/ |access-date=28 July 2015 |work=[[CNN]] |date=7 January 2011}}</ref> It became a [[Classified information|state secret]] that he suffered from multiple lung and heart ailments during his later years.<ref name="KissengerTrans">{{cite web |title=The Kissenger Transcripts: Notes and Excerpts |url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/publications/DOC_readers/kissinger/notes.htm |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu |access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> There are unconfirmed reports that he possibly had [[Parkinson's disease]]<ref name="Parkinsons">Parkinson's disease:
*{{cite web |title=Mao Zedong |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/prof_maozedong.html |access-date=28 July 2015 |publisher=[[PBS]]}}
*{{cite web |title=Mao Tse-tung Biography |url=http://www.biography.com/people/mao-tse-tung-9398142 |access-date=28 July 2015 |website=biography.com}}</ref><ref name="NYT1" /> in addition to [[amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]] (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.<ref name="LouGehring">Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis:
*{{cite book |first=Zhisui |last=Li |title=Private Life Of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician |year=2010 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=978-1407059228 |page=581 |edition=illustrated, reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAOHE8xK4OEC&pg=PA581 |access-date=28 July 2015}}
*{{cite book |first=Nicholas |last=Griffin |title=Ping-Pong Diplomacy: Ivor Montagu and the Astonishing Story Behind the Game That Changed the World |year=2014 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-0857207371 |page=163 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXStAAAAQBAJ&pg=PP163 |access-date=28 July 2015}}
*{{cite book |first=Eugene |last=Sadler-Smith |title=The Intuitive Mind: Profiting from the Power of Your Sixth Sense |year=2010 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-0470685389 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zf94TfWkbSAC&pg=PT223 |access-date=28 July 2015}}
*{{cite book |first=William C. |last=Triplett, II |title=Rogue State: How a Nuclear North Korea Threatens America |year=2004 |publisher=Regnery Publishing |isbn=978-0895260680 |page=[https://archive.org/details/roguestate00will/page/224 224] |edition=illustrated |url=https://archive.org/details/roguestate00will |url-access=registration |access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> He suffered two major [[heart attack]]s, one in March and another in late June, then a third on 2 September, rendering him an invalid. He died nearly one week later, on 9 September 1976, at the age of 82.{{sfn|Spence|1999|pp=176–177}} The Communist Party delayed the announcement of his death until 16:00, when a national radio broadcast announced the news and appealed for party unity.<ref name="NYT1">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0909.html#article |title=Mao Tse-Tung Dies In Peking At 82; Leader Of Red China Revolution; Choice Of Successor Is Uncertain |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=25 October 2014}}</ref>


Mao's embalmed body, draped in the CCP flag, lay in state at the [[Great Hall of the People]] for one week.<ref name=Mummy1>{{cite book |first=Christine |last=Quigley |title=Modern Mummies: The Preservation of the Human Body in the Twentieth Century |year=1998 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0786428519 |pages=40–42 |edition=illustrated, reprint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VP2JxzGGlNwC&pg=PA40 |access-date=28 July 2015 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> One million Chinese filed past to pay their final respects, many displaying sadness, while foreigners watched on television.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1976/09/18/Chinese-bid-Mao-sad-farewell/3331505529812/ |title=Chinese bid Mao sad farewell |website=UPI |language=en |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref><!-- Video 7: "funeral-of-mao-1978"--><ref>{{cite web |first=S. L. |last=James |title=China: Communist History Through Film |url=https://archive.org/details/china-communist-history |publisher=[[Internet Archive]] |access-date=28 July 2015}}</ref> Mao's official portrait hung on the wall with a banner reading: "Carry on the cause left by Chairman Mao and carry on the cause of proletarian revolution to the end".<ref name=Mummy1/> On 17 September, the body was taken in a minibus to the 305 Hospital, where his internal organs were preserved in [[formaldehyde]].<ref name=Mummy1/>
Though the [[Chinese Communist Party]], which Mao led to power, has rejected in practice the economic fundamentals of much of Mao's ideology, it retains for itself many of the powers established under Mao's reign: it controls the Chinese army, police, courts and media and does not permit multi-party elections at the national or local level, except in Hong Kong. Thus it is difficult to gauge the true extent of support for the Chinese Communist Party and Mao's legacy within mainland China. For its part, the Chinese government continues to officially regard Mao as a national hero. In 2008, China opened the Mao Zedong Square to visitors in his home town of central Hunan Province to mark the 115th anniversary of his birth.<ref>{{cite news|url = http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/25/content_7341714.htm |title= Chairman Mao square opened on his 115th birth anniversary |work= [[China Daily]] |date= 2008-12-25 |accessdate= 2013-01-02 }}; {{cite news|title = Mao Zedong still draws crowds on 113th birth anniversary |url= http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200612/27/eng20061227_336033.html |date= 2006-12-27 |accessdate= 2013-01-02 |work= [[People's Daily]] }}</ref>


On 18 September, guns, sirens, whistles and horns across China were simultaneously blown and a mandatory three-minute silence was observed.<ref>{{cite news |title=1976: Chairman Mao Zedong dies |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/9/newsid_3020000/3020374.stm |access-date=28 July 2015 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=9 September 1976}}</ref> [[Tiananmen Square]] was packed with millions of people and a military band played "[[The Internationale]]". Hua Guofeng concluded the service with a 20-minute-long eulogy atop Tiananmen Gate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chinese Bid Farewell to Nation's Leader |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19760915&id=lBwsAAAAIBAJ&pg=2059,3249975&hl=en |access-date=8 October 2015 |work=Florence Times + Tri-Cities Daily |agency=United Press International |date=18 September 1976}}</ref> Despite Mao's request to be cremated, his body was later permanently put on display in the [[Mausoleum of Mao Zedong]], in order for the [[Zhonghua minzu|Chinese nation]] to pay its respects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lu |first=Xing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qby8DgAAQBAJ&pg=PT50 |title=The Rhetoric of Mao Zedong: Transforming China and Its People |year=2017 |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-1611177534 |page=50 |quote=In 1956 Mao signed a proposal for cremation along with 151 other high-ranking officials. According to hearsay, Mao wrote in his will that he wanted to be cremated after his death. Ironically his successors decided to keep his dead body on display for the nation to pay its respects. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
There continue to be disagreements on Mao's legacy. Former Party official Su Shachi, has opined that "he was a great historical criminal, but he was also a great force for good."<ref name="Biography 2005"/> In a similar vein, journalist [[Liu Binyan]] has described Mao as "both monster and a genius."<ref name="Biography 2005"/> Some historians argue that Mao Zedong was "one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century", and a dictator comparable to [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Joseph Stalin]],<ref name = "tyrant">{{Harvnb|MacFarquhar|2006|p=471}}: "''Together with Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Mao appears destined to go down in history as one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century''"</ref><ref name = "compare">Michael Lynch. ''Mao (Routledge Historical Biographies).'' [[Routledge]], 2004. p. 230</ref> with a death toll surpassing both.<ref name="deathtoll"/><ref name="Fenby">{{cite book | authorlink = Jonathan Fenby | last = Fenby | first = J | title = Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present | publisher = [[Ecco Press]] | year = 2008 | isbn = 0-06-166116-3 | page = 351 | quote = Mao's responsibility for the extinction of anywhere from 40 to 70 million lives brands him as a mass killer greater than Hitler or Stalin, his indifference to the suffering and the loss of humans breathtaking }}</ref> In ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]'', Jean Louis Margolin writes that "Mao Zedong was so powerful that he was often known as the Red Emperor&nbsp;... the violence he erected into a whole system far exceeds any national tradition of violence that we might find in China."<ref>[[Stéphane Courtois]], Jean-Louis Margolin, et al. ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]: Crimes, Terror, Repression''. [[Harvard University Press]], 1999. ISBN 0-674-07608-7 p.&nbsp;465–466</ref> Mao was frequently likened to China's First Emperor [[Qin Shi Huang]], notorious for [[Burning of books and burying of scholars|burying alive hundreds of scholars]], and personally enjoyed the comparison.<ref>MacFarquhar & Schoenhals, 2006, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=mCKPmUzKeZUC&pg=PA428 428].</ref> During a speech to party cadre in 1958, Mao said he had far outdone Qin Shi Huang in his policy against intellectuals: "He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive&nbsp;... You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold."<ref>''Mao Zedong sixiang wan sui!'' (1969), p. 195. Referenced in ''Governing China: From Revolution to Reform (Second Edition)'' by Kenneth Lieberthal. W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. ISBN 0-393-92492-0 p. 71.</ref> As a result of such tactics, critics have pointed out that:
{{quote|The People's Republic of China under Mao exhibited the oppressive tendencies that were discernible in all the major absolutist regimes of the twentieth century. There are obvious parallels between Mao's China, [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Russia]]. Each of these regimes witnessed deliberately ordered mass 'cleansing' and extermination.<ref name = "compare" />}}


On 27 June 1981, the communist party's Central Committee adopted the ''[[Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China]],'' which assessed the legacy of the Mao era and the party's priorities going forward.<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Karl |first=Rebecca E. |title=Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: a Concise History |year=2010 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-4780-4 |series=Asia-Pacific series |location=Durham, NC |jstor=j.ctv11hpp6w}}</ref>{{Rp|page=166}} The ''Resolution'' describes setbacks during the period 1957 to 1964 (although it generally affirms this period) and major mistakes beginning in 1965, attributing Mao's errors to individualist tendencies which arose when he departed from the collective view of the leadership.<ref name=":62" />{{Rp|page=167}} Regarding Mao's legacy, the Resolution concludes Mao's contributions to the Chinese Revolution far outweigh his mistakes.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Meisner |first=Maurice J. |title=Mao's China and After: a History of the People's Republic |title-link=Mao's China and After |date=1999 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-684-85635-3 |edition=3rd |location=New York, NY |author-link=Maurice Meisner}}</ref>{{Rp|page=445}}
Others, such as [[Philip Short]], reject such comparisons in ''Mao: A Life'', arguing that whereas the deaths caused by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were largely systematic and deliberate, the overwhelming majority of the deaths under Mao were unintended consequences of famine.<ref name="short">{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=632}}</ref> Short noted that landlord class were not exterminated as a people due to Mao's belief in redemption through thought reform.<ref name="short"/> He instead compared Mao with 19th-century Chinese reformers who challenged China's traditional beliefs in the era of China's clashes with Western colonial powers. Short argues, "Mao's tragedy and his grandeur were that he remained to the end in thrall to his own revolutionary dreams&nbsp;... He freed China from the straitjacket of its Confucian past, but the bright Red future he promised turned out to be a sterile purgatory.<ref name="short"/>


== Legacy ==
Mao's English interpreter [[Sidney Rittenberg]] wrote in his memoir ''The Man Who Stayed Behind'' that whilst Mao "was a great leader in history", he was also "a great criminal because, not that he wanted to, not that he intended to, but in fact, his wild fantasies led to the deaths of tens of millions of people."<ref name="Reut09" /> [[Li Rui (Communist Party of China)|Li Rui]], Mao's personal secretary, goes further and claims he was dismissive of the suffering and death caused by his policies: "Mao's way of thinking and governing was terrifying. He put no value on human life. The deaths of others meant nothing to him."<ref>Jonathan Watts. "[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jun/02/china.jonathanwatts China must confront dark past, says Mao confidant]" ''[[The Guardian]]'', June 2, 2005</ref>
[[File:Mao Zedong youth art sculpture 4.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Young Mao Zedong statue|Statue of young Mao]] in [[Changsha]], the capital of [[Hunan]]]]
Mao has been regarded as one of the most important and influential individuals in the 20th century.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2046285_2045996_2045849,00.html |title=Top 25 Political Icons |last1=Webley |first1=Kayla |date=4 February 2011 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/samplep02 |title=Mao Zedong |work=The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321185302/http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/samplep02 |archive-date=21 March 2006 |access-date=23 August 2008}}</ref> He has also been described as a political intellect, theorist, military strategist, poet, and visionary.<ref>{{Harvnb|Short|2001|p=630}} "Mao had an extraordinary mix of talents: he was visionary, statesman, political and military strategist of cunning intellect, a philosopher and poet."</ref> He was credited and praised for driving [[imperialism]] out of China,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.eteacherchinese.com/history-of-china/chinese-leader-mao-zedong-part-i/ |title=Chinese Leader Mao Zedong / Part I |access-date=2 April 2015 |archive-date=12 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712232214/http://blog.eteacherchinese.com/history-of-china/chinese-leader-mao-zedong-part-i/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> having unified China and for ending the previous decades of civil war. He has also been credited with having [[Feminism in Chinese communism#Mao era (1949–1976)|improved the status of women in China]] and for improving literacy and education.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pantsov |first1=Alexander V. |url= |title=Mao: The Real Story |last2=Levine |first2=Steven I. |date=2013 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-1451654486 |location= |page=574}}</ref><ref name="Galtung" /><ref name="PopulationStudies2015" /> In December 2013, a poll from the state-run ''[[Global Times]]'' indicated that roughly 85% of the 1,045 respondents surveyed felt that Mao's achievements outweighed his mistakes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mao's achievements 'outweigh' mistakes: poll |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/12/mao-achievements-outweigh-mistakes-poll-2013122553410272409.html |work=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |date=23 December 2013}}</ref> It has been said in China that Mao was 70 percent right and 30 percent wrong.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=55}}<ref name=":13"/>{{Rp|page=445}}


His policies resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people in China during his reign,<ref name="Fenby"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Evangelista |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IAfLDzySd4C&pg=PA96 |title=Peace Studies: Critical Concepts in Political Science |date=2005 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-33923-0 |pages=96 |language=en |quote=It resulted in an estimate of as many as 80 million deaths resulting from Chinese government policies under Mao Zedong between 1950 and 1976.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/07/17/how-many-died-new-evidence-suggests-far-higher-numbers-for-the-victims-of-mao-zedongs-era/01044df5-03dd-49f4-a453-a033c5287bce/ |title=How Many Died? New Evidence Suggest Far Higher Numbers for the Victims of Mao Zedong's Era |last1=Strauss |first1=Valerie |date=17 July 1994 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=28 November 2019 |last2=Southerl |first2=Daniel |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> done through starvation, persecution, prison labour in ''[[laogai]]'', and mass executions.{{sfn|Short|2001|p=631}}<ref name="Fenby"/> Mao rarely gave direct instruction for peoples' physical elimination.{{sfn|Short|2001|p=631–632}} According to [[Philip Short]], the overwhelming majority of those killed by Mao's policies were unintended casualties of [[List of famines in China|famine]], while the other three or four million, in Mao's view, were necessary victims in the struggle to transform China.{{sfn|Short|2001|p=632}} Mao's China has been described as an autocratic and totalitarian regime responsible for mass repression.<ref name=":7">{{cite magazine |title=The Cultural Revolution and the History of Totalitarianism |url=https://time.com/4329308/cultural-revolution-history-totalitarianism/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=14 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Johnson (writer) |date=5 February 2018 |title=Who Killed More: Hitler, Stalin, or Mao? |url=https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/02/05/who-killed-more-hitler-stalin-or-mao/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180205193203/https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/02/05/who-killed-more-hitler-stalin-or-mao/ |archive-date=5 February 2018 |access-date=18 July 2020 |website=The [[New York Review of Books]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{cite book |last=Fenby |first=Jonathan |url=https://archive.org/details/modernchinafallr00fenb/page/351/mode/2up |title=Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0061661167 |pages=351 |author-link=Jonathan Fenby}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Schram |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart R. Schram |date=March 2007 |title=Mao: The Unknown Story |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |issue=189 |pages=205 |doi=10.1017/s030574100600107x |s2cid=154814055}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Evangelista |first=Matthew A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IAfLDzySd4C&q=80+million |title=Peace Studies: Critical Concepts in Political Science |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0415339230 |pages=96 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Mao was accused as one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century.<ref name = "tyrant">{{Harvnb|MacFarquhar|Schoenhals|2006|p=471}}: "''Together with Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Mao appears destined to go down in history as one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century''"</ref><ref name = "compare">{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Lynch |author-link=Michael Lynch (historian, born 1938) |title=Mao |series=Routledge Historical Biographies |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2004 |page=230}}</ref>{{sfn|Short|2001|p=631}}<ref name="Fenby">{{cite book |author-link=Jonathan Fenby |last=Fenby |first=J. |title=Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power, 1850 to the Present |publisher=[[Ecco Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0061661167 |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernchinafallr00fenb/page/351 351] |quote=Mao's responsibility for the extinction of anywhere from 40 to 70 million lives brands him as a mass killer greater than Hitler or Stalin, his indifference to the suffering and the loss of humans breathtaking |url=https://archive.org/details/modernchinafallr00fenb/page/351}}</ref> He was frequently likened to the First Emperor of a unified China, [[Qin Shi Huang]].{{sfn|MacFarquhar|Schoenhals|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mCKPmUzKeZUC&pg=PA428 428]}}<ref>''Mao Zedong sixiang wan sui!'' (1969), p. 195. Referenced in {{cite book |title=Governing China: From Revolution to Reform |edition=Second |first=Kenneth |last=Lieberthal |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |date=2003 |isbn=0393924920 |page=71}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Mao |last=Zedong |title=Speeches At The Second Session Of The Eighth Party Congress |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-8/mswv8_10.htm |access-date=28 June 2016 |website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref name="compare"/>{{efn|"The People's Republic of China under Mao exhibited the oppressive tendencies that were discernible in all the major absolutist regimes of the twentieth century. There are obvious parallels between Mao's China, [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Soviet Russia]]. Each of these regimes witnessed deliberately ordered mass 'cleansing' and extermination."<ref name="compare"/>}}
[[File:Mausoleo de Mao Zedong-Tianang Mei-Pekin-China8452.JPG|thumb|250px|Sculptures in front of the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, Beijing]]


China's population grew from around 550 million to over 900 million under his rule.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Attane |first=Isabelle |year=2002 |title=China's Family Planning Policy: An Overview of Its Past and Future |journal=Studies in Family Planning |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=103–113 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4465.2002.00103.x |issn=0039-3665 |jstor=2696336 |pmid=11974414}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wu |first=J. |year=1994 |title=Population and family planning in China |journal=Verhandelingen – Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van Belgie |volume=56 |issue=5 |pages=383–400; discussion 401–402 |issn=0302-6469 |pmid=7892742}}</ref> Mao's [[People's war|insurgency strategies]] continue to be used by insurgents, and his political ideology continues to be embraced by many Communist organisations around the world.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/16/onward-march-maoism-julia-lovell |title=Maoism marches on: the revolutionary idea that still shapes the world |last=Lovell |first=Julia |date=16 March 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=20 January 2020 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
In their 832-page biography, ''[[Mao: The Unknown Story]]'', [[Jung Chang]] and [[Jon Halliday]] take a very critical view of Mao's life and influence. For example, they note that Mao was well aware that his policies would be responsible for the deaths of millions; While discussing labour-intensive projects such as waterworks and making steel, Mao said to his inner circle in November 1958: "Working like this, with all these projects, half of China may well have to die. If not half, one-third, or one-tenth—50 million—die."<ref>{{Harvnb|Chang|Halliday|2005|p=458}} [Chang's source (p.725): *Mao CCRM, vol. 13, pp. 203–4 (E: MacFarquhar et al., pp. 494–5)].</ref>
[[File:Shanghai, guardería 1978 03.jpg|thumb|In 1978, the classroom of a kindergarten in Shanghai putting up portraits of then-Chairman [[Hua Guofeng]] and former Chairman Mao Zedong]]


=== In China ===
Thomas Bernstein of [[Columbia University]] argues that this quotation is taken out of context, claiming:
In mainland China, Mao is respected by a great number of the general population. Mao is credited for raising the average life expectancy from 35 in 1949 to 63 by 1975, bringing "unity and stability to a country that had been plagued by civil wars and foreign invasions", and laying the foundation for China to "become the equal of the great global powers".{{sfn|Gao|2008|p=81}} He is lauded for carrying out massive [[land reform]], promoting the status of women, improving popular literacy, and positively "transform(ing) Chinese society beyond recognition."{{sfn|Gao|2008|p=81}} Mao has been credited for boosting literacy (only 20% of the population could read in 1949, compared to 65.5% thirty years later), doubling life expectancy, a near doubling of the population, and developing China's industry and infrastructure, paving the way for its position as a world power.<ref name="China 2010, pp. 327">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vr81YoYK0c4C&pg=PA327 |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China |last=Ebrey |first=Patricia Buckley |date=2010 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521124331 |page=327 |author-link=Patricia Buckley Ebrey |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Galtung">{{cite book |last1=Galtung |first1=Marte Kjær |last2=Stenslie |first2=Stig |date=2014 |title=49 Myths about China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qqqDBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA189 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=189 |isbn=978-1442236226 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="PopulationStudies2015">{{cite journal |last1=Babiarz |first1=Kimberly Singer |last2=Eggleston |first2=Karen |display-authors=etal. |date=2015 |title=An exploration of China's mortality decline under Mao: A provincial analysis, 1950–80 |journal=[[Population Studies (journal)|Population Studies]] |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages= 39–56 |doi=10.1080/00324728.2014.972432 |pmid=25495509 |quote=China's growth in life expectancy at birth from 35–40 years in 1949 to 65.5 years in 1980 is among the most rapid sustained increases in documented global history. |pmc=4331212}}</ref>
<blockquote>The Chinese original, however, is not quite as shocking. In the speech, Mao talks about massive earthmoving irrigation projects and numerous big industrial ones, all requiring huge numbers of people. If the projects, he said, are all undertaken simultaneously "half of China's population unquestionably will die; and if it's not half, it'll be a third or ten percent, a death toll of 50 million people." Mao then pointed to the example of Guangxi provincial Party secretary, Chén Mànyuǎn (陈漫远) who had been dismissed in 1957 for failing to prevent famine in the previous year, adding: "If with a death toll of 50 million you didn't lose your jobs, I at least should lose mine; whether I should lose my head would also be in question. Anhui wants to do so much, which is quite all right, but make it a principle to have no deaths."<ref>{{cite journal|doi= 10.1017/S0305741006000221 |last= Bernstein |first= Thomas III |title= Mao Zedong and the Famine of 1959–1960: A Study in Wilfulness |journal= [[The China Quarterly]] |volume= 186 |date=July 2006 |pages= 421–445 }}</ref>
</blockquote>


Opposition to Mao can lead to censorship or professional repercussions in mainland China,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a94281fa.html |title=China 'fires' editors over criticism of Mao, detains leftist activist |website=Refworld |access-date=18 May 2019}}</ref> and is often done in private settings.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/asia/06iht-letter06.html |title=Mao's Legacy Still Divides China |last=Tatlow |first=Didi Kirsten |date=5 May 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=18 May 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> When a video of [[Bi Fujian]], a television host, insulting Mao at a private dinner in 2015 went viral, Bi garnered the support of Weibo users, with 80% of them saying in a poll that Bi should not apologize amidst backlash from state affiliates.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.firstpost.com/world/everyone-victim-mao-no-one-dares-say-says-tv-host-china-draws-ire-2191357.html |title=Everyone is a victim of Mao, but no one dares to say it, says TV host in China, draws ire |website=Firstpost |date=10 April 2015 |access-date=18 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Chinese TV Anchor To Be Punished For Mao Jibe |url=https://news.sky.com/story/chinese-tv-anchor-to-be-punished-for-mao-jibe-10349877 |access-date=18 May 2019 |publisher=[[Sky News]]}}</ref> Chinese citizens are aware of Mao's mistakes, but many see Mao as a national hero. He is seen as someone who successfully liberated the country from [[Japanese occupation of China|Japanese occupation]] and from Western imperialist exploitation dating back to the [[Opium Wars]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last1=Ding |first1=Iza |last2=Javed |first2=Jeffrey |date=26 May 2019 |title=Why Maoism still resonates in China today |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/05/29/why-maoism-still-resonates-china-today/}}</ref> Between 2015 and 2018, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' interviewed 70 people in China about the Maoist era. A "sizable proportion" lauded the era's simplicity, attributing to it the "clear meaning" of life and minimal inequality; they contended that the "spiritual life" was rich. The interviewees simultaneously acknowledged the poor "material life" and other negative experiences under Mao.<ref name=":2" />
Chang and Halliday take literally Mao's penchant for talking about mass death in highly irresponsible, provocative, callous and reckless ways, exemplified by his famous remark that in a nuclear war, half of China's population would perish but the rest would survive and rebuild. In 1958, when ruminating about the dialectics of life and death, he thought that deaths were beneficial, for without them, there could be no renewal.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} Imagine, he asked, what a disaster it would be if Confucius were still alive.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} "When people die there ought to be celebrations."{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} In December 1958 he remarked that "destruction (''mièwáng'' 灭亡, also extinction) [of people] has advantages. One can make fertiliser. You say you can't, but actually you can, but you must be spiritually prepared."{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} The authors note that these kinds of remarks could well have justified the indifference of lower-level cadres to peasants deaths.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}
[[File:Mao Zedong Square 20210319.jpg|thumb|Mao Zedong Square at Shaoshan]]
On 25 December 2008, China opened the Mao Zedong Square to visitors in his home town of central Hunan Province to mark the 115th anniversary of his birth.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/25/content_7341714.htm |title=Chairman Mao square opened on his 115th birth anniversary |work=[[China Daily]] |date=25 December 2008 |access-date=2 January 2013}}; {{cite news |title=Mao Zedong still draws crowds on 113th birth anniversary |url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200612/27/eng20061227_336033.html |date=27 December 2006 |access-date=2 January 2013 |work=[[People's Daily]]}}</ref>


Former party official Su Shachi has opined that "he was a great historical criminal, but he was also a great force for good."<ref name="Biography 2005">[[Biography (TV series)]] [https://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3081083673/ Mao Tse Tung: China's Peasant Emperor] [[A&E Network]] 2005, {{ASIN|B000AABKXG}} {{time needed|date=January 2013}}</ref> In a similar vein, journalist [[Liu Binyan]] has described Mao as "both monster and a genius."<ref name="Biography 2005"/> [[Li Rui (politician)|Li Rui]], Mao's personal secretary and Communist Party comrade, opined that "Mao's way of thinking and governing was terrifying. He put no value on human life. The deaths of others meant nothing to him."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watts |first=Jonathan |date=1 June 2005 |title=China must confront dark past, says Mao confidant |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/02/china.jonathanwatts |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917215335/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/02/china.jonathanwatts |archive-date=17 September 2018 |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref>
[[Jasper Becker]] and Frank Dikötter offer a similarly abysmal appraisal as [[Jung Chang|Chang]]<nowiki/> and Holliday. Becker notes, "archive material gathered by Dikötter&nbsp;... confirms that far from being ignorant or misled about the famine, the Chinese leadership were kept informed about it all the time. And he exposes the extent of the violence used against the peasants":<ref>[[Jasper Becker]]. [http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/6296363/part_2/systematic-genocide-.thtml ''Systematic genocide'']. [[The Spectator]], September 25, 2010.</ref>


[[Chen Yun]] remarked "Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements would have been immortal. Had he died in 1966, he would still have been a great man but flawed. But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one say?"<ref>{{cite news |title=Big bad wolf |url=http://www.economist.com/node/7854042 |access-date=28 July 2015 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=31 August 2006}}</ref> [[Deng Xiaoping]] said "I should remind you that Chairman Mao dedicated most of his life to China, that he saved the party and the revolution in their most critical moments, that, in short, his contribution was so great that, without him, the Chinese people would have had a much harder time finding the right path out of the darkness. We also shouldn't forget that it was Chairman Mao who combined the teachings of Marx and Lenin with the realities of Chinese history—that it was he who applied those principles, creatively, not only to politics but to philosophy, art, literature, and military strategy."<ref>{{cite news |title=Deng: Cleaning up Mao's mistakes |url=http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=472059 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=1980 |access-date=20 November 2021 |archive-date=29 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829143815/http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=472059 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
<blockquote><poem>Mass killings are not usually associated with Mao and the Great Leap Forward, and China continues to benefit from a more favourable comparison with Cambodia or the Soviet Union. But as fresh and abundant archival evidence shows, coercion, terror and systematic violence were the foundation of the Great Leap, and between 1958 to 1962, by a rough approximation, some 6 to 8 per cent of those who died were tortured to death or summarily killed—amounting to at least 3 million victims.


=== Outside China ===
Countless others were deliberately deprived of food and consequently starved to death. Many more vanished because they were too old, weak or sick to work—and hence unable to earn their keep. People were killed selectively because they had the wrong class background, because they dragged their feet, because they spoke out or simply because they were not liked, for whatever reason, by the man who wielded the ladle in the canteen.</poem></blockquote>
{{external media| float = right| width = 230px|video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?155775-1/mao-life ''Booknotes'' interview with Philip Short on ''Mao: A Life'', April 2, 2000], [[C-SPAN]]}}
[[Philip Short]] said that the overwhelming majority of the deaths under Mao were unintended consequences of famine.{{sfn|Short|2001|p=632}} Short stated that landlord class were not exterminated as a people due to Mao's belief in redemption through thought reform,{{sfn|Short|2001|p=632}} and compared Mao with 19th-century Chinese reformers who challenged China's traditional beliefs in the era of China's clashes with Western colonial powers. Short writes that "Mao's tragedy and his grandeur were that he remained to the end in thrall to his own revolutionary dreams. ... He freed China from the straitjacket of its Confucian past, but the bright Red future he promised turned out to be a sterile purgatory."{{sfn|Short|2001|p=632}}


Alexander V. Pantsov and Steven I. Levine, in their biography, asserted that Mao was both "a successful creator and ultimately an evil destroyer" but also argued that he was a complicated figure who should not be lionised as a saint or reduced to a demon, as he "indeed tried his best to bring about prosperity and gain international respect for his country."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pantsov |first1=Alexander V. |last2=Levine |first2=Steven I. |date=2013 |title=Mao: The Real Story |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |pages=5–6 |isbn=978-1451654486}}</ref> They also remarked on Mao's legacy: "A talented Chinese politician, an historian, a poet and philosopher, an all-powerful dictator and energetic organizer, a skillful diplomat and utopian socialist, the head of the most populous state, resting on his laurels, but at the same time an indefatigable revolutionary who sincerely attempted to refashion the way of life and consciousness of millions of people, a hero of national revolution and a bloody social reformer—this is how Mao goes down in history. The scale of his life was too grand to be reduced to a single meaning." Mao's English interpreter [[Sidney Rittenberg]] wrote in his memoir that whilst Mao "was a great leader in history", he was also "a great criminal because, not that he wanted to, not that he intended to, but in fact, his wild fantasies led to the deaths of tens of millions of people."<ref name="Reut09"/>
Dikötter argues that CPC leaders "glorified violence and were inured to massive loss of life. And all of them shared an ideology in which the end justified the means. In 1962, having lost millions of people in his province, Li Jingquan compared the Great Leap Forward to the [[Long March]] in which only one in ten had made it to the end: 'We are not weak, we are stronger, we have kept the backbone.'"<ref name="Dikotter299">{{Harvnb|Dikötter|2010|p=299}}</ref>


[[File:President Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong.jpg|thumb|Mao greets U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] during his [[1972 Nixon visit to China|visit to China in 1972]].]]
Regarding the large-scale irrigation projects, Dikötter stresses that, in spite of Mao being in a good position to see the human cost, they continued unabated for several years, and ultimately claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of exhausted villagers. He also notes that "In a chilling precursor of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, villagers in Qingshui and Gansu called these projects the 'killing fields'."<ref name="Dikotter33">{{Harvnb|Dikötter|2010|p=33}}</ref>


The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the [[Korean War]], until [[Richard Nixon]] decided that developing relations with the PRC would be useful.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Xin-zhu J. |date=2006 |title=China and the US Trade Embargo, 1950–1972 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44288827 |journal=[[American Journal of Chinese Studies]] |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=169–186 |jstor=44288827 |issn=2166-0042}}</ref> The television series ''[[Biography (TV series)|Biography]]'' stated: "[Mao] turned China from a feudal backwater into one of the most powerful countries in the World. ... The Chinese system he overthrew was backward and corrupt; few would argue the fact that he dragged China into the 20th century. But at a cost in human lives that is staggering."<ref name="Biography 2005"/> Professor [[Jeffrey Wasserstrom]] compares China's relationship to Mao to Americans' remembrance of [[Andrew Jackson]]; both countries regard the leaders in a positive light, despite their respective roles in devastating policies. Jackson forcibly moved Native Americans through the [[Trail of Tears]], resulting in thousands of deaths, while Mao was at the helm.<ref name="Schiavenza 2010">{{cite web |title=Some China Book Notes |url=http://mattschiavenza.com/2010/10/08/some-china-book-notes/ |website=Matt Schiavenza.com |access-date=8 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209022723/http://mattschiavenza.com/2010/10/08/some-china-book-notes/ |archive-date=9 February 2015}}</ref>{{efn|"Though admittedly far from perfect, the comparison is based on the fact that Jackson is remembered both as someone who played a significant role in the development of a political organisation (the Democratic Party) that still has many partisans, and as someone responsible for brutal policies toward Native Americans that are now referred to as genocidal.
[[File:Nixon Mao 1972-02-29.png|thumb|uprtigh|Mao greets United States President [[Richard Nixon]] during his [[1972 Nixon visit to China|visit to China in 1972]]]]


Both men are thought of as having done terrible things yet this does not necessarily prevent them from being used as positive symbols. And Jackson still appears on $20 bills, even though Americans tend to view as heinous the institution of slavery (of which he was a passionate defender) and the early 19th-century military campaigns against Native Americans (in which he took part).
The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the [[Korean War]], lasting until [[Richard Nixon]] decided that developing relations with the PRC would be useful in dealing with the Soviet Union.


At times Jackson, for all his flaws, is invoked as representing an egalitarian strain within the American democratic tradition, a [[self-made man]] of the people who rose to power via straight talk and was not allied with moneyed interests. Mao stands for something roughly similar."<ref name="Schiavenza 2010"/>}}
The television series [[Biography (TV series)|Biography]] stated: "[Mao] turned China from a feudal backwater into one of the most powerful countries in the World&nbsp;... The Chinese system he overthrew was backward and corrupt; few would argue the fact that he dragged China into the 20th century. But at a cost in human lives that is staggering."<ref name="Biography 2005"/>

Mao's military writings continue to have a large amount of influence both among those who seek to create an insurgency and those who seek to crush one, especially in manners of guerilla warfare, at which Mao is popularly regarded as a genius.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} As an example, the [[Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)|Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)]] followed Mao's examples of guerilla warfare to considerable political and military success even in the 21st century.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Mao's major contribution to the military science is his theory of [[People's War]], with not only guerrilla warfare but more importantly, [[Mobile Warfare]] methodologies. Mao had successfully applied Mobile Warfare in the Korean War, and was able to encircle, push back and then halt the UN forces in Korea, despite the clear superiority of UN firepower.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} Mao also gave the impression that he might even welcome a [[nuclear war]].<ref>"[http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1226.html Mao Tse-Tung: Father of Chinese Revolution]". ''The New York Times''. September 10, 1976</ref> Soviet historians have written that Mao believed his country could survive a nuclear war, even if it lost 300 million people.<ref>"[http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-23/news/mn-44747_1_nuclear-weapons Mao Reportedly Sought to A-Bomb U.S. Troops]". ''Los Angeles Times''. February 23, 1988.</ref>


[[File:MaoStatueinLijang.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Statue of Mao in [[Lijiang, Yunnan|Lijiang]]]]
[[File:MaoStatueinLijang.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Statue of Mao in [[Lijiang, Yunnan|Lijiang]]]]
<blockquote>"Let us imagine how many people would die if war breaks out. There are 2.7 billion people in the world, and a third could be lost. If it is a little higher, it could be half&nbsp;... I say that if the worst came to the worst and one-half dies, there will still be one-half left, but imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist. After a few years there would be 2.7 billion people again"<ref name="Dikotter13">{{Harvnb|Dikötter|2010|p=13}}</ref></blockquote>

But historians dispute the sincerity of Mao's words. [[Robert Service (historian)|Robert Service]] says that Mao "was deadly serious,"<ref>[[Robert Service (historian)|Robert Service]]. [http://books.google.com/books?id=Frgm5QodnFoC&lpg=PP1&dq=editions%3AFrgm5QodnFoC&pg=PA321#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Comrades!: A History of World Communism.''] [[Harvard University Press]], 2007. p. 321. ISBN 0-674-02530-X</ref> while Frank Dikötter claims that "He was bluffing&nbsp;... the sabre-rattling was to show that he, not Khrushchev, was the more determined revolutionary."<ref name="Dikotter13"/>

Mao's poems and writings are frequently cited by both Chinese and non-Chinese. The official Chinese translation of President [[Barack Obama]]'s inauguration speech used a famous line from one of Mao's poems.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://chinapressusa.com/newscenter/2009-01/22/content_186098.htm
|work=People's Daily
|title=奥巴马就职演说 引毛泽东诗词
|date=January 22, 2009
|accessdate=July 15, 2009
}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> [[John McCain]] mis-attributed a campaign quote to Mao several times during his 2008 presidential election bid, saying "Remember the words of Chairman Mao: 'It's always darkest before it's totally black.'"


[[John King Fairbank]] remarked, "The simple facts of Mao's career seem incredible: in a vast land of 400 million people, at age 28, with a dozen others, to found a party and in the next fifty years to win power, organize, and remold the people and reshape the land—history records no greater achievement. [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], [[Charlemagne]], all the kings of Europe, [[Napoleon]], [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]], [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]—no predecessor can equal Mao Tse-tung's scope of accomplishment, for no other country was ever so ancient and so big as China."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fairbank |first=John King |author-link=John King Fairbank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGbZgYbDVugC&pg=PA276 |title=The United States and China |edition=4th Revised and Enlarged |date=1983 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=9780674036642 }}</ref> In ''China: A New History'', Fairbank and Goldman assessed Mao's legacy: "Future historians may conclude that Mao's role was to try to destroy the age-old bifurcation of China between a small educated ruling stratum and the vast mass of common people. We do not yet know how far he succeeded. The economy was developing, but it was left to his successors to create a new political structure."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fairbank |first1=John King |last2=Goldman |first2=Merle |title=China: a new history |date=2006 |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge (Mass.) |isbn=0-674-01828-1 |edition=2nd enlarged}}</ref>
The ideology of Maoism has influenced many Communists, mainly in the [[Third World]], including revolutionary movements such as [[Cambodia]]'s [[Khmer Rouge]],<ref>Robert Jackson Alexander. ''International Maoism in the developing world.'' Praeger, 1999. p 200.; {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Karl D |title=Cambodia, 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-02541-X |url=http://books.google.com/?id=h27D3EYGwzgC&pg=PA219&dq=Radical+Left-wing+Chinese+Communist+Underpinnings+of+Cambodian+Communism |page=219 |date=March 17, 1992}}</ref> [[Peru]]'s [[Shining Path]], and the [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)|Nepalese revolutionary movement]]. Under the influence of Mao's agrarian socialism and [[Cultural Revolution]], Cambodia's [[Pol Pot]] conceived of his disastrous [[Year Zero (political notion)|Year Zero]] policies which purged the nation of its teachers, artists and intellectuals and emptied its cities, resulting in the [[Cambodian Genocide]].<ref>[[Biography (TV series)]]: Pol Pot; [[A&E Network]], 2003.</ref>


[[Stuart R. Schram]] said "Eternal rebel, refusing to be bound by the laws of God or man, nature or Marxism, he led his people for three decades in pursuit of a vision initially noble, which turned increasingly into a mirage, and then into a nightmare. Was he a [[Faust]] or [[Prometheus]], attempting the impossible for the sake of humanity, or a despot of unbridled ambition, drunk with his own power and his own cleverness?"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schram |first1=Stuart R. |author1-link=Stuart R. Schram |title=The thought of Mao Tse-Tung |date=1989 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] |isbn=978-0521310628}}</ref> Schram also said "I agree with the current Chinese view that Mao's merits outweighed his faults, but it is not easy to put a figure on the positive and negative aspects. How does one weigh, for example, the good fortune of hundreds of millions of peasants in getting land against the execution, in the course of land reform and the 'Campaign against Counter-Revolutionaries,' or in other contexts, of millions, some of whom certainly deserved to die, but others of whom undoubtedly did not? How does one balance the achievements in economic development during the first Five-Year Plan, or during the whole twenty-seven years of Mao's leadership after 1949, against the starvation which came in the wake of the misguided enthusiasm of the Great Leap Forward, or the bloody shambles of the Cultural Revolution?" Schram added, "In the last analysis, however, I am more interested in the potential future impact of his thought than in sending Mao as an individual to Heaven or to Hell."<ref name="MacFarquhar">{{cite journal |title=Stuart Reynolds Schram, 1924–2012 |last=MacFarquhar |first=Roderick |journal=[[China Quarterly]] |date=December 2012 |volume=212 |issue=212 |pages=1099–1122 |doi=10.1017/S0305741012001518 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
The [[Revolutionary Communist Party, USA]] also claims Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as its ideology, as do other Communist Parties around the world which are part of the [[Revolutionary Internationalist Movement]]. China itself has moved sharply away from Maoism since Mao's death, and most people outside of China who describe themselves as Maoist regard the Deng Xiaoping reforms to be a betrayal of Maoism, in line with Mao's view of "[[Capitalist roader]]s" within the Communist Party.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}


[[Maurice Meisner]] assessed Mao's legacy: "It is the blots on the Maoist record, especially the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution, that are now most deeply imprinted on our political and historical consciousness. That these adventures were failures colossal in scope, and that they took an enormous human toll, cannot and should not be forgotten. But future historians, without ignoring the failures and the crimes, will surely record the Maoist era in the history of the People's Republic (however else they may judge it) as one of the great modernizing epochs in world history, and one that brought great social and human benefits to the Chinese people."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meisner |first1=Maurice J. |title=Mao's China and after: a history of the People's Republic |date=1999 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=0684856352 |edition=3.}}</ref>
As the Chinese government instituted free market economic reforms starting in the late 1970s and as later Chinese leaders took power, less recognition was given to the status of Mao. This accompanied a decline in state recognition of Mao in later years in contrast to previous years when the state organised numerous events and seminars commemorating Mao's 100th birthday. Nevertheless, the Chinese government has never officially repudiated the tactics of Mao. Deng Xiaoping, who was opposed to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, has to a certain extent rejected Mao's legacy, famously saying that Mao was "70% right and 30% wrong".


=== Third World ===
In the mid-1990s, Mao Zedong's picture began to appear on all new [[renminbi]] (人民幣) currency from the People's Republic of China. This was officially instituted as an anti-counterfeiting measure as Mao's face is widely recognised in contrast to the generic figures that appear in older currency. On March 13, 2006, a story in the ''[[People's Daily]]'' reported that a proposal had been made to print the portraits of [[Sun Yat-sen]] and Deng Xiaoping.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.people.com.cn/200603/13/eng20060313_250192.html|work=People's Daily|title=Portraits of Sun Yat-sen, Deng Xiaoping proposed adding to RMB notes|date=March 13, 2006|accessdate=August 23, 2008}}</ref>
{{see also|Maoism–Third Worldism}}
The ideology of Maoism has influenced many Communists, mainly in the [[Third World]], including revolutionary movements such as [[Cambodia]]'s [[Khmer Rouge]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert Jackson |last=Alexander |title=International Maoism in the developing world |publisher=Praeger |date=1999 |page=200}}; {{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Karl D. |title=Cambodia, 1975–1978: Rendezvous with Death |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0691025414 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h27D3EYGwzgC&q=Radical+Left-wing+Chinese+Communist+Underpinnings+of+Cambodian+Communism&pg=PA219 |page=219 |date=1992 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> [[Peru]]'s [[Shining Path]], and the [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)|Nepalese revolutionary movement]]. Under the influence of Mao's agrarian socialism and [[Cultural Revolution]], [[Pol Pot]] and the Khmer Rouge conceived of his disastrous [[Year Zero (political notion)|Year Zero]] policies which purged the nation of its teachers, artists and intellectuals and emptied its cities, resulting in the [[Cambodian genocide]].<ref>[[Biography (TV series)]]: Pol Pot; [[A&E Network]], 2003.</ref> The [[Revolutionary Communist Party, USA]], also claims Marxism–Leninism-Maoism as its ideology, as do other Communist Parties around the world which are part of the [[Revolutionary Internationalist Movement]]. China itself has moved sharply away from Maoism since Mao's death, and most people outside of China who describe themselves as Maoist regard the Deng Xiaoping reforms to be a betrayal of Maoism, in line with Mao's view of "[[capitalist roader]]s" within the Communist Party.<ref>{{cite book |first=Tim |last=Clissold |title=Chinese Rules: Mao's Dog, Deng's Cat, and Five Timeless Lessons from the Front Lines in China |location=NY |publisher=Harper |date=2014 |isbn=978-0062316578}}</ref> As the Chinese government instituted market economic reforms starting in the late 1970s and as later Chinese leaders took power, less recognition was given to the status of Mao. This accompanied a decline in state recognition of Mao in later years in contrast to previous years when the state organised numerous events and seminars commemorating Mao's 100th birthday. Nevertheless, the Chinese government has never officially repudiated the tactics of Mao. Deng Xiaoping, who was opposed to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, stated that "when we write about his mistakes we should not exaggerate, for otherwise we shall be discrediting Chairman Mao Zedong and this would mean discrediting our party and state."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dirlik |first=Arif |date=4 June 2012 |title=Mao Zedong in Contemporary Chinese Official Discourse and History |url=https://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/5852 |journal=China Perspectives |language=en |volume=2012 |issue=2 |pages=17–27 |doi=10.4000/chinaperspectives.5852 |issn=2070-3449 |doi-access=free}}</ref>


The July 1963 [[Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]] increased Chinese concerns over a US-Soviet re-alignment against China and prompted Mao's articulation of the "Two Intermediate Zones" concept.<ref name=":172" />{{Rp|page=|pages=96–97}} Mao viewed Africa and Latin America as the "First Intermediate Zone", in which China's status as a non-white power might enable it to compete with and supersede both United States and Soviet Union influence.<ref name=":172" />{{Rp|page=48}} The other intermediate zone was the USA's wealthier allies in Europe.<ref name=":172" />{{Rp|page=97}}
In 2006, the government in Shanghai issued a new set of high school history textbooks which omit Mao, with the exception of a single mention in a section on etiquette. Students in Shanghai now only learn about Mao in junior high school.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kahn|first=Joseph|title=Where's Mao? Chinese Revise History Books|work=The New York Times|date=September 2, 2006|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/01/world/asia/01china.html?ex=1314763200&en=abf86c087b22be74&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|accessdate=February 28, 2007}}</ref>


===Public image===
=== Military strategy ===
Mao's military writings continue to have a large amount of influence both among those who seek to create an insurgency and those who seek to crush one, especially in manners of guerrilla warfare, at which Mao is popularly regarded as a genius.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ghandhi |first=R.K.S. |date=1965 |title=Mao Tse-tung: His Military Writings and Philosophy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44635448 |journal=Naval War College Review |volume=17 |issue=7 |pages=1–27 |jstor=44635448 |issn=0028-1484 }}</ref> The [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)|Nepali Maoists]] were highly influenced by Mao's views on [[On Protracted War|protracted war]], [[New Democracy|new democracy]], [[Mass line|support of masses]], [[Continuous revolution theory|permanency of revolution]] and the [[Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Upreti |first=Bhuwan Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwGa885LPQAC&pg=PA56 |title=Maoists in Nepal: From Insurgency to Political Mainstream |date=2008 |publisher=Gyan Publishing House |isbn=978-8178356877 |pages=56 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Mao's major contribution to the military science is his theory of [[People's War]], with not only guerrilla warfare but more importantly, [[Mobile Warfare]] methodologies. Mao had successfully applied Mobile Warfare in the Korean War, and was able to encircle, push back and then halt the UN forces in Korea, despite the clear superiority of UN firepower.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zhang, Mao's Military Romanticism: China and the Korean War, 1950-1953, 1995 {{!}} US-China Institute |url=https://china.usc.edu/zhang-maos-military-romanticism-china-and-korean-war-1950-1953-1995 |access-date=19 May 2023 |website=china.usc.edu |language=en}}</ref>
Mao gave contradicting statements on the subject of [[Cult of personality|personality cults]]. In 1955, as a response to the [[Khrushchev Report]] that criticised [[Joseph Stalin]], Mao stated that personality cults are "poisonous ideological survivals of the old society", and reaffirmed China's commitment to [[collective leadership]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait|first=Maurice|last=Meisner|publisher=Polity|year=2007|page=133}}</ref> But at the 1958 Party congress in Chengdu, Mao expressed support for the personality cults of people whom he labelled as genuinely worthy figures; not those that expressed "blind worship".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/cultural-revolution/cult.html |title= Cult of Mao | publisher = library.thinkquest.org | accessdate= August 23, 2008 |quote= This remark of Mao seems to have elements of truth but it is false. He confuses the worship of truth with a personality cult, despite there being an essential difference between them. But this remark played a role in helping to promote the personality cult that gradually arose in the CCP.}}</ref>


=== Literature ===
In 1962, Mao proposed the Socialist Education Movement (SEM) in an attempt to educate the peasants to resist the "temptations" of feudalism and the sprouts of capitalism that he saw re-emerging in the countryside from Liu's economic reforms.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} Large quantities of politicised art were produced and circulated&nbsp;— with Mao at the centre. Numerous posters, [[Chairman Mao badge|badges]] and musical compositions referenced Mao in the phrase "Chairman Mao is the red sun in our hearts" ({{lang|zh|毛主席是我们心中的红太阳}}, ''Máo Zhǔxí Shì Wǒmen Xīnzhōng De Hóng Tàiyáng'')<ref name="WangMaoBadgesChapter5">[http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/2%20-%20Part%202%20-%20Mao%20badges%20with%20low%20res%20image%20of%20poster.pdf Chapter 5: "Mao Badges – Visual Imagery and Inscriptions"] in: Helen Wang: ''Chairman Mao badges: symbols and Slogans of the Cultural Revolution'' (British Museum Research Publication 169). The Trustees of the British Museum, 2008. ISBN 978-0-86159-169-5.</ref> and a "Savior of the people" ({{lang|zh|人民的大救星}}, ''Rénmín De Dà Jiùxīng'').<ref name="WangMaoBadgesChapter5" /><ref>In "The East is Red" ({{lang|zh|东方红}}), an anthem that was popular during the Cultural Revolution. See lyrics and English translation at [http://www.chinapoet.net/bbs/thread-61611-1-1.html ChinaPoet.net] or [http://bbs.sogou.com/f?s=%CE%A1%CE%A1%C0%A5%C2%D8&t=TP$TmyfqIOaxV6GBAAAA&page=1#flB8 Sogou.net]. Retrieved August 24, 2009.</ref>
Mao's poems and writings are frequently cited by both Chinese and non-Chinese. The official Chinese translation of President [[Barack Obama]]'s inauguration speech used a famous line from one of Mao's poems.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chinapressusa.com/newscenter/2009-01/22/content_186098.htm |work=[[People's Daily]] |script-title=zh:奧巴馬就職演說 引毛澤東詩詞 |language=zh |title=Àobāmǎ jiùzhí yǎnshuō yǐn máozédōng shīcí |trans-title=Obama Inaugural Speech Quotes Mao Zedong's Poetry |date=22 January 2009 |access-date=28 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827144936/http://chinapressusa.com/newscenter/2009-01/22/content_186098.htm |archive-date=27 August 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the mid-1990s, Mao's picture began to appear on all new [[renminbi]] currency from the People's Republic of China. This was officially instituted as an anti-counterfeiting measure as Mao's face is widely recognised in contrast to the generic figures that appear in older currency. On 13 March 2006, the ''[[People's Daily]]'' reported that a member of the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] proposed to include the portraits of [[Sun Yat-sen]] and Deng Xiaoping in the renminbi.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 March 2006 |title=Portraits of Sun Yat-sen, Deng Xiaoping proposed adding to RMB notes |work=[[People's Daily]] |url=http://en.people.cn/200603/13/eng20060313_250192.html |access-date=23 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308043656/http://en.people.cn/200603/13/eng20060313_250192.html |archive-date=8 March 2016}}</ref>


=== Public image ===
In October 1966, Mao's ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao|Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung]]'', which was known as the ''Little Red Book'' was published. Party members were encouraged to carry a copy with them and possession was almost mandatory as a criterion for membership. Over the years, Mao's image became displayed almost everywhere, present in homes, offices and shops. His quotations were [[Emphasis (typography)|typographically emphasised]] by putting them in boldface or red type in even the most obscure writings. Music from the period emphasised Mao's stature, as did children's rhymes. The phrase "Long Live Chairman Mao for [[ten thousand years]]" was commonly heard during the era.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lu|first=Xing|title=Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: the impact on Chinese thought, Culture, and Communication|year=2004|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|isbn=1-57003-543-1|page=65|url=http://books.google.com/?id=GO5HrrJC_aMC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Long+Live+Chairman+Mao+for+ten+thousand+years#v=onepage&q=Long%20Live%20Chairman%20Mao%20for%20ten%20thousand%20years&f=false}}</ref>
Mao gave contradicting statements on the subject of [[personality cults]]. In 1956, as a response to the [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Khrushchev Report]] that criticised [[Joseph Stalin]], Mao stated that personality cults are "poisonous ideological survivals of the old society", and reaffirmed China's commitment to [[collective leadership]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait |first=Maurice |last=Meisner |publisher=Polity |year=2007 |page=133}}</ref> At the 1958 party congress in Chengdu, Mao expressed support for the personality cults of people whom he labelled as genuinely worthy figures, not those that expressed "blind worship".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/cultural-revolution/cult.html |title=Cult of Mao |publisher=library.thinkquest.org |access-date=23 August 2008 |quote=This remark of Mao seems to have elements of truth but it is false. He confuses the worship of truth with a personality cult, despite there being an essential difference between them. But this remark played a role in helping to promote the personality cult that gradually arose in the CCP. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601001246/http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/cultural-revolution/cult.html |archive-date=1 June 2008}}</ref>


In 1962, Mao proposed the [[Socialist Education Movement]] (SEM) in an attempt to educate the peasants to resist the "temptations" of feudalism and the sprouts of capitalism that he saw re-emerging in the countryside from Liu's economic reforms.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://chineseposters.net/resources/landsberger-paint-it-red.php |title=Stefan Landsberger, Paint it Red. Fifty years of Chinese Propaganda Posters |website=chineseposters.net |access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref> Large quantities of politicised art were produced and circulated—with Mao at the centre. Numerous posters, [[Chairman Mao badge|badges]], and musical compositions referenced Mao in the phrase "Chairman Mao is the red sun in our hearts" ({{lang-zh|labels=no |t=毛主席是我們心中的紅太陽 |p=Máo Zhǔxí Shì Wǒmen Xīnzhōng De Hóng Tàiyáng}})<ref name="WangMaoBadgesChapter5">[https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/2%20-%20Part%202%20-%20Mao%20badges%20with%20low%20res%20image%20of%20poster.pdf Chapter 5: "Mao Badges – Visual Imagery and Inscriptions"] in: [[Helen Wang]]: ''[[Chairman Mao badge]]s: symbols and Slogans of the Cultural Revolution'' (British Museum Research Publication 169). The Trustees of the British Museum, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0861591695}}.</ref> and a "Savior of the people" ({{lang-zh|labels=no |c=人民的大救星 |p=Rénmín De Dà Jiùxīng}}).<ref name="WangMaoBadgesChapter5"/>
[[File:Mao mausoleum queue.jpg|550px|thumb|center|A line to enter Mao Zedong Mausoleum]]


In October 1966, Mao's ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'', known as the ''Little Red Book'', was published. Party members were encouraged to carry a copy with them, and possession was almost mandatory as a criterion for membership. According to ''[[Mao: The Unknown Story]]'' by [[Jung Chang|Jun Yang]], the mass publication and sale of this text contributed to making Mao the only millionaire created in 1950s China (332). Over the years, Mao's image became displayed almost everywhere, present in homes, offices and shops. His quotations were [[Emphasis (typography)|typographically emphasised]] by putting them in boldface or red type in even the most obscure writings. Music from the period emphasised Mao's stature, as did children's rhymes. The phrase "Long Live Chairman Mao for [[ten thousand years]]" was commonly heard during the era.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lu |first=Xing |title=Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: the impact on Chinese thought, Culture, and Communication |year=2004 |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-1570035432 |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GO5HrrJC_aMC&q=Long+Live+Chairman+Mao+for+ten+thousand+years&pg=PA65 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
Mao also has a presence in China and around the world in popular culture, where his face adorns everything from t-shirts to coffee cups. Mao's granddaughter, Kong Dongmei, defended the phenomenon, stating that "it shows his influence, that he exists in people's consciousness and has influenced several generations of Chinese people's way of life. Just like [[Che Guevara in popular culture|Che Guevara's image]], his has become a symbol of revolutionary culture."<ref name="Reut09">[http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-42756920090928?sp=true Granddaughter Keeps Mao's Memory Alive in Bookshop] by Maxim Duncan, [[Reuters]], September 28, 2009</ref> Since 1950, over 40 million people have visited Mao's birthplace in [[Shaoshan]], Hunan.<ref name="ShaoShan">[http://www.shaoshan.gov.cn/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=14617 {{lang|zh|韶山升起永远不落的红太阳}}]</ref>


[[File:Mao mausoleum queue.jpg|thumb|center|<div style="text-align: center">Visitors wait in line to enter the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.</div>|alt=|300x300px]]
==Genealogy==


Mao also has a presence in China and around the world in popular culture, where his face adorns everything from T-shirts to coffee cups. Mao's granddaughter, [[Kong Dongmei]], defended the phenomenon, stating that "it shows his influence, that he exists in people's consciousness and has influenced several generations of Chinese people's way of life. Just like [[Che Guevara in popular culture|Che Guevara's image]], his has become a symbol of revolutionary culture."<ref name="Reut09">[http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-42756920090928?sp=true Granddaughter Keeps Mao's Memory Alive in Bookshop] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104030930/https://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-42756920090928?sp=true |date=4 January 2021 }} by Maxim Duncan, [[Reuters]], 28 September 2009</ref> Since 1950, over 40 million people have visited Mao's birthplace in [[Shaoshan]], Hunan.<ref name="ShaoShan">{{cite web |url=http://www.shaoshan.gov.cn/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=14617 |script-title=zh:韶山升起永远不落的红太阳 |language=zh |title=Sháoshān shēng qǐ yǒngyuǎn bù luò de hóng tàiyáng |trans-title=The red sun that never sets rises in Shaoshan |publisher=Shaoshan.gov.cn |access-date=25 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107235535/http://www.shaoshan.gov.cn/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=14617 |archive-date=7 November 2014}}</ref>
===Ancestors===
His ancestors were:
* Máo Yíchāng (毛贻昌, born [[Xiangtan]] October 15, 1870, died [[Shaoshan]] January 23, 1920), father, [[courtesy name]] Máo Shùnshēng (毛顺生) or also known as Mao Jen-sheng
* Wén Qīmèi(文七妹, born Xiangxiang 1867, died October 5, 1919), mother. She was illiterate and a devout Buddhist. She was a descendant of [[Wen Tianxiang]].
* Máo Ēnpǔ (毛恩普, born May 22, 1846, died November 23, 1904), paternal grandfather
* Luó Shì (罗氏), paternal grandmother
* Máo Zǔrén (毛祖人), paternal great-grandfather


A 2016 survey by [[YouGov]] survey found that 42% of American [[millennials]] have never heard of Mao.<ref>{{cite news |title=Poll: Millennials desperately need to bone up on the history of communism |url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/poll-millennials-desperately-need-to-bone-up-on-the-history-of-communism-2016-10-17 |work=MarketWatch |date=21 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Poll Finds Young Americans More Open to Socialist Ideas |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/young-americans-seen-less-opposed-to-socialist-ideas/3562681.html |work=[[Voice of America|VOA News]] |date=23 October 2016}}</ref> According to the [[Centre for Independent Studies|CIS]] poll, in 2019 only 21% of Australian millennials were familiar with Mao Zedong.<ref>{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Switzer |title=Opinion: Why Millennials are embracing socialism |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/anxiety-plus-ignorance-why-millennials-are-embracing-socialism-20190222-p50zj5.html |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=23 February 2019}}</ref> In 2020s China, members of [[Generation Z]] are embracing Mao's revolutionary ideas, including violence against the capitalist class, amid rising social inequality, long working hours, and decreasing economic opportunities.<ref>{{cite news |last=Yuan |first=Li |date=8 July 2021 |title='Who Are Our Enemies?' China's Bitter Youths Embrace Mao. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/business/china-mao.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |location= |access-date=8 July 2021}}</ref> As of the early 2020s, surveys conducted on [[Zhihu]] frequently rank Mao as one of the greatest and most influential figures in Chinese history.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=58}}
===Wives===
[[File:Mao Jiang Qing and daughter Li Na.jpg|thumb|200px|Mao with [[Jiang Qing]] and daughter [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]], 1940s]]


== Genealogy ==
Mao Zedong had four wives who conceived a total of 10 children. These were:


=== Ancestors ===
# [[Luo Yixiu]]: (罗一秀, October 20, 1889 – 1910) of [[Shaoshan]]: married 1907 to 1910
Mao's ancestors were:
# [[Yang Kaihui]]: (杨开慧, 1901–1930) of [[Changsha]]: married 1921 to 1927, executed by the KMT in 1930; mother to [[Mao Anying]], Mao Anqing, and Mao Anlong
* {{lang|zh-Latn|Máo Yíchāng}} ({{lang|zh-hant|毛貽昌}}, born [[Xiangtan]] 1870, died [[Shaoshan]] 1920), father, [[courtesy name]] {{lang|zh-Latn|Máo Shùnshēng}} ({{lang|zh-hant|毛順生}}) or also known as Mao Jen-sheng
# [[He Zizhen]]: (贺子珍, 1910–1984) of Jiangxi: married May 1928 to 1939; mother to Mao Anhong, [[Li Min (politician)|Li Min]], and four other children
* {{lang|zh-Latn|Wén Qīmèi}} ({{lang|zh|文七妹}}, born Xiangxiang 1867, died 1919), mother. She was illiterate and a devout Buddhist. She was a descendant of [[Wen Tianxiang]].
# [[Jiang Qing]]: (江青, 1914–1991), married 1939 to Mao's death; mother to [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]]
* {{lang|zh-Latn|Máo Ēnpǔ}} ({{lang|zh|毛恩普}}, born 1846, died 1904), paternal grandfather
* {{lang|zh-Latn|Liú}} ({{lang|zh-hant|劉/刘}}, given name not recorded, born 1847, died 1884),{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=13}} paternal grandmother
* {{lang|zh-Latn|Máo Zǔrén}} ({{lang|zh|毛祖人}}), paternal great-grandfather


===Siblings===
=== Wives ===
[[File:Mao Jiang Qing and daughter Li Na.jpg|thumb|Mao with [[Jiang Qing]] and daughter [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]] in the 1940s]]
He had several siblings:


Mao had four wives who gave birth to a total of 10 children, among them:
* [[Mao Zemin]] (毛泽民, 1895–1943), younger brother, executed by a warlord
# [[Luo Yixiu]] (1889–1910) of [[Shaoshan]]: married 1907 to 1910
* [[Mao Zetan]] (毛泽覃, 1905–1935), younger brother, executed by the KMT
# [[Yang Kaihui]] (1901–1930) of [[Changsha]]: married 1921 to 1927, executed by the KMT in 1930; mother to [[Mao Anying]], [[Mao Anqing]], and [[Mao Anlong]]
* [[Mao Zejian]] (毛泽建, 1905–1929), adopted sister, executed by the KMT
# [[He Zizhen]] (1910–1984) of Jiangxi: married May 1928 to 1937; mother to 6 children
# [[Jiang Qing]] (1914–1991), married 1939 until Mao's death; mother to [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]]


=== Siblings ===
: Mao Zedong's parents altogether had five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and both daughters died young, leaving the three brothers Mao Zedong, Mao Zemin, and Mao Zetan. Like all three of Mao Zedong's wives, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were communists. Like Yang Kaihui, both Zemin and Zetan were killed in warfare during Mao Zedong's lifetime.
Mao had several siblings:
* [[Mao Zemin]] (1896–1943), younger brother, executed by a warlord
* [[Mao Zetan]] (1905–1935), younger brother, executed by the KMT
* [[Mao Zejian]] (1905–1929), adopted sister, executed by the KMT


Note that the character ''zé'' () appears in all of the siblings' given names. This is a common Chinese naming convention.
Mao's parents altogether had five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and both daughters died young, leaving the three brothers Mao Zedong, Mao Zemin, and Mao Zetan. Like all three of Mao Zedong's wives, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were communists. Like Yang Kaihui, both Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were killed in warfare during Mao Zedong's lifetime. Note that the character ''zé'' ({{lang|zh-hant|澤}}) appears in all of the siblings' given names; this is a common [[Chinese name#Given names|Chinese naming convention]].


From the next generation, Zemin's son, [[Mao Yuanxin]], was raised by Mao Zedong's family. He became Mao Zedong's liaison with the Politburo in 1975. In Li Zhisui's ''[[The Private Life of Chairman Mao]]'', Mao Yuanxin played a role in the final power-struggles.<ref>{{Harvnb|Li|1994|p=659}}</ref>
From the next generation, Mao Zemin's son [[Mao Yuanxin]] was raised by Mao Zedong's family, and he became Mao Zedong's liaison with the Politburo in 1975. In Li Zhisui's ''[[The Private Life of Chairman Mao]]'', Mao Yuanxin played a role in the final power-struggles.{{sfn|Li|1994|p=659}}


===Children===
=== Children ===
Mao Zedong had a total of ten children,<ref name=Spence>{{Harvnb|Spence|1999}}{{Page needed|date=January 2013}}</ref> including:
Mao had a total of ten children,{{sfn|Spence|1999|p=97}} including:
* [[Mao Anying]] (毛岸英, 1922–1950): son to Yang, married to Liú Sīqí (齐), who was born Liú Sōnglín (刘松林), [[killed in action]] during the [[Korean War]]
* [[Mao Anying]] (1922–1950): son to Yang, married to {{lang|zh-Latn|Liú Sīqí}} ({{lang|zh-hant|劉齊}}), [[killed in action]] during the [[Korean War]]
* [[Mao Anqing]] (毛岸青, 1923–2007): son to Yang, married to [[Shao Hua]] (邵华), grandson [[Mao Xinyu]] (毛新宇), great-grandson Mao Dongdong
* [[Mao Anqing]] (1923–2007): son to Yang, married to [[Shao Hua]], son [[Mao Xinyu]], grandson Mao Dongdong
* Mao Anlong (1927–1931): son to Yang, died during the [[Chinese Civil War]]
* Mao Anlong (1927–1931): son to Yang, died during the [[Chinese Civil War]]
* Mao Anhong (1932-1935?): son to He, left to Mao's younger brother [[Mao Zetan|Zetan]] and then to one of Zetan's guards when he went off to war, was never heard of again
* Mao Anhong: son to He, left to Mao's younger brother [[Mao Zetan|Zetan]] and then to one of Zetan's guards when he went off to war, was never heard of again
* [[Li Min (politician)|Li Min]] (李敏, b. 1936): daughter to He, married to Kǒng Lìnghuá (孔令), son Kǒng Jìníng (孔继宁), daughter Kǒng Dōngméi (孔冬梅)
* [[Li Min (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Min]] (b. 1936): daughter to He, married to {{lang|zh-Latn|Kǒng Lìnghuá}} ({{lang|zh-hant|孔令華}}), son {{lang|zh-Latn|Kǒng Jìníng}} ({{lang|zh-hant|繼寧}}), daughter [[Kong Dongmei]] ({{lang|zh|孔冬梅}})
* [[Li Na (Daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]] (李讷, Pinyin: Lĭ Nà, b. 1940): daughter to Jiang (whose birth given name was Li, a name also used by Mao while evading the KMT), married to Wáng Jǐngqīng (王景清), son Wáng Xiàozhī (王效芝)
* [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]] (b. 1940): daughter to Jiang (whose birth surname was , a name also used by Mao while evading the KMT), married to {{lang|zh-Latn|Wáng Jǐngqīng}} ({{lang|zh|王景清}}), son {{lang|zh-Latn|Wáng Xiàozhī}} ({{lang|zh-hant|王效芝}})


Mao's first and second daughters were left to local villagers because it was too dangerous to raise them while fighting the [[Kuomintang]] and later the Japanese. Their youngest daughter (born in early 1938 in Moscow after Mao separated) and one other child (born 1933) died in infancy. Two English researchers who retraced the entire Long March route in 2002–2003<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/23/content_283948.htm|title= Stepping into history|work=China Daily|date=November 23, 2003|accessdate=August 23, 2008}}</ref> located a woman whom they believe might well be one of the missing children abandoned by Mao to peasants in 1935. Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen hope a member of the Mao family will respond to requests for a DNA test.<ref>''The Long March'', by Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen. Constable 2006</ref>
Mao's first and second daughters were left to local villagers because it was too dangerous to raise them while fighting the [[Kuomintang]] and later the Japanese. Their youngest daughter (born in early 1938 in Moscow after Mao separated) and one other child (born 1933) died in infancy. Two English researchers who retraced the entire Long March route in 2002–2003<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/23/content_283948.htm|title= Stepping into history|work=China Daily|date=23 November 2003|access-date=23 August 2008}}</ref> located a woman whom they believe might well be one of the missing children abandoned by Mao to peasants in 1935. Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen hope a member of the Mao family will respond to requests for a DNA test.<ref>''The Long March'', by Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen. Constable 2006</ref>


Through his ten children, Mao became grandfather to twelve grandchildren, many of whom he never knew. He has many great-grandchildren alive today. One of his granddaughters is businesswoman [[Kong Dongmei]], one of the richest people in China.<ref>Kong Dongmei on China's rich list:
==Personal life==
* {{cite news|title=Kong Dongmei, Granddaughter Of Mao Zedong, Appears On China Rich List|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/kong-dongmei-china-rich-list-mao_n_3244297.html|access-date=29 July 2015|agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]|work=[[HuffPost]]|date=9 July 2015}}
Mao's private life was very secretive at the time of his rule. However, after Mao's death, his personal physician [[Li Zhisui]] published ''[[The Private Life of Chairman Mao]]'', a memoir which mentions some aspects of Mao's private life, such as chain-smoking cigarettes, rare bathing or dental habits, laziness, addiction to sleeping pills and large number of sexual partners.<ref>[[#Li94|Li]], 1994.</ref>
* {{cite news|author1=Malcolm Moore|title=Mao's granddaughter accused over China rich list|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10046550/Maos-granddaughter-accused-over-China-rich-list.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10046550/Maos-granddaughter-accused-over-China-rich-list.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=29 July 2015|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=9 May 2013|location=Beijing}}{{cbignore}}</ref> His grandson [[Mao Xinyu]] is a general in the Chinese army.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mao's grandson, promoted to major general, faces ridicule|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-aug-04-la-fg-china-mao-20100804-story.html|access-date=29 July 2015|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=4 August 2010}}</ref> Both he and Kong have written books about their grandfather.<ref>{{Cite web|date=22 December 2003|title=Family Cherish the Chairman|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/83075.htm |website=[[China Internet Information Center]]}}</ref>


== Personal life ==
Having grown up in [[Hunan]], Mao spoke [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]] with a marked Hunanese accent.<ref name="Hollingworth1985">{{harvnb|Hollingworth|1985|pp=29–30}}</ref>
[[File:Mao Zedong and Zhang Yufeng in 1964.jpg|thumb|Mao and [[Zhang Yufeng]] in 1964]]
[[Ross Terrill]] noted Mao was a "son of the soil&nbsp;... rural and unsophisticated" in origins,<ref name="Terrill 19">{{harvnb|Terrill|1980|p=19}}</ref> while [[Clare Hollingworth]] asserted he was proud of his "peasant ways and manners", having a strong Hunanese accent and providing "earthy" comments on sexual matters.<ref name="Hollingworth1985" /> [[Lee Feigon]] noted that Mao's "earthiness" meant that he remained connected to "everyday Chinese life."<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=26}}</ref>


Mao's private life was kept very secret at the time of his rule. After Mao's death, [[Li Zhisui]], his personal physician, published ''[[The Private Life of Chairman Mao]]'', a memoir which mentions some aspects of Mao's private life, such as chain-smoking cigarettes, addiction to powerful sleeping pills and large number of sexual partners.<ref>[[#Li94|Li]], 1994.</ref> Some scholars and others who knew Mao personally have disputed the accuracy of these accounts and characterisations.<ref>[[#De96|DeBorga and Dong 1996]]. p. 4.</ref>
Mao's private doctor has reported on his personal hygiene. He never brushed his teeth, preferring to rinse out his mouth with tea and chew the leaves. By the time of his death, his gums were severely infected and his teeth were coated with green film, with several of them coming loose. Rather than bathe, he had a servant rub him down with a hot towel; according to at least one account, he went a quarter-century without taking a bath.<ref>{{cite book|author=Li Zhi-Sui|title=The Private Life of Chairman Mao|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VyU6fwmdjf8C&pg=PT166|year=2011|publisher=Random House |page=166|isbn=9780307791399}}</ref>


Having grown up in [[Hunan]], Mao spoke [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] with a marked Hunanese accent.{{sfn|Hollingworth|1985|pp=29–30}} [[Ross Terrill]] wrote Mao was a "son of the soil ... rural and unsophisticated" in origins,{{sfn|Terrill|1980|p=19}} while [[Clare Hollingworth]] said that Mao was proud of his "peasant ways and manners", having a strong Hunanese accent and providing "earthy" comments on sexual matters.{{sfn|Hollingworth|1985|pp=29–30}} [[Lee Feigon]] said that Mao's "earthiness" meant that he remained connected to "everyday Chinese life."{{sfn|Feigon|2002|p=26}}
Biographer Peter Carter described Mao as having "an attractive personality" who could for much of the time be a "moderate and balanced man", but noted that he could also be ruthless, and showed no mercy to his opponents.<ref name="Carter1976 p76"/> This description was echoed by Sinologist [[Stuart Schram]], who emphasised Mao's ruthlessness, but who also noted that he showed no sign of taking pleasure in torture or killing in the revolutionary cause.<ref name="Schram1966 p153"/> Lee Feigon considered Mao "draconian and authoritarian" when threatened, but opined that he was not the "kind of villain that his mentor Stalin was".<ref>{{harvnb|Feigon|2002|p=53}}</ref> Alexander Pantsov and Steven I. Levine claimed that Mao was a "man of complex moods", who "tried his best to bring about prosperity and gain international respect" for China, being "neither a saint nor a demon."<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=5−6}}</ref> They noted that in early life, he strived to be "a strong, wilful, and purposeful hero, not bound by any moral chains", and that he "passionately desired fame and power".<ref>{{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=42, 66}}</ref>
Carter noted that throughout his life, Mao had the ability to gain people's trust, and that as such he gathered around him "an extraordinarily wide range of friends" in his early years.<ref>{{harvnb|Carter|1976|p=42}}</ref>


Sinologist [[Stuart R. Schram]] emphasised Mao's ruthlessness but also noted that he showed no sign of taking pleasure in torture or killing in the revolutionary cause.{{sfn|Schram|1966|p=153}} Lee Feigon considered Mao "draconian and authoritarian" when threatened but opined that he was not the "kind of villain that his mentor Stalin was".{{sfn|Feigon|2002|p=53}} Alexander Pantsov and Steven I. Levine wrote that Mao was a "man of complex moods", who "tried his best to bring about prosperity and gain international respect" for China, being "neither a saint nor a demon."{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=5–6}} They noted that in early life, he strove to be "a strong, wilful, and purposeful hero, not bound by any moral chains", and that he "passionately desired fame and power".{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=42, 66}}
==Writings and calligraphy==
[[File:Baidi Mao.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Mao's [[calligraphy]]: A bronze plaque of a poem by [[Li Bai]]. ({{zh|c=白帝城毛泽东手书李白诗铜匾 }}]]


Mao learned to speak some English, particularly through [[Zhang Hanzhi]], his English teacher, interpreter and diplomat who later married [[Qiao Guanhua]], Minister of Foreign Affairs and the head of China's UN delegation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/world/asia/29zhang.html |title=Zhang Hanzhi, Mao's English Tutor, Dies at 72 |first=David |last=Barboza |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 January 2008}}</ref> His spoken English was limited to a few single words, phrases, and some short sentences. He first chose to systematically learn English in the 1950s, which was very unusual as the main foreign language first taught in Chinese schools at that time was Russian.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.people.com.cn/n/2015/0709/c372327-27277288-3.html |script-title=zh:揭秘毛泽东为什么学英语:"这是斗争的需要" |website=[[People's Daily]] |title=Jiēmì máozédōng wèishéme xué yīngyǔ:"Zhè shì dòuzhēng de xūyào" |trans-title= Demystifying why Mao Zedong learned English: "This is the need of struggle" |date=9 July 2015 |language=zh-cn |access-date=12 January 2018 |archive-date=13 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113093107/http://history.people.com.cn/n/2015/0709/c372327-27277288-3.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Mao was a prolific writer of political and philosophical literature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chineseposters.net/themes/mao-thought.php |title=Mao Zedong Thought – Part 1 |accessdate=April 30, 2011}}</ref> He is the attributed author of ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao|Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung]]'', known in the West as the "Little Red Book" and in Cultural Revolution China as the "Red Treasure Book" (红宝书): this is a collection of short extracts from his speeches and articles, edited by [[Lin Biao]] and ordered topically. Mao wrote several other philosophical treatises, both before and after he assumed power. These include:
* ''[[On Guerrilla Warfare]]'' (《游击战》); 1937
* ''[[On Practice]]'' (《实践论》); 1937
* ''[[On Contradiction]]'' (《矛盾论》); 1937
* ''[[On Protracted War]]'' (《论持久战》); 1938
* ''[[Norman Bethune#Legacy|In Memory of Norman Bethune]]'' (《纪念白求恩》); 1939
* ''On [[New Democracy]]'' (《新民主主义论》); 1940
* ''[[Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art]]'' (《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》); 1942
* ''[[Serve the People]]'' (《为人民服务》); 1944
* ''The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains'' (《愚公移山》); 1945
* ''On the Correct Handling of the Contradictions Among the People'' (《正确处理人民内部矛盾问题》); 1957


== Writings and calligraphy ==
Mao was also a skilled [[Chinese calligrapher]] with a highly personal style. In China, Mao was considered a master calligrapher during his lifetime.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asiawind.com/art/callig/modern.htm#Contemporary%20Chinese%20Calligraphy |title=100 years<!- Bot generated title -> |accessdate=August 23, 2008}}</ref> His calligraphy can be seen today throughout mainland China.<ref>{{cite book |last=Yen |first=Yuehping |title=Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |url=http://books.google.com/books?visbn=0415317533 |page=2}}</ref> His work gave rise to a new form of Chinese calligraphy called "Mao-style" or ''Maoti'', which has gained increasing popularity since his death. There currently exist various competitions specialising in Mao-style calligraphy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://art.people.com.cn/GB/41132/41137/4802132.html|work=People|title=首届毛体书法邀请赛精品纷呈|date=September 11, 2006|language=Chinese}}</ref>
[[File:Baidi Mao.jpg|thumb|upright|Mao's [[calligraphy]]: a bronze plaque of a poem by [[Li Bai]]. (Chinese: 白帝城毛澤東手書李白詩銅匾 )]]
{{quote box
| quote = <poem>{{lang|zh-Hant|鷹擊長空,
魚翔淺底,
萬類霜天競自由。
悵寥廓,
問蒼茫大地,
誰主沉浮
|size = 110%}}</poem>


<poem>Eagles cleave the air,
===Literary works===
Fish glide in the limpid deep;
{{Main|Poetry of Mao Zedong}}
Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom.
[[File:Qinyuanchun Changsha.JPG|thumb|175px|Mao's calligraphy of his poem "Qingyuanchun Changsha"]]
Brooding over this immensity,
As did most Chinese intellectuals of his generation, Mao's education began with [[Chinese classic texts|Chinese classical literature]]. Mao told Edgar Snow in 1936 that he had started the study of the Confucian [[Analects]] and [[Four Books]] at a village school when he was eight, but that the books he most enjoyed reading were the [[Water Margin]], [[Journey to the West]], [[Romance of Three Kingdoms]], and [[Dream of the Red Chamber]].<ref name="Barnstone">Willis Barnstone, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1SCD3xwYwJ0C&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false The Poems of Mao Zedong]'' (1972; rpr. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008 ISBN 0520935004), p. 3-4.</ref>
I ask, on this boundless land
Mao published poems in classical forms starting in his youth and his abilities as a poet contributed to his image in China after he came to power in 1949. . His style was influenced by the great [[Tang Dynasty]] poets [[Li Bai]] and [[Li He]].<ref>Ng Yong-sang. “The Poetry of Mao Tse-tung.” ''China Quarterly'' 13 (1963): 60–73.</ref>
Who rules over man's destiny?</poem>
| source = —Excerpt from Mao's poem "Changsha", September 1927{{sfn|Carter|1976|p=64}}
| align = right
| width = 25em
| bgcolor = #ACE1AF
}}
Mao was a prolific writer of political and philosophical literature.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chineseposters.net/themes/mao-thought.php |title=Mao Zedong Thought – Part 1 |access-date=30 April 2011 }}</ref> The main repository of his pre-1949 writings is the [[Selected Works of Mao Zedong]]. A fifth volume, which brought the timeline up to 1957, was briefly issued, but subsequently withdrawn from circulation for its perceived ideological errors. There has never been an official "Complete Works of Mao Zedong".<ref>Wilkinson, Endymion (2018). ''Chinese History: A New Manual'' (5th paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. {{ISBN|978-0998888309}}.</ref> Mao is the attributed author of ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'', known in the West as the "Little Red Book" and in Cultural Revolution China as the "Red Treasure Book" ({{lang|zh-hant|紅寶書}}). First published in January 1964, this is a collection of short extracts from his many speeches and articles (most found in the Selected Works), edited by [[Lin Biao]], and ordered topically. ''The Little Red Book'' contains some of Mao's most widely known quotes.{{efn|Among them are:
{{blockquote|War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes.|source="Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War" (December 1936), ''Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung'', '''I''', p. 180.}}
{{blockquote|Every communist must grasp the truth, '[[Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun]].{{'"}}|source=1938, ''Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung'', '''II''', pp. 224–225.}}
{{blockquote|Taken as a whole, the Chinese revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party embraces two stages, i.e., the democratic and the socialist revolutions, which are two essentially different revolutionary processes, and the second process can be carried through only after the first has been completed. The democratic revolution is the necessary preparation for the socialist revolution, and the socialist revolution is the inevitable sequel to the democratic revolution. The ultimate aim for which all communists strive is to bring about a socialist and communist society."|source="The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party" (December 1939), ''Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung'', '''II'', pp. 330–331.}}
{{blockquote|All reactionaries are [[paper tiger]]s. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful.|source=Mao Zedong (July 1956), "U.S. Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger".}}}}


Mao wrote prolifically on political strategy, commentary, and philosophy both before and after he assumed power.{{efn|The most influential of these include:
Some of his most well-known poems are: ''[[Changsha (poem)|Changsha]]'' (1925), ''[[The Double Ninth]]'' (1929.10), ''Loushan Pass'' (1935), ''The Long March'' (1935), ''[[Poetry of Mao Zedong#Snow (1936.02)|Snow]]'' (1936), ''[[Poetry of Mao Zedong#The PLA Captures Nanjing (1949.04|The PLA Captures Nanjing]]'' (1949), ''Reply to Li Shuyi'' (1957.05.11), and ''Ode to the Plum Blossom'' (1961.12).
* ''[[Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《湖南农民运动考察报告》}}); March 1927
* ''[[On Guerrilla Warfare]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《游擊戰》}}); 1937
* ''[[On Practice]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《實踐論》}}); 1937
* ''[[On Contradiction]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《矛盾論》}}); 1937
* ''[[On Protracted War]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《論持久戰》}}); 1938
* ''[[Norman Bethune#Legacy|In Memory of Norman Bethune]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《紀念白求恩》}}); 1939
* ''On [[New Democracy]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《新民主主義論》}}); 1940
* ''[[Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《在延安文藝座談會上的講話》}}); 1942
* ''[[Serve the People]]'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《為人民服務》}}); 1944
* ''The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains'' ({{lang|zh|《愚公移山》}}); 1945
* ''On the Correct Handling of the Contradictions Among the People'' ({{lang|zh-hant|《正確處理人民內部矛盾問題》}}); 1957}} Mao was also a skilled [[Chinese calligrapher]] with a highly personal style.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asiawind.com/art/callig/modern.htm#Contemporary%20Chinese%20Calligraphy |title=100 years |website=Asia Wind |access-date=23 August 2008}}</ref> His calligraphy can be seen today throughout mainland China.<ref>{{cite book |last=Yen |first=Yuehping |title=Calligraphy and Power in Contemporary Chinese Society |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?visbn=0415317533 |page=2}}</ref> His work gave rise to a new form of Chinese calligraphy called "Mao-style" or ''Maoti'', which has gained increasing popularity since his death. There exist various competitions specialising in Mao-style calligraphy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://art.people.com.cn/GB/41132/41137/4802132.html |work=People |script-title=zh:首屆毛體書法邀請賽精品紛呈 |title=Shǒujiè máo tǐ shūfǎ yāoqǐngsài jīngpǐn fēnchéng |trans-title=The First Mao Ti Calligraphy Invitational Contest |date=11 September 2006 |language=zh |access-date=1 April 2007 |archive-date=26 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061126185030/http://art.people.com.cn/GB/41132/41137/4802132.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>


=== Literary works ===
==Portrayal in film and television==
{{main|Poetry of Mao Zedong}}
Mao has been portrayed in film and television numerous times. Some notable actors include: Han Shi, the first actor ever to have portrayed Mao, in a 1978 drama ''Dielianhua'' and later again in a 1980 film ''Cross the Dadu River'';<ref>{{cite web|title=Being Mao Zedong|url=http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2011-07/04/content_22917108.htm|work=Global Times|accessdate=15 March 2013|date=4 July 2011}}</ref> [[Gu Yue]], who had portrayed Mao 84 times on screen throughout his 27-year career and had won the Best Actor title at the [[Hundred Flowers Awards]] in 1990 and 1993;<ref>{{cite web|title=Famous actor playing Mao Zedong dies|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194191.html|work=People's Daily|accessdate=15 March 2013|date=5 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Actor famous for playing Mao Zedong dies of miocardial infarction|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194076.html|work=People's Daily|accessdate=15 March 2013|date=5 July 2005}}</ref> [[Liu Ye (actor)|Liu Ye]], who played a young Mao in ''[[The Founding of a Party]]'' (2011);<ref>{{cite web|last=Liu|first=Wei|title=The reel Mao|url=http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2011-06/03/content_12636667.htm|publisher=China Daily European Weekly|accessdate=15 March 2013|date=3 June 2011}}</ref> [[Tang Guoqiang]], who has frequently portrayed Mao in more recent times, in the films ''The Long March'' (1996) and ''[[The Founding of a Republic]]'' (2009), and the television series ''[[Huang Yanpei (TV series)|Huang Yanpei]]'' (2010), among others.<ref>{{cite web|last=Xiong|first=Qu|title=Actors expect prosperity of Chinese culture|url=http://english.cntv.cn/program/cultureexpress/20111126/104783.shtml|publisher=CCTV News|accessdate=15 March 2013|date=26 November 2011}}</ref> Mao is a principal character in American composer [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]]' opera ''[[Nixon in China]]'' (1987).
Mao's education began with [[Chinese classics|Chinese classical literature]]. Mao told Edgar Snow in 1936 that he had started the study of the Confucian [[Analects]] and the [[Four Books and Five Classics|Four Books]] at a village school when he was eight, but that the books he most enjoyed reading were ''[[Water Margin]]'', ''[[Journey to the West]]'', the ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]''.<ref name="Barnstone">Barnstone, Willis (1972; rpr. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=1SCD3xwYwJ0C&pg=PP1 The Poems of Mao Zedong]''. pp. 3–4. {{ISBN|0520935004}}.</ref> Mao published poems in classical forms starting in his youth and his abilities as a poet contributed to his image in China after he came to power in 1949. His style was influenced by the great [[Tang dynasty]] poets [[Li Bai]] and [[Li He]].<ref>Ng, Yong-sang (1963). "The Poetry of Mao Tse-tung". ''The China Quarterly'' '''13''': 60–73. {{doi|10.1017/S0305741000009711}}.</ref>


Some of his best known poems are "[[Changsha (poem)|Changsha]]" (1925), "[[The Double Ninth]]" (October 1929), "Loushan Pass" (1935), "The Long March" (1935), "[[Snow (1936 poetry)|Snow]]" (February 1936), "[[The PLA Captures Nanjing]]" (1949), "[[Reply to Li Shuyi]]" (11 May 1957), and "Ode to the Plum Blossom" (December 1961).
==Mao and Tibet==


==Portrayal in media==
After Mao Zedong won the Chinese civil war in 1949, his goal became the unification of the "five nationalities" under the big family, the People's Republic of China, and under a single political system, the Communist Party of China<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=208}}</ref> Aware of Mao's vision, the Tibetan government in Lhasa ([[Tibet]]) sent a representative, [[Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme|Ngapo Ngawang Jigme]] to [[Chamdo]], [[Kham]], a strategically high valued town near the border. Ngapo had orders to hold the position while reinforcements was coming from the Lhasa and fight off the Chinese.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=209}}</ref> On October 16, 1950, news came that the People's Liberation Army was advancing towards Chamdo and had also taken another strategic town named, Riwoche, which could block the route to Lhasa.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=211}}</ref> With new orders, Ngapo and his men retreated to a monastery where the People's Liberation Army finally surrounded and captured them,<ref name="Schaik 2011 212">{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=212}}</ref> though they were treated with respect.<ref name="Schaik 2011 212"/> Ngapo wrote to Lhasa suggesting a peaceful surrender instead of war.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=213}}</ref> During the negotiation, the Chinese negotiator laid the cards straight on the table, "It is up to you to choose whether Tibet would be liberated peacefully or by force. It is only a matter of sending a telegram to the PLA group to recommence their march to Lhasa."<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=214}}</ref> Ngapo accepted Mao’s "[[Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet|Seventeen-Point Agreement]]", which constituted Tibet as part of the People's Republic China, in return for which Tibet would be granted [[autonomy]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=215}}</ref> In the face of discouraging lack of support from the rest of the world, the [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] on August 1951, sent a telegram to Mao accepting the Seventeen-Point Agreement.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schaik|2011|p=218}}</ref>
Mao has been portrayed in film and television numerous times. Some notable actors include: Han Shi, the first actor ever to have portrayed Mao, in a 1978 drama ''Dielianhua'' and later again in a 1980 film ''Cross the Dadu River'';<ref>{{cite web|title=Being Mao Zedong|url=http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2011-07/04/content_22917108.htm|work=Global Times|access-date=15 March 2013|date=4 July 2011}}</ref> [[Gu Yue]], who had portrayed Mao 84 times on screen throughout his 27-year career and had won the Best Actor title at the [[Hundred Flowers Awards]] in 1990 and 1993;<ref>{{cite web|title=Famous actor playing Mao Zedong dies|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194191.html|work=People's Daily|access-date=15 March 2013|date=5 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Actor famous for playing Mao Zedong dies of miocardial infarction|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200507/05/eng20050705_194076.html|work=People's Daily|access-date=15 March 2013|date=5 July 2005}}</ref> [[Liu Ye (actor)|Liu Ye]], who played a young Mao in ''[[The Founding of a Party]]'' (2011);<ref>{{cite web|last=Liu|first=Wei|title=The reel Mao|url=http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2011-06/03/content_12636667.htm|work=China Daily European Weekly|access-date=15 March 2013|date=3 June 2011}}</ref> [[Tang Guoqiang]], who has frequently portrayed Mao in more recent times, in the films ''The Long March'' (1996) and ''[[The Founding of a Republic]]'' (2009), and the television series ''[[Huang Yanpei (TV series)|Huang Yanpei]]'' (2010), among others.<ref>{{cite web|last=Xiong|first=Qu|title=Actors expect prosperity of Chinese culture|url=http://english.cntv.cn/program/cultureexpress/20111126/104783.shtml|publisher=CCTV News|access-date=15 March 2013|date=26 November 2011|archive-date=14 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214133729/http://english.cntv.cn/program/cultureexpress/20111126/104783.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mao is a principal character in American composer [[John Adams (composer)|John Adams]]' opera ''[[Nixon in China]]'' (1987). [[The Beatles]]' song "[[Revolution (Beatles song)|Revolution]]" refers to Mao in the verse "but if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao you ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow...";<ref name="AldridgeBeatles1969">{{cite book |first1=Alan |last1=Aldridge |author2=Beatles |title=The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKG-FXj_HNYC&pg=PA104 |year=1969 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |isbn=978-0395594261 |page=104}}</ref> [[John Lennon]] expressed regret over including these lines in the song in 1972.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spignesi |first1=Stephen J. |last2=Lewis |first2=Michael |title=Here, There, and Everywhere: The 100 Best Beatles Songs |year=2004 |location=New York |publisher=[[Black Dog Publishing|Black Dog]] |isbn=978-1579123697 |page=40}}</ref>


==Mao and the media==
== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|China|Communism}}
* [[Chinese tunic suit]]
<categorytree mode=all depth="0">Mao Zedong</categorytree>


== Notes ==
Mao Zedong's use of media has been claimed to be integral to his success and a testament to his ability to effectively utilise various forms of media{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}}. He utilised almost every available option of media at his disposal as he manoeuvred throughout his career as a leader of China{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}. Mao Zedong is most prominently known for the adamant production and distribution of his ideals and beliefs. The books [http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/ Selected Works of Chairman Mao Zedong] or [[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung]] were published by Foreign Languages Press, Peking and distributed on an almost inconceivably large scale.<ref name=GBarme>Barme, Geremie (1996). ‘’Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader’’, p. 5-9. M.E. Sharp Inc., Armonk, New York.</ref>
{{notelist}}
An example of the full intent and usage of Mao Zedong's media campaigns is that at the peak of the cultural revolution it was believed that even wedding ceremonies needed to be "revolutionised". The newly wed couple were presented with copies of ''Selected Works of Mao Zedong'' or ''Quotations from Chairman Mao''.<ref name=GBarme/>


== References ==
Mao went to great lengths in order to ensure that his beliefs and words could find their way into the hands and minds of all Chinese people. There were entire stockpiles of the four-volume ''Selected works of Mao Zedong'' in a variety of forms. There was a traditional clothbound limited edition, the traditional plastic covered "little red book" (officially called the "Quotations of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung), small and large, and even limited edition versions with extra-large print produced for Mao’s "myopic coevals".<ref name=GBarme/>
{{reflist}}
Massive amounts of the Chinese State publishing budget was used up in producing Mao-period publications in the late 1970s. Many warehouses throughout the country were solely dedicated to storing the State authorised and initiated literature.<ref name=GBarme/>


== Bibliography ==
The emphasis placed on literature by Mao Zedong was exemplified in the famous storehouse known as "bawanba". A special detachment of soldiers guarding the large storage facility, and an additional group of caretakers for the building methodically worked their way along the shelves and piles of the depot, book by book, in order to protect the printed text. Each publication was opened, leafed through for signs of mould and decay, and then repacked and rescheduled for the next maintenance cycle.<ref name=GBarme/>
{{refbegin|30em}}

Mao's understanding of the importance of media gives insight into his efforts to use and have on hand all ways to reach the Chinese people through media.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} In 1979 internal estimates ranged that during the Cultural Revolution 2.2 billion portraits of the Chairman Mao Zedong had been produced (3 portraits to every 1 person living in China at that time). In June 1979 there were over 450 million unsold copies of communist works by Mao and the Communist international community, comprising 24% of all books in China. This number included eight million sets of the Selected Works of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung and over two billion copies of his speeches and writings in easily digestible single volumes.<ref name=GBarme/> By the end of the 10-year long Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution it was noted by the national book store, Xinhua, that more than forty billion volumes of Mao Zedong's works were printed and distributed; equivalent to about 15 copies of each of Mao's books for every child, woman, and man in China.<ref name=GBarme/>

Mao Zedong had utilised and understood the media and the power it held since his days as a revolutionary on the run. Almost immediately following the establishment of the Chinese Communist party Mao embarked on literacy campaigns, educational programs and cultural projects throughout the entirety of China. Mandarin was proclaimed as the national spoken language and linguists were subsequently dispatched to solidify a simplified written Chinese language.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 87-88">Karl, Rebecca (2010). ‘’Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World'', p. 87-88. Duke University Press, United States.</ref>
Such efforts were intended to facilitate nationwide literacy rates.<ref>Karl, 87</ref> Mao Zedong's establishment of a foundation within the Chinese people to receive various forms of media proved useful to his efforts later on in his leadership roles.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}

He requested the aid of intellectuals versed in the various forms of writing, art and media.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 87-88"/> Mao had mobile drama troupes sent across the land in order to bring culture and initial forms of Chinese Communist Party propaganda.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 87-88"/> Mao also utilised film in his early introductions of media to the people; he sent mobile film groups to transport projectors, screens and film equipment, on shoulders and ox carts, to some of the furthest corners of the Chinese population. The intent was to teach peasants how to watch moving pictures and how to understand the newly emerging forms of narratives and accompanying media.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 87-88"/>

===Hu Feng Affair===
The [[Hu Feng]] Affair exemplifies Mao's relationship with various forms of media.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} Hu Feng, a seasoned literary critic, had been in a literary dialogue with communist figures since the 1930s.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 87-88"/> Mao Zedong's personal interest in the situation emerged in the form of a personally written preface to published anti-Hu Feng materials where he wrote that sentiments such as Hu Feng's were anti-revolutionary and were in fact a facade. Mao also used the publication to not only denounce such individuals but assert that the "task of distinguishing and purging bad persons can be done only by relying on the integration of correct leadership on the part of the leading origins and a high degree of consciousness among the broad masses... all these things are lessons for us. We are taking the Hu Feng affair seriously, because we want to use it to educate the broad masses of the people, first of all those literate working cadres and the intellectuals".<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 87-88"/>
The Hu Feng affair established a precedent for use of media as a weapon to shape opinions.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}

===The Hundred Flowers Policy===
Mao also chose to use the media as a surface level process for critiquing the Communist systems. Mao published "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People" in February, 1957.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97">Karl, Rebecca (2010). ‘’Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World'', p. 95-97. Duke University Press, United States.</ref> This publication called upon the people of China to evaluate the effectiveness of the Communist Party and subsequent Party methods. Mao's call for critique was directed towards the intellectual populace that was seemingly nervous after the Hu Feng affair. Mao's invitation to speak out was an opportunity for the Chinese peoples to use various forms of media, but most were hesitant to do so.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97"/> Newspapers were some of the first to timidly publish varying critiques; eventually it was perceived a safe venue and forum for voicing unfair party methods, inefficiency, poor planning and inadequate attention to everyday life.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97"/> Although articles did not always place blame on specific individuals, the authors often did identify themselves to their work. The works varied between newspapers, pamphlets and wall-posters, and the majority of the criticism was founded in the acceptance of the socialist system but attempted to make suggestions to improve the system rather than undermine or overthrow.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97"/> The criticism revolved around the people's view that the Chinese Communist Party had abandoned its revolutionary principles and was transforming Party Cadres into a privileged social class, but any criticism could very easily be interpreted as seemingly counter-revolutionary.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97"/>

On June 8, 1957, Mao published an editorial in the Chinese Communist Party’s ''The People’s Daily''. Mao declared that "poisonous weeds" had grown among the "fragrant flowers" within the one hundred blooming flowers of people’s criticism. Mao subsequently used the newspapers to identify individuals responsible for certain criticisms as right-wingers and counter-revolutionaries who abused the invitation given to the people to use their voice.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97"/> The ramifications for intellectuals who participated in criticism spanned from being harassed, labelled as rightists, or worse, counter revolutionists. Some intellectuals were subject to house arrest and forced to write confessions and self criticisms of their crimes, and others were banned from living within urban residencies and or sent for re-education. A few were executed or harassed to death.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 95-97"/>

===Hai Rui===
Preceding the Cultural Revolution a play critique about the Chinese historical character Hai Rui was circulated; the criticism labelled the previously popular Chinese moral hero as in sync with counter revolutionist thought.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 118-120">Karl, Rebecca (2010). ‘’Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World'', p. 118-120. Duke University Press, United States.</ref> The article, believed to have been written by a Shanghai-based literary critic, Yao Wenyuan, stirred minimal attention and debate about the historical efficacy of the character in China. It turns out, however that the play critique was planted by Jiang Qing, Mao’s wife. She was believed to have done so per Mao’s directions.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 118-120"/>
The importance of the play criticizing article arose after Mao returned from his travels to rural China. He used the article as a basis to opening against the current Chinese Communist Party establishment. Mao used the article as a fore to dispose of the playwright, Vice President of Beijing, Wu Han, an excuse to criticise and purge members of the Communist Party for their failure to understand and deal with the criticisms correctly, and, most notably, to initiate the Cultural Revolution.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124">Karl, Rebecca (2010). ‘’Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World'', p. 121-124. Duke University Press, United States.</ref>
Mao, yet again, used a newspaper, ''Liberation Daily'', to demand a purge of the “bourgeois elements” from certain cultural circles as well as “right opportunists” from within the Chinese Communist Party. In his article he identified the two major targets for the Cultural Revolution; Chinese intellectuals and Party Cadre’s were to be assessed and scrutinised. The major location for the Cultural Revolution would be held within the urbanised areas of China.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/>

===The Effect of the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong's Media===
Although character posters were not a new technique in China, the Cultural Revolution displayed a surge in these posters and a surge in rising form of mass media.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} The posters that were used by Mao, the Chinese Communist Party, and citizens proved to be a very effective tool.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} The posters provided varying forms of political communication and warfare that could be anonymous, signed, or fabricated to belong to varying authors.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/> Signs, which could be commissioned by anyone who had paper, ink and a brush at their disposal, could easily create a spiraling of political upheaval and impact. The use of the character poster during the Cultural Revolution provide swift, leveling of accusations without any form of proof.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/>
It was nearly impossible to effectively combat insidious rumours of reputation and revolutionary standing before it cut down whoever the target may have been.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/>

Mao and the Chinese Cultural Revolutionists were able to seize rights of speech away from those who normally controlled media.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/>
Mao was quoted in an article within ''Peoples Daily'' newspaper in saying that "Revolutionary Big-Character Posters are 'Magic Mirrors' That Show Up All Monsters."<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/> A result of the Cultural Revolution, and the use of mass media surrounding Mao's initiation of the revolution, was a spiraling use of media which identified educational systems as counter-revolutionary and advocate of bourgeois thought.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 121-124"/>

===Mao Zedong's Use of Art===
Under Chairman Mao Zedong's influence, the various forms of Chinese arts became a venue for mass media. Along with his use of Great Character Posters, Mao attempted, with moderate success, to synthesise realism with folk art in an attempt to realign art with the mass origins of the Chinese people.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148">Karl, Rebecca (2010). ‘’Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World'', p. 147-148. Duke University Press, United States.</ref> By The 1970s many artists had been sent out of urbanised areas and into rural locations of China in order to facilitate the "re-discovery" of Chinese origins.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148"/> Such art forms as opera were changed; they adopted the lyrics of revolutionary lyrics to pre-existing melodies.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148"/> Ballet, although not of authentic Chinese culture, was changed in order to encompass revolutionary gestures and movements in defamiliarised forms.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148"/>
Mao’s concentration in using art as a form of media is reflective of his initial efforts to establish a cultural base in the early 1950s. His belief that revolution was, in its own manner, a form of art is evident throughout many of his actions. Mao was quoted to have said to the French writer [[André Malraux]], that revolution is "a drama of passion; we did not win the people over by appealing to reason, but by developing hope, trust, and fraternity".<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148"/>
Mao knew, possibly more than most leaders at the time, the true impact that art could have on a revolution and the ability to have revolution saturated in the art. It is evident that to Mao "revolution was art; art was revolution", and art as a form of mass media is possibly one of the most effective and long lasting impressions that can be left on a people, and was left on the Chinese people.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148"/>
The effect, intended or not, of Mao's use of art as a form of mass media was one of the most effective forms of propaganda. The messages infiltrated the people's consciousness and emotional states, evoking a physical and emotional participation in revolutionary thought and activity.<ref name="Karl, Rebecca 2010 p. 147-148"/>

==See also==
{{Multicol}}
* [[Mao suit]]
* [[Chairman Mao badge]]
* [[Quotations from Chairman Mao|Mao's Little Red Book]]
* [[Poetry of Mao Zedong]]
* [[Mausoleum of Mao Zedong]]
* ''[[Mao Tse-tung: Ruler of Red China]]''
{{Multicol-break}}
* ''[[The Private Life of Chairman Mao]]''
* ''[[Mao: The Unknown Story]]''
* ''[[Mao's Great Famine]]''
* ''[[Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine]]''
* [[Mao Xinyu]]
{{Multicol-end}}
{{Portal bar|China|People's Republic of China|Biography}}

==References==

===Footnotes===
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Bibliography===
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* {{cite book |last=Carter |first=Peter |title=Mao |year=1976 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0192731401}}
* {{cite book |last=Carter |first=Peter |title=Mao |year=1976 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0192731401}}
* {{cite book|last1= Chang |first1= Jung |last2= Halliday |first2= Jon |authorlink1= Jung Chang |authorlink2= Jon Halliday |title=Mao: The Unknown Story |year=2005 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |isbn=978-0-224-07126-0 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Clisson |first=Tim |title=Chinese Rules: Mao's Dog, Deng's Cat, and Five Timeless Lessons from the Front Lines in China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yWqBAwAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Harper |location=New York |isbn=978-0062316578}}
* {{cite book|author=Davin, Delia|title=Mao: A Very Short Introduction|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=GfShg2lD8Y4C|year=2013|publisher=Oxford UP|isbn=9780191654039}}
* {{cite book |last=Feigon |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Feigon |title=Mao: A Reinterpretation |year=2002 |isbn=978-1566634588 |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |location=Chicago}}
* {{cite book|last= Dikötter |first= Frank |authorlink= Frank Dikötter |title=Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62 |year= 2010 |publisher= Walker & Company |location= London |isbn= 0-8027-7768-6 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Gao |first=Mobo |title=The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution |year=2008 |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |location=London |isbn=978-0745327808}}
* {{cite book |last=Feigon |first=Lee |authorlink=Lee Feigon |title=Mao: A Reinterpretation |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-56663-458-8 |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |location=Chicago |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Hollingworth |first=Clare |author-link=Clare Hollingworth |title=Mao and the Men Against Him |year=1985 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |isbn=978-0224017602}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kuisong |first1=Yang |date=March 2008 |title=Reconsidering the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |volume=193 |issue=193 |pages=102–121 |doi=10.1017/S0305741008000064 |s2cid=154927374}}
*{{cite book|last= Gao |first= Mobo |title= The Battle for China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution |year= 2008 |publisher= Pluto Press |location= London |isbn= 978-0-7453-2780-8 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Hollingworth |first=Clare |authorlink=Clare Hollingworth |title=Mao and the Men Against Him |year=1985 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |isbn=978-0224017602}}
* {{cite book |last=Li |first=Zhisui |author-link=Li Zhisui |title=The Private Life of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician |url=https://archive.org/details/privatelifeofcha00lizh_0 |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=[[Random House]] |location=London |isbn=978-0679764434}}
* {{cite book |title=The Private Life of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician |last=Li |first=Zhisui |authorlink=Li Zhisui |year= 1994 |publisher=Random House |location=London |isbn=978-0679764434}}
* {{cite book |last1=MacFarquhar |first1=Roderick |author-link1=Roderick MacFarquhar |last2=Schoenhals |first2=Michael |title=Mao's Last Revolution |year=2006 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=978-0674027480}}
*{{cite book|last1= MacFarquhar |first1= Roderick |authorlink1= Roderick MacFarquhar |last2= Schoenhals |first2= Michael |title=Mao's Last Revolution |year= 2006 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0674027480}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pantsov |first1=Alexander V. |last2=Levine |first2=Steven I. |title=Mao: The Real Story |year=2012 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York and London |isbn=978-1451654479}}
* {{cite book|last1= Pantsov |first1= Alexander V. |last2= Levine |first2= Steven I. |title=Mao: The Real Story |year=2012 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location=New York and London |isbn=978-1-4516-5447-9 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Schram |first=Stuart |author-link=Stuart R. Schram |title=Mao Tse-Tung |year=1966 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=London |isbn=978-0140208405 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/maotsetung0000schr}}
*{{cite book|last= Schaik |first= Sam |title= Tibet A History |year= 2011 |publisher= Yale University Press Publications |location= New Haven |isbn= 978-0-300-15404-7 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Short |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Short |title=Mao: A Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4y6mACbLWGsC |year=2001 |publisher=[[Owl Books]] |isbn=978-0805066388}}
*{{cite book|last= Schram |first= Stuart |authorlink= Stuart R. Schram |title= Mao Tse-Tung |year= 1966 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= London |isbn= 978-0-14-020840-5 |ref= harv }}
* {{cite book |last=Spence |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Spence |title=Mao Zedong |series=Penguin Lives |year=1999 |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0670886692 |url=https://archive.org/details/maozedong00spen}}
*{{cite book|last= Short |first= Philip |authorlink= Philip Short |title= Mao: A Life |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=4y6mACbLWGsC |year= 2001 |publisher= [[Owl Books]] |isbn= 978-0-8050-6638-8 |ref= harv}}
** {{cite news |last=Burns |first=John F. |date=6 February 2000 |title=Methods of the Great Leader |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/06/reviews/000206.06burnst.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}
* {{cite book|last=Terrill |first=Ross |authorlink= Ross Terrill |title=Mao: A Biography |year=1980 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location= |isbn= |ref=harv}}, which is superseded by Ross Terrill. ''Mao: A Biography.'' (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8047-2921-2 (pbk. alk. paper).
* {{cite book |last=Terrill |first=Ross |author-link=Ross Terrill |title=Mao: A Biography |year=1980 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]}}, which is superseded by {{cite book |last=Terrill |first=Ross |author-link=Ross Terrill |title=Mao: A Biography |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=0804729212}}
*{{cite book|last= Becker |first= Jasper |authorlink= Jasper Becker |title= Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=iC4g0gXBmIkC |year= 1998 |publisher= Holt Paperbacks |location= |isbn= 0-8050-5668-8 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Valentino |first=Benjamin A. |title=Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQfeXVU_EvgC |year=2004 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=978-0801439650}}
*{{cite book|last= Valentino |first= Benjamin A. |title= Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the Twentieth Century |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=LQfeXVU_EvgC |year= 2004 |publisher= [[Cornell University Press]] |isbn= 0-8014-3965-5 |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last= Chirot |first= Daniel |title= Modern tyrants: the power and prevalence of evil in our age |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=e-kVgozyE8gC |year= 1996 |publisher= [[Princeton University Press]] |isbn= 0-691-02777-3 |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last= Spence |first= Jonathan |authorlink= Jonathan Spence |title= Mao Zedong |url= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |accessdate= |series= Penguin Lives |year= 1999 |publisher= [[Viking Press]] |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-670-88669-2 |oclc= 41641238 |doi= |id= |bibcode= |laysummary= http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/06/reviews/000206.06burnst.html |laydate= February 6, 2000 |ref= harv }}
*{{cite journal|last1= Kuisong |first1= Yang |date=March 2008 |title= Reconsidering the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries |journal= [[The China Quarterly]] |issue= 193 |pages= 102–121 |format= PDF |url= http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=1809180 |ref = harv }}
*{{cite AV media|people= "Biography" |authorlink= Biography (TV series) |year= 2005 |title= Mao Tse Tung: China's Peasant Emperor |medium= Television production |url= http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3081083673/ |accessdate= 18 January 2013 |time= |publisher= [[A&E Network]] |asin= B000AABKXG |ref= harv }}
{{refend}}
{{refend}}
*Schoppa, R. Keith. ''Twentieth Century China: A History in Documents''. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.


== Further reading ==
==External links==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Andrew |first1=Anita M. |last2=Rapp |first2=John A. |title=Autocracy and China's Rebel Founding Emperors: Comparing Chairman Mao and Ming Taizu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQOhVb5Fbt4C&pg=PA110 |year=2000 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-0847695805 |pages=110–}}
* {{cite book |last=Davin |first=Delia |title=Mao: A Very Short Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfShg2lD8Y4C |year=2013 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0191654039}}
* {{cite book |last1=Keith |first1=Schoppa R. |title=Twentieth Century in China: A History in Documents |date=2004 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199732005}}
* {{cite book |last=Schaik |first=Sam |title=Tibet: A History |year=2011 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] Publications |location=New Haven |isbn=978-0300154047}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Library resources box}}
{{Sister project links|s=Author:Mao Zedong|wikt=no|v=no|n=no|b=no}}
{{Sister project links|s=Author:Mao Zedong|wikt=no|v=no|n=no|b=no}}
;General
*[http://www.asiasource.org/society/mao.cfm Asia Source biography]
*[http://www.chinesemao.com/ ChineseMao.com: Extensive resources about Mao Zedong]
*[http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/inside.china/profiles/mao.tsetung/ CNN profile]
*[http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/classics/mao/index.html Collected Works of Mao at the Maoist Internationalist Movement]
*[http://art-bin.com/art/omaotoc.html Mao quotations]
*[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/index.htm Mao Zedong Reference Archive at marxists.org]
*[http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/samplep02 Oxford Companion to World Politics: Mao Zedong]
*[http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDmao.htm Spartacus Educational biography]
*[http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66095/4468893.html Bio of Mao at the official Communist Party of China web site]


=== General ===
;Commentary
* [https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/collection/227/foundations-of-chinese-foreign-policy "Foundations of Chinese Foreign Policy] online documents in English from the Wilson Center in Washington
*[http://chairmanmaozedong.org Discusses the life, military influence and writings of Chairman Mao ZeDong.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000510085445/http://www.asiasource.org/society/mao.cfm Asia Source biography]
*[http://www.monthlyreview.org/0906amin.htm What Maoism Has Contributed]
* [http://www.chinesemao.com/ ChineseMao.com: Extensive resources about Mao Zedong] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906033211/http://www.chinesemao.com/ |date=6 September 2013 }}
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jun/02/china.jonathanwatts China must confront dark past, says Mao confidant]
* [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/inside.china/profiles/mao.tsetung/ CNN profile]
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jan/18/comment.china Mao was cruel – but also laid the ground for today's China]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041209035950/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/classics/mao/index.html Collected Works of Mao at the Maoist Internationalist Movement]
*[http://tipolog.livejournal.com/67396.html Comrade Mao - 44 Chinese posters of the 1950s - 70s]
* [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo47030 Collected Works of Mao Tse-tung (1917–1949)] [[Joint Publications Research Service]]
*[http://www.monthlyreview.org/0904hinton.htm On the Role of Mao Zedong]
* [http://art-bin.com/art/omaotoc.html Mao quotations]
*[http://artchina.free.fr/items/creasite.php?params=Mao%20Zedong_CATEGORY_0 Propaganda paintings showing Mao as the great leader of China]
* [http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/index.htm Mao Zedong Reference Archive at marxists.org]
*[http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,483023,00.html Remembering Mao's Victims]
* [http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/samplep02 Oxford Companion to World Politics: Mao Zedong]
*[http://www.biography.com/video.do?name=politicalfigures&bcpid=1740037438&bclid=1774292646&bctid=1731352871 Mao Tse Tung: Leader, Killer, Icon]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130909234651/http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66095/4468893.html Bio of Mao at the official Communist Party of China web site]
*[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/opinion/16iht-eddikotter16.html Mao's Great Leap to Famine]
* [https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/188416 Photo of Chairman Mao strolling outside his official residence, 1957]
*[http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/dec/20/finding-facts-about-maos-victims/ Finding the Facts About Mao's Victims]
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-margolis/remembering-chinas-great_b_303107.html Remembering China's Great Helmsman]
*[http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?]


=== Commentary ===
{{S-start}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100305093011/http://www.chairmanmaozedong.org/ Discusses the life, military influence and writings of Chairman Mao ZeDong.]
{{S-ppo}}
* [https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/what-maoism-has-contributed What Maoism Has Contributed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812060630/https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/what-maoism-has-contributed/ |date=12 August 2021 }} by Samir Amin (21 September 2006)
* [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/02/china.jonathanwatts China must confront dark past, says Mao confidant]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jan/18/comment.china Mao was cruel – but also laid the ground for today's China]
* [https://monthlyreview.org/2004/09/01/on-the-role-of-mao-zedong On the Role of Mao Zedong] by William Hinton. Monthly Review Foundation 2004 Volume 56, Issue 04 (September)
* [http://artchina.free.fr/items/creasite.php?params=Mao%20Zedong_CATEGORY_0 Propaganda paintings showing Mao as the great leader of China]
* [http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,483023,00.html Remembering Mao's Victims]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/opinion/16iht-eddikotter16.html Mao's Great Leap to Famine]
* [http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/dec/20/finding-facts-about-maos-victims/ Finding the Facts About Mao's Victims]
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-margolis/remembering-chinas-great_b_303107.html Remembering China's Great Helmsman]
* [http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011135700/https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward/ |date=11 October 2019 }}
* [https://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi3081083673/ Mao Tse Tung: China's Peasant Emperor]
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<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME = Mao, Zedong
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = Founder of the People's Republic of China
|DATE OF BIRTH = December 26, 1893
|PLACE OF BIRTH = Shaoshan, Hunan, China
|DATE OF DEATH = September 9, 1976
|PLACE OF DEATH = Beijing, China
}}
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Latest revision as of 16:38, 21 December 2024

Mao Zedong
毛泽东
Mao in 1959
Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
In office
20 March 1943 – 9 September 1976
Deputy
Preceded byZhang Wentian (as General Secretary)
Succeeded byHua Guofeng
1st Chairman of the People's Republic of China
In office
27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959
PremierZhou Enlai
DeputyZhu De
Succeeded byLiu Shaoqi
Chairman of the Central Military Commission
In office
8 September 1954 – 9 September 1976
Deputy
Succeeded byHua Guofeng
Chairman of the Central People's Government
In office
1 October 1949 – 27 September 1954
PremierZhou Enlai
Preceded byOffice established
Li Zongren (as President of the Republic of China)
Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office
9 October 1949 – 25 December 1954
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byZhou Enlai
Personal details
Born(1893-12-26)26 December 1893
Shaoshan, Hunan, Qing China
Died9 September 1976(1976-09-09) (aged 82)
Beijing, China
Resting placeChairman Mao Memorial Hall, Beijing
Political partyCCP (from 1921)
Other political
affiliations
Kuomintang (1925–1926)
Spouses
  • (m. 1907; died 1910)
  • (m. 1920; died 1930)
  • (m. 1928; div. 1937)
  • (m. 1938)
Children
Parents
Alma materHunan First Normal University
Signature
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese毛泽东
Traditional Chinese毛澤東
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMáo Zédōng
Bopomofoㄇㄠˊ   ㄗㄜˊ   ㄉㄨㄥ
Wade–GilesMao2 Tse2-tung1
Tongyong PinyinMáo Zé-dong
IPA[mǎʊ tsɤ̌.tʊ́ŋ]
Wu
SuzhouneseMáu Zéh-ton
Hakka
RomanizationMô Chhe̍t-tûng
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMòuh Jaahk-dūng
Jyutpingmou4 zaak6 dung1
IPA[mɔw˩ tsak̚˨ tʊŋ˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJMô͘ Te̍k-tong
Tâi-lôMôo Ti̍k-tang
Courtesy name
Simplified Chinese润之
Traditional Chinese潤之
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinRùnzhī
Bopomofoㄖㄨㄣˋ   ㄓ
Wade–GilesJun4-chih1
Tongyong PinyinRùn-jhih
IPA[ɻwə̂n.ʈʂɻ̩́]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationYeuhn-jī
Jyutpingjeon6 zi1
IPA[jɵn˨ tsi˥]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJLūn-chi
Central institution membership

Other offices held

Mao Zedong[a] (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) and led the country from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao also served as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1943 until his death, and as the party's de facto leader from 1935. His theories, which he advocated as a Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism, are known as Maoism.

Mao was the son of a peasant in Shaoshan, Hunan. He was influenced early in his life by the events of the 1911 Revolution and May Fourth Movement of 1919, supporting Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism. He later adopted Marxism–Leninism while working as a librarian at Peking University, and in 1921 was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. After the start of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and CCP in 1927, Mao led the failed Autumn Harvest Uprising and founded the Jiangxi Soviet. He helped establish the Chinese Red Army and developed a strategy of guerilla warfare. In 1935, Mao became the leader of the CCP during the Long March. Although the CCP allied with the KMT under the Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War, China's civil war resumed after Japan's surrender in 1945; Mao's forces defeated the Nationalist government, which withdrew to Taiwan in 1949.

On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the PRC, a one-party state controlled by the CCP. He initiated campaigns of land redistribution and industrialisation, suppressed counter-revolutionaries, intervened in the Korean War, and began the Hundred Flowers and Anti-Rightist Campaigns. In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, which aimed to transform China's economy from agrarian to industrial; it resulted in Great Chinese Famine. In 1966, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution, a campaign to remove "counter-revolutionary" elements, marked by violent class struggle, destruction of historical artifacts, and Mao's cult of personality. From the late 1950s, Mao's foreign policy was dominated by a political split with the Soviet Union, and during the 1970s he began establishing relations with the United States; China was also involved in the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War. In 1976, Mao died after suffering a series of heart attacks. He was succeeded as leader by Hua Guofeng and in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping. The CCP's official evaluation of Mao's legacy both praises him and acknowledges he made errors in his later years.

Mao is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. His policies were responsible for a vast number of deaths, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims of starvation, persecution, prison labour, and mass executions, and his regime has been described as totalitarian. He has been also credited with transforming China from a semi-colony to a leading world power by advancing literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy. Under Mao, China's population grew from about 550 million to more than 900 million. Within China, he is revered as a national hero who liberated the country from foreign occupation and exploitation. He became an ideological figurehead and a prominent influence within the international communist movement, inspiring various Maoist organisations.

English romanisation of name

During Mao's lifetime, the English-language media universally rendered his name as Mao Tse-tung, using the Wade–Giles system of transliteration though with the circumflex accent in the syllable Tsê dropped. Due to its recognizability, the spelling was used widely, even by the PRC's foreign ministry after Hanyu Pinyin became the PRC's official romanisation system for Mandarin Chinese in 1958; the well-known booklet of Mao's political statements was officially entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in English translations. While the pinyin-derived spelling Mao Zedong is increasingly common, the Wade–Giles-derived spelling Mao Tse-tung continues to be used in modern publications to some extent.[2]

Early life

Youth and the Xinhai Revolution: 1893–1911

Mao Zedong c. 1910s

Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893, near Shaoshan village in Hunan.[3] His father, Mao Yichang, was a formerly impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. Growing up in rural Hunan, Mao described his father as a stern disciplinarian, who would beat him and his three siblings, the boys Zemin and Zetan, as well as an adopted sister/cousin, Zejian.[4] Mao's mother, Wen Qimei, was a devout Buddhist who tried to temper her husband's strict attitude.[5] Mao too became a Buddhist, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years.[5] At age 8, Mao was sent to Shaoshan Primary School. Learning the value systems of Confucianism, he later admitted that he did not enjoy the classical Chinese texts preaching Confucian morals, instead favouring classic novels like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin.[6] At age 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father united him in an arranged marriage to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu, thereby uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognise her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910 at 20 years old.[7]

Mao Zedong's childhood home in Shaoshan, in 2010, by which time it had become a tourist destination

Working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously[8] and developed a "political consciousness" from Zheng Guanying's booklet which lamented the deterioration of Chinese power and argued for the adoption of representative democracy.[9] Mao also read translations of works by Western authors including Adam Smith, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Huxley.[10]: 34  Interested in history, Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.[11] His political views were shaped by Gelaohui-led protests which erupted following a famine in Changsha, the capital of Hunan; Mao supported the protesters' demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders.[12] The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain. He disapproved of their actions as morally wrong, but claimed sympathy for their situation.[13] At age 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan,[14] where he was bullied for his peasant background.[15]

In 1911, Mao began middle school in Changsha.[16] Revolutionary sentiment was strong in the city, where there was widespread animosity towards Emperor Puyi's absolute monarchy and many were advocating republicanism. The republicans' figurehead was Sun Yat-sen, an American-educated Christian who led the Tongmenghui society.[17] In Changsha, Mao was influenced by Sun's newspaper, The People's Independence (Minli bao),[18] and called for Sun to become president in a school essay.[19] As a symbol of rebellion against the Manchu monarch, Mao and a friend cut off their queue pigtails, a sign of subservience to the emperor.[20]

Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the Xinhai Revolution. Changsha's governor fled, leaving the city in republican control.[21] Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a private soldier, but was not involved in fighting or combat. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general Yuan Shikai. The monarchy was abolished, creating the Republic of China, but the monarchist Yuan became president. With the revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months as a soldier.[22] Around this time, Mao discovered socialism from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by Jiang Kanghu, the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea.[23]

Fourth Normal School of Changsha: 1912–1919

Over the next few years, Mao Zedong enrolled in and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school, an economics school, and the government-run Changsha Middle School.[24] Studying independently, he spent much time in Changsha's library, reading core works of classical liberalism such as Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws, as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as Darwin, Mill, Rousseau, and Spencer.[25] Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people.[26] He was inspired by Friedrich Paulsen, a neo-Kantian philosopher and educator whose emphasis on the achievement of a carefully defined goal as the highest value led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for a great goal.[27] His father saw no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, cut off his allowance and forced him to move into a hostel for the destitute.[28]

Mao in 1913

Mao wanted to become a teacher and enrolled at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which soon merged with the First Normal School of Hunan, widely seen as the best in Hunan.[29] Befriending Mao, professor Yang Changji urged him to read a radical newspaper, New Youth (Xin qingnian), the creation of his friend Chen Duxiu, a dean at Peking University. Although he was a supporter of Chinese nationalism, Chen argued that China must look to the west to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy.[30] In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Zisheng; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food.[31]

A popular student, in 1915 Mao was elected secretary of the Students' Society. He organised the Association for Student Self-Government and led protests against school rules.[32] Mao published his first article in New Youth in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution.[33] He joined the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi (Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate the philosopher Wang Fuzhi.[34] In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding soldiers.[35] Increasingly interested in the techniques of war, he took a keen interest in World War I, and also began to develop a sense of solidarity with workers.[36] Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen, and with other young revolutionaries they formed the Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 70–80 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party.[37] Mao graduated in June 1919, ranked third in the year.[38]

Early revolutionary activity

Beijing, anarchism, and Marxism: 1917–1919

Mao Zedong in 1924

Mao moved to Beijing, where his mentor Yang Changji had taken a job at Peking University.[39] Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome",[40] securing him a job as assistant to the university librarian Li Dazhao, who would become an early Chinese Communist.[41] Li authored a series of New Youth articles on the October Revolution in Russia, during which the Communist Bolshevik Party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin had seized power. Lenin was an advocate of the socio-political theory of Marxism, first developed by the German sociologists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and Li's articles added Marxism to the doctrines in the Chinese revolutionary movement.[42]

Becoming "more and more radical", Mao was initially influenced by Peter Kropotkin's anarchism, which was the most prominent radical doctrine of the day. Chinese anarchists, such as Cai Yuanpei, Chancellor of Peking University, called for complete social revolution in social relations, family structure, and women's equality, rather than the simple change in the form of government called for by earlier revolutionaries. He joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919.[43] Paid a low wage, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven other Hunanese students, but believed that Beijing's beauty offered "vivid and living compensation".[44] A number of his friends took advantage of the anarchist-organised Mouvement Travail-Études to study in France, but Mao declined, perhaps because of an inability to learn languages.[45] Mao raised funds for the movement, however.[10]: 35 

At the university, Mao was snubbed by other students due to his rural Hunanese accent and lowly position. He joined the university's Philosophy and Journalism Societies and attended lectures and seminars by the likes of Chen Duxiu, Hu Shih, and Qian Xuantong.[46] Mao's time in Beijing ended in the spring of 1919, when he travelled to Shanghai with friends who were preparing to leave for France.[47] He did not return to Shaoshan, where his mother was terminally ill. She died in October 1919 and her husband died in January 1920.[48]

New Culture and political protests: 1919–1920

Mao Zedong in 1919

On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing gathered at Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak resistance to Japanese expansion in China. Patriots were outraged at the influence given to Japan in the Twenty-One Demands in 1915, the complicity of Duan Qirui's Beiyang government, and the betrayal of China in the Treaty of Versailles, wherein Japan was allowed to receive territories in Shandong which had been surrendered by Germany. These demonstrations ignited the nationwide May Fourth Movement and fuelled the New Culture Movement which blamed China's diplomatic defeats on social and cultural backwardness.[49]

In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School[50] and organising protests against the pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, Zhang Jingyao, popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule.[51] In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with He Shuheng and Deng Zhongxia, organising a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, Xiang River Review. Using vernacular language that would be understandable to the majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", and strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution.[clarification needed] His ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of mutual aid.[52]

Students in Beijing rallying during the May Fourth Movement

Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of the liberal magazine New Hunan (Xin Hunan) and authored articles in popular local newspaper Ta Kung Pao. Several of these advocated feminist views, calling for the liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage.[53] In fall 1919, Mao organized a seminar in Changsha studying economic and political issues, as well as ways to unite the people, the feasibility of socialism, and issues regarding Confucianism.[54] During this period, Mao involved himself in political work with manual laborers, setting up night schools and trade unions.[54] In December 1919, Mao helped organise a general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji.[55] Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang.[56] Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, Karl Kautsky, and Marx and Engels—notably The Communist Manifesto—he came under their increasing influence, but was still eclectic in his views.[57]

Mao visited Tianjin, Jinan, and Qufu,[58] before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met Chen Duxiu, noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, Yi Peiji, a revolutionary and member of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General Tan Yankai, a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organising the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganisation of the provincial administration, Mao was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui, daughter of Yang Changji, in the winter of 1920.[59][60]

Founding the Chinese Communist Party: 1921–1922

Location of the first Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, in Xintiandi, former French Concession, Shanghai

The Chinese Communist Party was founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the Shanghai French Concession in 1921 as a study society and informal network. Mao set up a Changsha branch, also establishing a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps and a Cultural Book Society which opened a bookstore to propagate revolutionary literature throughout Hunan.[61] He was involved in the movement for Hunan autonomy, in the hope that a Hunanese constitution would increase civil liberties and make his revolutionary activity easier. When the movement was successful in establishing provincial autonomy under a new warlord, Mao forgot his involvement.[62][clarification needed] By 1921, small Marxist groups existed in Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Jinan; it was decided to hold a central meeting, which began in Shanghai on 23 July 1921. The first session of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was attended by 13 delegates, Mao included. After the authorities sent a police spy to the congress, the delegates moved to a boat on South Lake near Jiaxing, in Zhejiang, to escape detection. Although Soviet and Comintern delegates attended, the first congress ignored Lenin's advice to accept a temporary alliance between the Communists and the "bourgeois democrats" who also advocated national revolution; instead they stuck to the orthodox Marxist belief that only the urban proletariat could lead a socialist revolution.[63]

Mao was party secretary for Hunan stationed in Changsha, and to build the party there he followed a variety of tactics.[64] In August 1921, he founded the Self-Study University, through which readers could gain access to revolutionary literature, housed in the premises of the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi, a Qing dynasty Hunanese philosopher who had resisted the Manchus.[64] He joined the YMCA Mass Education Movement to fight illiteracy, though he edited the textbooks to include radical sentiments.[65] He continued organising workers to strike against the administration of Hunan Governor Zhao Hengti.[66] Yet labour issues remained central. The successful and famous Anyuan coal mines strikes [zh] (contrary to later Party historians) depended on both "proletarian" and "bourgeois" strategies. Liu Shaoqi and Li Lisan and Mao not only mobilised the miners, but formed schools and cooperatives and engaged local intellectuals, gentry, military officers, merchants, Red Gang dragon heads and even church clergy.[67] Mao's labour organizing work in the Anyuan mines also involved his wife Yang Kaihui, who worked for women's rights, including literacy and educational issues, in the nearby peasant communities.[68] Although Mao and Yang were not the originators of this political organizing method of combining labor organizing among male workers with a focus on women's rights issues in their communities, they were among the most effective at using this method.[68] Mao's political organizing success in the Anyuan mines resulted in Chen Duxiu inviting him to become a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee.[69]

Mao claimed that he missed the July 1922 Second Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai because he lost the address. Adopting Lenin's advice, the delegates agreed to an alliance with the "bourgeois democrats" of the KMT for the good of the "national revolution". Communist Party members joined the KMT, hoping to push its politics leftward.[70] Mao enthusiastically agreed with this decision, arguing for an alliance across China's socio-economic classes, and eventually rose to become propaganda chief of the KMT.[60] Mao was a vocal anti-imperialist and in his writings he lambasted the governments of Japan, the UK and US, describing the latter as "the most murderous of hangmen".[71]

Collaboration with the Kuomintang: 1922–1927

Mao giving a speech (no audio)

At the Third Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai in June 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to working with the KMT. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai.[72] At the First KMT Congress, held in Guangzhou in early 1924, Mao was elected an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee, and put forward four resolutions to decentralise power to urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for the KMT earned him the suspicion of Li Li-san, his Hunan comrade.[73]

In late 1924, Mao returned to Shaoshan, perhaps to recuperate from an illness. He found that the peasantry were increasingly restless and some had seized land from wealthy landowners to found communes. This convinced him of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, an idea advocated by the KMT leftists but not the Communists.[74] Mao and many of his colleagues also proposed the end of cooperation with the KMT, which was rejected by the Comintern representative Mikhail Borodin.[75] In the winter of 1925, Mao fled to Guangzhou after his revolutionary activities attracted the attention of Zhao's regional authorities.[76] There, he ran the 6th term of the KMT's Peasant Movement Training Institute from May to September 1926.[77][78] The Peasant Movement Training Institute under Mao trained cadres and prepared them for militant activity, taking them through military training exercises and getting them to study basic left-wing texts.[79]

Mao in Guangzhou in 1925

When party leader Sun Yat-sen died in May 1925, he was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek, who moved to marginalise the left-KMT and the Communists.[80] Mao nevertheless supported Chiang's National Revolutionary Army, who embarked on the Northern Expedition attack in 1926 on warlords.[81] In the wake of this expedition, peasants rose up, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising the growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement.[82]

Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in March 1927. Mao is third from the right in the second row.

In March 1927, Mao appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing Wang Jingwei leader. There, Mao played an active role in the discussions regarding the peasant issue, defending a set of "Regulations for the Repression of Local Bullies and Bad Gentry", which advocated the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of counter-revolutionary activity, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods cannot suffice".[83][84] In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the KMT's five-member Central Land Committee, urging peasants to refuse to pay rent. Mao led another group to put together a "Draft Resolution on the Land Question", which called for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in the villages". Proceeding to carry out a "Land Survey", he stated that anyone owning over 30 mou (four and a half acres), constituting 13% of the population, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary.[85] Presenting his conclusions at the Enlarged Land Committee meeting, many expressed reservations, some believing that it went too far, and others not far enough. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented.[86]

Civil War

Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings: 1927

Flag of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army

Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition against the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who then numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Chiang ignored the orders of the Wuhan-based leftist KMT government and marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. As the Communists awaited Chiang's arrival, he loosed the White Terror, massacring 5,000 with the aid of the Green Gang.[84][87] In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by Zhang Zuolin.[88][89] That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and the CCP lost approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members.[89]

The CCP continued supporting the leftist KMT government in Wuhan, a position Mao initially supported,[89] but by the time of the CCP's Fifth Congress he had changed his mind, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia.[90] The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July.[90] The CCP founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as the "Red Army", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General Zhu De was ordered to take the city of Nanchang on 1 August 1927, in what became known as the Nanchang Uprising. They were initially successful, but were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to Shantou, and from there they were driven into the wilderness of Fujian.[90] Mao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army and led four regiments against Changsha in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, in the hope of sparking peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat and with 1000 survivors marched east to the Jinggang Mountains of Jiangxi.[91]

Base in Jinggangshan: 1927–1928

Mao in 1927

革命不是請客吃飯,不是做文章,不是繪畫繡花,不能那樣雅緻,那樣從容不迫,文質彬彬,那樣溫良恭讓。革命是暴動,是一個階級推翻一個階級的暴烈的行動。

Revolution is not a dinner party, nor an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.

— Mao, February 1927[92]

The CCP Central Committee, hiding in Shanghai, expelled Mao from their ranks and from the Hunan Provincial Committee, as punishment for his "military opportunism", for his focus on rural activity, and for being too lenient with "bad gentry". The more orthodox Communists especially regarded the peasants as backward and ridiculed Mao's idea of mobilizing them.[60] They nevertheless adopted three policies he had long championed: the immediate formation of workers' councils, the confiscation of all land without exemption, and the rejection of the KMT. Mao's response was to ignore them.[93] He established a base in Jinggangshan City, an area of the Jinggang Mountains, where he united five villages as a self-governing state, and supported the confiscation of land from rich landlords, who were "re-educated" and sometimes executed. He ensured that no massacres took place in the region, and pursued a more lenient approach than that advocated by the Central Committee.[94] In addition to land redistribution, Mao promoted literacy and non-hierarchical organizational relationships in Jinggangshan, transforming the area's social and economic life and attracted many local supporters.[95]

Mao proclaimed that "Even the lame, the deaf and the blind could all come in useful for the revolutionary struggle", he boosted the army's numbers,[96] incorporating two groups of bandits into his army, building a force of around 1,800 troops.[97] He laid down rules for his soldiers: prompt obedience to orders, all confiscations were to be turned over to the government, and nothing was to be confiscated from poorer peasants. In doing so, he moulded his men into a disciplined, efficient fighting force.[96]

敵進我退,
敵駐我騷,
敵疲我打,
敵退我追。


When the enemy advances, we retreat.
When the enemy rests, we harass him.
When the enemy avoids a battle, we attack.
When the enemy retreats, we advance.

— Mao's advice in combating the Kuomintang, 1928[98][99]
Chinese Communist revolutionaries in the 1920s

In spring 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao's troops to southern Hunan, hoping to spark peasant uprisings. Mao was skeptical, but complied. They reached Hunan, where they were attacked by the KMT and fled after heavy losses. Meanwhile, KMT troops had invaded Jinggangshan, leaving them without a base.[100] Wandering the countryside, Mao's forces came across a CCP regiment led by General Zhu De and Lin Biao; they united, and attempted to retake Jinggangshan. They were initially successful, but the KMT counter-attacked, and pushed the CCP back; over the next few weeks, they fought an entrenched guerrilla war in the mountains.[98][101] The Central Committee again ordered Mao to march to south Hunan, but he refused, and remained at his base. Contrastingly, Zhu complied, and led his armies away. Mao's troops fended the KMT off for 25 days while he left the camp at night to find reinforcements. He reunited with the decimated Zhu's army, and together they returned to Jinggangshan and retook the base. There they were joined by a defecting KMT regiment and Peng Dehuai's Fifth Red Army. In the mountainous area they were unable to grow enough crops to feed everyone, leading to food shortages throughout the winter.[102]

In 1928, Mao met and married He Zizhen, an 18-year-old revolutionary who would bear him six children.[103][104]

Jiangxi Soviet Republic of China: 1929–1934

Mao in Yan'an (1930s)

In January 1929, Mao and Zhu evacuated the base with 2,000 men and a further 800 provided by Peng, and took their armies south, to the area around Tonggu and Xinfeng in Jiangxi.[105] The evacuation led to a drop in morale, and many troops became disobedient and began thieving; this worried Li Lisan and the Central Committee, who saw Mao's army as lumpenproletariat, that were unable to share in proletariat class consciousness.[106][107] In keeping with orthodox Marxist thought, Li believed that only the urban proletariat could lead a successful revolution, and saw little need for Mao's peasant guerrillas; he ordered Mao to disband his army into units to be sent out to spread the revolutionary message. Mao replied that while he concurred with Li's theoretical position, he would not disband his army nor abandon his base.[107][108] Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to world revolution, believing that a CCP victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. Officials in Moscow desired greater control over the CCP and removed Li from power by calling him to Russia for an inquest into his errors.[109] They replaced him with Soviet-educated Chinese Communists, known as the "28 Bolsheviks", two of whom, Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian, took control of the Central Committee. Mao disagreed with the new leadership, believing they grasped little of the Chinese situation, and he soon emerged as their key rival.[110][111]

Military parade at the founding of a Chinese Soviet Republic in 1931

In February 1930, Mao created the Southwest Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in the region under his control.[112] In November, he suffered emotional trauma after his second wife Yang Kaihui and sister were captured and beheaded by KMT general He Jian.[113] Facing internal problems, members of the Jiangxi Soviet accused him of being too moderate, and hence anti-revolutionary. In December, they tried to overthrow Mao, resulting in the Futian incident, during which Mao's loyalists tortured many and executed between 2000 and 3000 dissenters.[114] The CCP Central Committee moved to Jiangxi which it saw as a secure area. In November, it proclaimed Jiangxi to be the Soviet Republic of China, an independent Communist-governed state. Although he was proclaimed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Mao's power was diminished, as his control of the Red Army was allocated to Zhou Enlai. Meanwhile, Mao recovered from tuberculosis.[115]

The KMT armies adopted a policy of encirclement and annihilation of the Red armies. Outnumbered, Mao responded with guerrilla tactics influenced by the works of ancient military strategists like Sun Tzu, but Zhou and the new leadership followed a policy of open confrontation and conventional warfare. In doing so, the Red Army successfully defeated the first and second encirclements.[116][117] Angered at his armies' failure, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the operation. He too faced setbacks and retreated to deal with the further Japanese incursions into China.[118] As a result of the KMT's change of focus to the defence of China against Japanese expansionism, the Red Army was able to expand its area of control, eventually encompassing a population of 3 million.[117] Mao proceeded with his land reform program. In November 1931 he announced the start of a "land verification project" which was expanded in June 1933. He also orchestrated education programs and implemented measures to increase female political participation.[119] Chiang viewed the Communists as a greater threat than the Japanese and returned to Jiangxi, where he initiated the fifth encirclement campaign, which involved the construction of a concrete and barbed wire "wall of fire" around the state, which was accompanied by aerial bombardment, to which Zhou's tactics proved ineffective. Trapped inside, morale among the Red Army dropped as food and medicine became scarce. The leadership decided to evacuate.[120]

Long March: 1934–1935

An overview map of the Long March
Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong, and Zhu De during the Long March.

On 14 October 1934, the Red Army broke through the KMT line on the Jiangxi Soviet's south-west corner at Xinfeng with 85,000 soldiers and 15,000 party cadres and embarked on the "Long March". In order to make the escape, many of the wounded and the ill, as well as women and children, were left behind, defended by a group of guerrilla fighters whom the KMT massacred.[121] The 100,000 who escaped headed to southern Hunan, first crossing the Xiang River after heavy fighting,[122] and then the Wu River, in Guizhou where they took Zunyi in January 1935. Temporarily resting in the city, they held a conference; here, Mao was elected to a position of leadership, becoming Chairman of the Politburo, and de facto leader of both Party and Red Army, in part because his candidacy was supported by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. Insisting that they operate as a guerrilla force, he laid out a destination: the Shenshi Soviet in Shaanxi, Northern China, from where the Communists could focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that in focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the Communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, who in turn would renounce the KMT.[123]

From Zunyi, Mao led his troops to Loushan Pass, where they faced armed opposition but successfully crossed the river. Chiang flew into the area to lead his armies against Mao, but the Communists outmanoeuvred him and crossed the Jinsha River.[124] Faced with the more difficult task of crossing the Tatu River, they managed it by fighting a battle over the Luding Bridge in May, taking Luding.[125] In Moukung, Western Sichuan, they encountered the 50,000-strong CCP Fourth Front Army of Zhang Guotao (who had marched from the mountain ranges around Ma'anshan[126]), and together proceeded to Maoerhkai and then Gansu. Zhang and Mao disagreed over what to do; the latter wished to proceed to Shaanxi, while Zhang wanted to retreat west to Tibet or Sikkim, far from the KMT threat. It was agreed that they would go their separate ways, with Zhu De joining Zhang.[127] Mao's forces proceeded north, through hundreds of kilometres of grasslands, an area of quagmire where they were attacked by Manchu tribesman and where many soldiers succumbed to famine and disease.[128] Finally reaching Shaanxi, they fought off both the KMT and an Islamic cavalry militia before crossing the Min Mountains and Mount Liupan and reaching the Shenshi Soviet; only 7,000–8,000 had survived.[129] The Long March cemented Mao's status as the dominant figure in the party. In November 1935, he was named chairman of the Military Commission. From this point onward, Mao was the Communist Party's undisputed leader, even though he would not become party chairman until 1943.[130]

World War II

Zhang Guotao (left) and Mao in Yan'an, 1937

Mao's troops arrived at the Yan'an Soviet during October 1935 and settled in Bao'an, until spring 1936. While there, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment, and began literacy programs.[131] Mao now commanded 15,000 soldiers, boosted by the arrival of He Long's men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao returned from Tibet.[132] In February 1936, they established the North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits.[133] In January 1937, they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", that sent groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks.[134] In May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation.[135] Western reporters also arrived in the "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were Edgar Snow, who used his experiences as a basis for Red Star Over China, and Agnes Smedley, whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause.[136]

In an effort to defeat the Japanese, Mao (left) agreed to collaborate with Chiang (right).
Mao in 1938, writing On Protracted War

On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizhen had been injured by a shrapnel wound to the head. She travelled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, Jiang Qing.[137][138] He Zizhen was reportedly "dispatched to a mental asylum in Moscow to make room" for Qing.[139] Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorising.[140] He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal.[141] Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as a "traitor to the nation",[142] on 5 May, he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanjing National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin.[143] Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, Zhang Xueliang, in Xi'an, leading to the Xi'an Incident; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with the Communists, resulting in the formation of a United Front with concessions on both sides on 25 December 1937.[144]

The Japanese had taken both Shanghai and Nanjing—resulting in the Nanjing Massacre, an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—and was pushing the Kuomintang government inland to Chongqing.[145] The Japanese's brutality led to increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, and the Red Army grew from 50,000 to 500,000.[146][147] In August 1938, the Red Army formed the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army, which were nominally under the command of Chiang's National Revolutionary Army.[148] In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the Hundred Regiments Offensive, in which 400,000 troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in the death of 20,000 Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine.[147][149] From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including Philosophy of Revolution, which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge; Protracted Warfare, which dealt with guerrilla and mobile military tactics; and On New Democracy, which laid forward ideas for China's future.[150]

Mao with Kang Sheng in Yan'an, 1945

In 1944, the U.S. sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the Dixie Mission, to the Chinese Communist Party. The American soldiers who were sent to the mission were favourably impressed. The party seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the Kuomintang. The soldiers confirmed to their superiors that the party was both strong and popular over a broad area.[151] In the end of the mission, the contacts which the U.S. developed with the Chinese Communist Party led to very little.[151] After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their diplomatic and military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the People's Liberation Army (PLA) led by Mao Zedong during the civil war and abandoned the idea of a coalition government which would include the CCP.[152] Likewise, the Soviet Union gave support to Mao by occupying north-eastern China, and secretly giving it to the Chinese communists in March 1946.[153]

Leadership of China

Establishment of the People's Republic of China

PLA troops, supported by captured M5 Stuart light tanks, attacking the Nationalist lines in 1948

In 1948, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying Changchun. At least 160,000 civilians are believed to have perished during the siege, which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, in his book White Snow, Red Blood, compared it to Hiroshima: "The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months."[154] On 21 January 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in decisive battles against Mao's forces.[155] In the early morning of 10 December 1949, PLA troops laid siege to Chongqing and Chengdu on mainland China, and Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland to Taiwan.[155][156]

Mao declares the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949

Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China from the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian'anmen) on 1 October 1949, and later that week declared "The Chinese people have stood up" (中国人民从此站起来了).[157] Mao went to Moscow for talks in the winter of 1949–50. Mao initiated the talks which focused on the political and economic revolution in China, foreign policy, railways, naval bases, and Soviet economic and technical aid. The resulting treaty reflected Stalin's dominance and his willingness to help Mao.[158][159]

Following the Marxist–Leninist theory of vanguardism,[160] Mao believed that only the correct leadership of the Communist Party could advance China into socialism.[160] Conversely, Mao also believed that mass movements and mass criticism were necessary in order to check the bureaucracy.[160]

Mao with his fourth wife, Jiang Qing, nicknamed "Madame Mao", 1946

Korean War

Mao pushed the Party to organise campaigns to reform society and extend control. These campaigns were given urgency in October 1950, when the People's Volunteer Army was sent into the Korean War to fight as well as reinforce the armed forces of North Korea, the Korean People's Army, which had been in full retreat. The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the Korean War, lasting until Richard Nixon's improvements of relations. At least 180,000 Chinese troops died during the war.[161]

As the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Mao was also the Supreme Commander in Chief of the PLA and the People's Republic and Chairman of the Party. Chinese troops in Korea were under the overall command of then newly installed Premier Zhou Enlai, with General Peng Dehuai as field commander and political commissar.[162]

Social reform

During the land reform campaigns, large numbers of landlords and rich peasants were beaten to death at mass meetings as land was taken from them and given to poorer peasants, which reduced economic inequality.[163][164] The Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries[165] targeted bureaucratic bourgeoisie, such as compradors, merchants and Kuomintang officials who were seen by the party as economic parasites or political enemies.[166] In 1976, the U.S. State Department estimated as many as a million were killed in the land reform, and 800,000 killed in the counter-revolutionary campaign.[167]

Mao himself claimed that a total of 700,000 people were killed in attacks on "counter-revolutionaries" during the years 1950–1952.[168] Because there was a policy to select "at least one landlord, and usually several, in virtually every village for public execution",[169] the number of deaths range between 2 million[169][170][165] and 5 million.[171][172] In addition, at least 1.5 million people,[173] perhaps as many as 4 to 6 million,[174] were sent to "reform through labour" camps where many perished.[174] Mao played a personal role in organising the mass repressions and established a system of execution quotas,[175] which were often exceeded.[165] He defended these killings as necessary for the securing of power.[176]

Mao at Joseph Stalin's 71st birthday celebration in Moscow, December 1949

The government is credited with eradicating both consumption and production of opium during the 1950s.[177][178] Ten million addicts were forced into compulsory treatment, dealers were executed, and opium-producing regions were planted with new crops. Remaining opium production shifted south of the Chinese border into the Golden Triangle region.[178]

Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns

Starting in 1951, Mao initiated movements to rid urban areas of corruption; the Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns. Whereas the three-anti campaign was a focused purge of government, industrial and party officials, the five-anti campaign set its sights slightly more broadly, targeting capitalist elements in general.[179] Workers denounced their bosses, spouses turned on their spouses, and children informed on their parents; the victims were often humiliated at struggle sessions, where a targeted person would be verbally and physically abused until they confessed to crimes. Mao insisted that minor offenders be criticised and reformed or sent to labour camps, "while the worst among them should be shot". These campaigns took several hundred thousand additional lives, the vast majority via suicide.[180]

Mao and Zhou Enlai meeting with the Dalai Lama (right) and Panchen Lama (left) to celebrate the Tibetan New Year, Beijing, 1955

In Shanghai, suicide by jumping from tall buildings became so commonplace that residents avoided walking on the pavement near skyscrapers for fear that suicides might land on them.[181] Some biographers have pointed out that driving those perceived as enemies to suicide was a common tactic during the Mao-era. In his biography of Mao, Philip Short notes that Mao gave explicit instructions in the Yan'an Rectification Movement that "no cadre is to be killed" but in practice allowed security chief Kang Sheng to drive opponents to suicide and that "this pattern was repeated throughout his leadership of the People's Republic".[182]

Photo of Mao sitting, published in "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung", ca. 1955

Five-year plans

Following the consolidation of power, Mao launched the first five-year plan (1953–1958), which emphasised rapid industrial development. Within industry, iron and steel, electric power, coal, heavy engineering, building materials, and basic chemicals were prioritised with the aim of constructing large and highly capital-intensive plants. Many of these plants were built with Soviet assistance and heavy industry grew rapidly.[183] Agriculture, industry and trade were organised as worker cooperatives.[184] This period marked the beginning of China's rapid industrialisation and it resulted in an enormous success.[185]

Despite being initially sympathetic towards the reformist government of Imre Nagy, Mao feared the "reactionary restoration" in Hungary as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 continued and became more hardline. Mao opposed the withdrawal of Soviet troops by asking Liu Shaoqi to inform the Soviet representatives to use military intervention against "Western imperialist-backed" protestors and Nagy's government. However, it was unclear to what degree Mao's stance played a role in Nikita Khrushchev's decision to invade Hungary. It was also unclear if China was forced to conform to the Soviet position due to economic concerns and China's poor power projections compared to the USSR. Despite his disagreements with Moscow's hegemony in the Eastern Bloc, Mao viewed the integrity of the international communist movement as more important than the national autonomy of the countries in the Soviet sphere of influence. The Hungarian crisis also influenced Mao's Hundred Flowers Campaign. Mao decided to soften his stance on Chinese intelligentsia and allow them to express their social dissatisfaction and criticisms of the errors of the government. Mao wanted to use this movement to prevent a similar uprising in China. However, as people in China began to criticize the CCP's policies and Mao's leadership following the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao cracked down on the movement he initiated and compared it to the "counter-revolutionary" Hungarian Revolution.[186]

During the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao indicated his supposed willingness to consider different opinions about how China should be governed. Given the freedom to express themselves, liberal and intellectual Chinese began opposing the Communist Party and questioning its leadership. This was initially tolerated and encouraged. After a few months, Mao's government reversed its policy and persecuted those who had criticised the party, totalling perhaps 500,000,[187] as well as those who were merely alleged to have been critical, in what is called the Anti-Rightist Movement. The movement led to the persecution of at least 550,000 people, mostly intellectuals and dissidents.[188] Li Zhisui, Mao's physician, suggested that Mao had initially seen the policy as a way of weakening opposition to him within the party and that he was surprised by the extent of criticism and the fact that it came to be directed at his own leadership.[189]

Military projects

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower's threats during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis to use nuclear weapons against military targets in Fujian province prompted Mao to begin China's nuclear program.[190]: 89–90  Under Mao's Two Bombs, One Satellite program, China developed the atomic and hydrogen bombs in record time[quantify] and launched a satellite a few years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.[191]: 218 

Project 523[192] is a 1967 military project to find antimalarial medications.[193] It addressed malaria, an important threat in the Vietnam War. Zhou Enlai convinced Mao Zedong to start the mass project "to keep [the] allies' troops combat-ready", as the meeting minutes put it. The one for investigating traditional Chinese medicine discovered and led to the development of a class of new antimalarial drugs called artemisinins.[194]

Great Leap Forward

Mao with Nikita Khrushchev, Ho Chi Minh, and Soong Ching-ling during a state dinner in Beijing, 1959

In January 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, to turn China from an agrarian nation to an industrialised one.[195] The relatively small agricultural collectives that had been formed were merged into far larger people's communes, and many peasants were ordered to work on infrastructure projects and on the production of iron and steel. Some private food production was banned, and livestock and farm implements were brought under collective ownership.[196]

The effect of the diversion of labour to steel production and infrastructure projects, and cyclical natural disasters led to an approximately 15% drop in grain production in 1959 followed by a further 10% decline in 1960 and no recovery in 1961.[197]

To win favour with their superiors and avoid being purged, each layer in the party exaggerated the amount of grain produced under them. Based upon the falsely reported success, party cadres were ordered to requisition a high amount of that fictitious harvest. The result, compounded in some areas by drought and in others by floods, was that farmers were left with little food and many millions starved to death in the Great Chinese Famine. The people of urban areas were given food stamps each month, but the people of rural areas were expected to grow their own crops and give some of the crops back to the government. The death count in rural parts of China surpassed the deaths in the urban centers.[198] The famine was a direct cause of the death of some 30 million Chinese peasants between 1959 and 1962.[199] Many children became malnourished.[197]

In late autumn 1958, Mao condemned the practices used during Great Leap Forward such as forcing peasants to do labour without enough food or rest which resulted in epidemics and starvation. He also acknowledged that anti-rightist campaigns were a major cause of "production at the expense of livelihood." He refused to abandon the Great Leap Forward, but he did demand that they be confronted. After the July 1959 clash at Lushan Conference with Peng Dehuai, Mao launched a new anti-rightist campaign along with the radical policies that he previously abandoned. It wasn't until the spring of 1960, that Mao would again express concern about abnormal deaths and other abuses, but he did not move to stop them. Bernstein concludes that the Chairman "wilfully ignored the lessons of the first radical phase for the sake of achieving extreme ideological and developmental goals".[200]

Mao shaking hands with a people's commune farmer, 1959

Mao stepped down as President of China on 27 April 1959; he retained other top positions such as Chairman of the Communist Party and of the Central Military Commission.[201] The Presidency was transferred to Liu Shaoqi.[201] Mao eventually abandoned the policy in 1962.[202] Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping rescued the economy by disbanding the people's communes, introducing elements of private control of peasant smallholdings and importing grain from Canada and Australia to mitigate the worst effects of famine.[203]

At the Lushan Conference in July/August 1959, several ministers expressed concern that the Great Leap Forward had not proved as successful as planned. The most direct of these was Minister of Defence Peng Dehuai. Following Peng's criticism of the Great Leap Forward, Mao made a purge of Peng and his supporters, stifling criticism of the Great Leap policies. A campaign was launched and resulted in party members and ordinary peasants being sent to prison labour camps. Years later the CCP would conclude that as many as six million people were wrongly punished in the campaign.[204]

Split from Soviet Union

U.S. President Gerald Ford watches as Henry Kissinger shakes hands with Mao during their visit to China, 2 December 1975

The Sino-Soviet split resulted in Nikita Khrushchev's withdrawal of Soviet technical experts and aid from the country. The split concerned the leadership of world communism. The USSR had a network of Communist parties it supported; China now created its own rival network to battle it out.[205] Lorenz M. Lüthi writes: "The Sino-Soviet split was one of the key events of the Cold War, equal in importance to the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Second Vietnam War, and Sino-American rapprochement. The split helped to determine the framework of the Second Cold War in general, and influenced the course of the Second Vietnam War in particular."[206]

The split resulted from Khrushchev's more moderate Soviet leadership after the death of Stalin in March 1953. Only Albania openly sided with China, thereby forming an alliance between the two countries. Warned that the Soviets had nuclear weapons, Mao minimised the threat.[207] Struggle against Soviet revisionism and U.S. imperialism was an important aspect of Mao's attempt to direct the revolution in the right direction.[208]

In the late 1950s, Mao wrote reading notes responding to the Soviet Book Political Economy: A Textbook and essays (A Critique of Soviet Economics) responding to Stalin's Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR.[209]: 51  These texts reflect Mao's views that the USSR was becoming alienated from the masses and distorting socialist development.[209]: 51 

Third Front

Mao with Henry Kissinger and Zhou Enlai, Beijing, 1972
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I with Mao in 1971 after the death of Lin Biao

After the Great Leap Forward, China's leadership slowed the pace of industrialization.[210]: 3  It invested more on in China's coastal regions and focused on the production of consumer goods.[210]: 3  Preliminary drafts of the Third Five Year Plan contained no provision for developing large scale industry in China's interior.[210]: 29  After an April 1964 General Staff report concluded that the concentration of China's industry in its major coastal cities made it vulnerable to attack by foreign powers, Mao argued for the development of basic industry and national defense industry in protected locations in China's interior.[210]: 4, 54  Although other key leaders did not initially support the idea, the 2 August 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident increased fears of a potential invasion by the United States and crystallized support for Mao's industrialization proposal, which came to be known as the Third Front.[210]: 7  Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, Mao's own concerns of invasion by the United States increased.[211]: 100  He wrote to central cadres, "A war is going to break out. I need to reconsider my actions" and pushed even harder for the creation of the Third Front.[211]: 100 

The secretive Third Front construction involved massive projects including extensive railroad infrastructure like the Chengdu–Kunming line,[210]: 153–164  aerospace industry including satellite launch facilities,[210]: 218–219  and steel production industry including Panzhihua Iron and Steel.[210]: 9 

Development of the Third Front slowed in 1966, but accelerated again after the Sino-Soviet border conflict at Zhenbao Island, which increased the perceived risk of Soviet Invasion.[210]: 12, 150  Third Front construction again decreased after United States President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China and the resulting rapprochement between the United States and China.[210]: 225–229  When Reform and Opening up began after Mao's death, China began to gradually wind down Third Front projects.[212]: 180  The Third Front distributed physical and human capital around the country, ultimately decreased regional disparities and created favorable conditions for later market development.[212]: 177–182 

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

A public appearance of Chairman Mao and Lin Biao among Red Guards, in Beijing, during the Cultural Revolution (November 1966)

During the early 1960s, Mao became concerned with the nature of post-1959 China. He saw that the old ruling elite was replaced by a new one. He was concerned that those in power were becoming estranged from the people they were to serve. Mao believed that a revolution of culture would unseat and unsettle the "ruling class" and keep China in a state of "continuous revolution" that, theoretically, would serve the interests of the majority, rather than a tiny and privileged elite.[213]

The Cultural Revolution led to the destruction of much of China's traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of many Chinese citizens, as well as the creation of chaos in the country. Millions of lives were ruined, as the Cultural Revolution pierced into Chinese life. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.[214] This included prominent figures such as Liu Shaoqi.[215][216][217]

It was during this period that Mao chose Lin Biao to become his successor. Lin was later officially named as Mao's successor. By 1971, a divide between the two men had become apparent. Lin Biao died on 13 September 1971, in a plane crash over the air space of Mongolia, presumably as he fled China, probably anticipating his arrest. The CCP declared that Lin was planning to depose Mao and posthumously expelled Lin from the party. At this time, Mao lost trust in many of the top CCP figures. The highest-ranking Soviet Bloc intelligence defector, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa claimed he had a conversation with Nicolae Ceaușescu, who told him about a plot to kill Mao with the help of Lin Biao organised by the KGB.[218]

In 1969, Mao declared the Cultural Revolution to be over. Various historians mark the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, following Mao's death and the arrest of the Gang of Four.[219] The Central Committee in 1981 officially declared the Cultural Revolution a "severe setback" for the PRC.[220]

An estimate of around 400,000 deaths is a widely accepted minimum figure, according to Maurice Meisner.[221] MacFarquhar and Schoenhals assert that in rural China alone some 36 million people were persecuted, of whom between 750,000 and 1.5 million were killed, with roughly the same number permanently injured.[222]

State visits

During his leadership, Mao traveled outside China on two occasions, both times for state visits to the Soviet Union. In his first visit on 16 December 1949, Mao traveled to celebrate the 70th birthday of Joseph Stalin in Moscow, an event that was also attended by East German deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers Walter Ulbricht and Mongolian general secretary Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal.[223] Mao's second visit took place between 2 November and 19 November 1957; highlights included his attendance at the 40th anniversary (Ruby Jubilee) celebrations of the October Revolution (he attended the annual military parade of the Moscow Garrison on Red Square as well as a banquet in the Kremlin) and the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, where he met with other communist leaders.[224]

Death and aftermath

External videos
video icon Official Chinese documentary on Mao's funeral
Ailing Mao with Pakistani prime minister Zulfiqar Bhutto during a private visit in May 1976
With Egyptian vice-president Hosni Mubarak during the latter's visit to Beijing in 1976

Mao's health declined in his final years, probably aggravated by his chain-smoking.[225] It became a state secret that he suffered from multiple lung and heart ailments during his later years.[226] There are unconfirmed reports that he possibly had Parkinson's disease[227][228] in addition to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.[229] He suffered two major heart attacks, one in March and another in late June, then a third on 2 September, rendering him an invalid. He died nearly one week later, on 9 September 1976, at the age of 82.[230] The Communist Party delayed the announcement of his death until 16:00, when a national radio broadcast announced the news and appealed for party unity.[228]

Mao's embalmed body, draped in the CCP flag, lay in state at the Great Hall of the People for one week.[231] One million Chinese filed past to pay their final respects, many displaying sadness, while foreigners watched on television.[232][233] Mao's official portrait hung on the wall with a banner reading: "Carry on the cause left by Chairman Mao and carry on the cause of proletarian revolution to the end".[231] On 17 September, the body was taken in a minibus to the 305 Hospital, where his internal organs were preserved in formaldehyde.[231]

On 18 September, guns, sirens, whistles and horns across China were simultaneously blown and a mandatory three-minute silence was observed.[234] Tiananmen Square was packed with millions of people and a military band played "The Internationale". Hua Guofeng concluded the service with a 20-minute-long eulogy atop Tiananmen Gate.[235] Despite Mao's request to be cremated, his body was later permanently put on display in the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, in order for the Chinese nation to pay its respects.[236]

On 27 June 1981, the communist party's Central Committee adopted the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, which assessed the legacy of the Mao era and the party's priorities going forward.[237]: 166  The Resolution describes setbacks during the period 1957 to 1964 (although it generally affirms this period) and major mistakes beginning in 1965, attributing Mao's errors to individualist tendencies which arose when he departed from the collective view of the leadership.[237]: 167  Regarding Mao's legacy, the Resolution concludes Mao's contributions to the Chinese Revolution far outweigh his mistakes.[238]: 445 

Legacy

Statue of young Mao in Changsha, the capital of Hunan

Mao has been regarded as one of the most important and influential individuals in the 20th century.[239][240] He has also been described as a political intellect, theorist, military strategist, poet, and visionary.[241] He was credited and praised for driving imperialism out of China,[242] having unified China and for ending the previous decades of civil war. He has also been credited with having improved the status of women in China and for improving literacy and education.[177][243][244][245] In December 2013, a poll from the state-run Global Times indicated that roughly 85% of the 1,045 respondents surveyed felt that Mao's achievements outweighed his mistakes.[246] It has been said in China that Mao was 70 percent right and 30 percent wrong.[10]: 55 [238]: 445 

His policies resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people in China during his reign,[247][248][249] done through starvation, persecution, prison labour in laogai, and mass executions.[182][247] Mao rarely gave direct instruction for peoples' physical elimination.[250] According to Philip Short, the overwhelming majority of those killed by Mao's policies were unintended casualties of famine, while the other three or four million, in Mao's view, were necessary victims in the struggle to transform China.[251] Mao's China has been described as an autocratic and totalitarian regime responsible for mass repression.[252][253][254][255][256] Mao was accused as one of the great tyrants of the twentieth century.[257][258][182][247] He was frequently likened to the First Emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang.[259][260][261][258][b]

China's population grew from around 550 million to over 900 million under his rule.[262][263] Mao's insurgency strategies continue to be used by insurgents, and his political ideology continues to be embraced by many Communist organisations around the world.[264]

In 1978, the classroom of a kindergarten in Shanghai putting up portraits of then-Chairman Hua Guofeng and former Chairman Mao Zedong

In China

In mainland China, Mao is respected by a great number of the general population. Mao is credited for raising the average life expectancy from 35 in 1949 to 63 by 1975, bringing "unity and stability to a country that had been plagued by civil wars and foreign invasions", and laying the foundation for China to "become the equal of the great global powers".[265] He is lauded for carrying out massive land reform, promoting the status of women, improving popular literacy, and positively "transform(ing) Chinese society beyond recognition."[265] Mao has been credited for boosting literacy (only 20% of the population could read in 1949, compared to 65.5% thirty years later), doubling life expectancy, a near doubling of the population, and developing China's industry and infrastructure, paving the way for its position as a world power.[266][244][245]

Opposition to Mao can lead to censorship or professional repercussions in mainland China,[267] and is often done in private settings.[268] When a video of Bi Fujian, a television host, insulting Mao at a private dinner in 2015 went viral, Bi garnered the support of Weibo users, with 80% of them saying in a poll that Bi should not apologize amidst backlash from state affiliates.[269][270] Chinese citizens are aware of Mao's mistakes, but many see Mao as a national hero. He is seen as someone who successfully liberated the country from Japanese occupation and from Western imperialist exploitation dating back to the Opium Wars.[271] Between 2015 and 2018, The Washington Post interviewed 70 people in China about the Maoist era. A "sizable proportion" lauded the era's simplicity, attributing to it the "clear meaning" of life and minimal inequality; they contended that the "spiritual life" was rich. The interviewees simultaneously acknowledged the poor "material life" and other negative experiences under Mao.[271]

Mao Zedong Square at Shaoshan

On 25 December 2008, China opened the Mao Zedong Square to visitors in his home town of central Hunan Province to mark the 115th anniversary of his birth.[272]

Former party official Su Shachi has opined that "he was a great historical criminal, but he was also a great force for good."[273] In a similar vein, journalist Liu Binyan has described Mao as "both monster and a genius."[273] Li Rui, Mao's personal secretary and Communist Party comrade, opined that "Mao's way of thinking and governing was terrifying. He put no value on human life. The deaths of others meant nothing to him."[274]

Chen Yun remarked "Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements would have been immortal. Had he died in 1966, he would still have been a great man but flawed. But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one say?"[275] Deng Xiaoping said "I should remind you that Chairman Mao dedicated most of his life to China, that he saved the party and the revolution in their most critical moments, that, in short, his contribution was so great that, without him, the Chinese people would have had a much harder time finding the right path out of the darkness. We also shouldn't forget that it was Chairman Mao who combined the teachings of Marx and Lenin with the realities of Chinese history—that it was he who applied those principles, creatively, not only to politics but to philosophy, art, literature, and military strategy."[276]

Outside China

External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Philip Short on Mao: A Life, April 2, 2000, C-SPAN

Philip Short said that the overwhelming majority of the deaths under Mao were unintended consequences of famine.[251] Short stated that landlord class were not exterminated as a people due to Mao's belief in redemption through thought reform,[251] and compared Mao with 19th-century Chinese reformers who challenged China's traditional beliefs in the era of China's clashes with Western colonial powers. Short writes that "Mao's tragedy and his grandeur were that he remained to the end in thrall to his own revolutionary dreams. ... He freed China from the straitjacket of its Confucian past, but the bright Red future he promised turned out to be a sterile purgatory."[251]

Alexander V. Pantsov and Steven I. Levine, in their biography, asserted that Mao was both "a successful creator and ultimately an evil destroyer" but also argued that he was a complicated figure who should not be lionised as a saint or reduced to a demon, as he "indeed tried his best to bring about prosperity and gain international respect for his country."[277] They also remarked on Mao's legacy: "A talented Chinese politician, an historian, a poet and philosopher, an all-powerful dictator and energetic organizer, a skillful diplomat and utopian socialist, the head of the most populous state, resting on his laurels, but at the same time an indefatigable revolutionary who sincerely attempted to refashion the way of life and consciousness of millions of people, a hero of national revolution and a bloody social reformer—this is how Mao goes down in history. The scale of his life was too grand to be reduced to a single meaning." Mao's English interpreter Sidney Rittenberg wrote in his memoir that whilst Mao "was a great leader in history", he was also "a great criminal because, not that he wanted to, not that he intended to, but in fact, his wild fantasies led to the deaths of tens of millions of people."[278]

Mao greets U.S. President Richard Nixon during his visit to China in 1972.

The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the Korean War, until Richard Nixon decided that developing relations with the PRC would be useful.[279] The television series Biography stated: "[Mao] turned China from a feudal backwater into one of the most powerful countries in the World. ... The Chinese system he overthrew was backward and corrupt; few would argue the fact that he dragged China into the 20th century. But at a cost in human lives that is staggering."[273] Professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom compares China's relationship to Mao to Americans' remembrance of Andrew Jackson; both countries regard the leaders in a positive light, despite their respective roles in devastating policies. Jackson forcibly moved Native Americans through the Trail of Tears, resulting in thousands of deaths, while Mao was at the helm.[280][c]

Statue of Mao in Lijiang

John King Fairbank remarked, "The simple facts of Mao's career seem incredible: in a vast land of 400 million people, at age 28, with a dozen others, to found a party and in the next fifty years to win power, organize, and remold the people and reshape the land—history records no greater achievement. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, all the kings of Europe, Napoleon, Bismarck, Lenin—no predecessor can equal Mao Tse-tung's scope of accomplishment, for no other country was ever so ancient and so big as China."[281] In China: A New History, Fairbank and Goldman assessed Mao's legacy: "Future historians may conclude that Mao's role was to try to destroy the age-old bifurcation of China between a small educated ruling stratum and the vast mass of common people. We do not yet know how far he succeeded. The economy was developing, but it was left to his successors to create a new political structure."[282]

Stuart R. Schram said "Eternal rebel, refusing to be bound by the laws of God or man, nature or Marxism, he led his people for three decades in pursuit of a vision initially noble, which turned increasingly into a mirage, and then into a nightmare. Was he a Faust or Prometheus, attempting the impossible for the sake of humanity, or a despot of unbridled ambition, drunk with his own power and his own cleverness?"[283] Schram also said "I agree with the current Chinese view that Mao's merits outweighed his faults, but it is not easy to put a figure on the positive and negative aspects. How does one weigh, for example, the good fortune of hundreds of millions of peasants in getting land against the execution, in the course of land reform and the 'Campaign against Counter-Revolutionaries,' or in other contexts, of millions, some of whom certainly deserved to die, but others of whom undoubtedly did not? How does one balance the achievements in economic development during the first Five-Year Plan, or during the whole twenty-seven years of Mao's leadership after 1949, against the starvation which came in the wake of the misguided enthusiasm of the Great Leap Forward, or the bloody shambles of the Cultural Revolution?" Schram added, "In the last analysis, however, I am more interested in the potential future impact of his thought than in sending Mao as an individual to Heaven or to Hell."[284]

Maurice Meisner assessed Mao's legacy: "It is the blots on the Maoist record, especially the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution, that are now most deeply imprinted on our political and historical consciousness. That these adventures were failures colossal in scope, and that they took an enormous human toll, cannot and should not be forgotten. But future historians, without ignoring the failures and the crimes, will surely record the Maoist era in the history of the People's Republic (however else they may judge it) as one of the great modernizing epochs in world history, and one that brought great social and human benefits to the Chinese people."[285]

Third World

The ideology of Maoism has influenced many Communists, mainly in the Third World, including revolutionary movements such as Cambodia's Khmer Rouge,[286] Peru's Shining Path, and the Nepalese revolutionary movement. Under the influence of Mao's agrarian socialism and Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge conceived of his disastrous Year Zero policies which purged the nation of its teachers, artists and intellectuals and emptied its cities, resulting in the Cambodian genocide.[287] The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, also claims Marxism–Leninism-Maoism as its ideology, as do other Communist Parties around the world which are part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. China itself has moved sharply away from Maoism since Mao's death, and most people outside of China who describe themselves as Maoist regard the Deng Xiaoping reforms to be a betrayal of Maoism, in line with Mao's view of "capitalist roaders" within the Communist Party.[288] As the Chinese government instituted market economic reforms starting in the late 1970s and as later Chinese leaders took power, less recognition was given to the status of Mao. This accompanied a decline in state recognition of Mao in later years in contrast to previous years when the state organised numerous events and seminars commemorating Mao's 100th birthday. Nevertheless, the Chinese government has never officially repudiated the tactics of Mao. Deng Xiaoping, who was opposed to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, stated that "when we write about his mistakes we should not exaggerate, for otherwise we shall be discrediting Chairman Mao Zedong and this would mean discrediting our party and state."[289]

The July 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty increased Chinese concerns over a US-Soviet re-alignment against China and prompted Mao's articulation of the "Two Intermediate Zones" concept.[190]: 96–97  Mao viewed Africa and Latin America as the "First Intermediate Zone", in which China's status as a non-white power might enable it to compete with and supersede both United States and Soviet Union influence.[190]: 48  The other intermediate zone was the USA's wealthier allies in Europe.[190]: 97 

Military strategy

Mao's military writings continue to have a large amount of influence both among those who seek to create an insurgency and those who seek to crush one, especially in manners of guerrilla warfare, at which Mao is popularly regarded as a genius.[290] The Nepali Maoists were highly influenced by Mao's views on protracted war, new democracy, support of masses, permanency of revolution and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.[291] Mao's major contribution to the military science is his theory of People's War, with not only guerrilla warfare but more importantly, Mobile Warfare methodologies. Mao had successfully applied Mobile Warfare in the Korean War, and was able to encircle, push back and then halt the UN forces in Korea, despite the clear superiority of UN firepower.[292]

Literature

Mao's poems and writings are frequently cited by both Chinese and non-Chinese. The official Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech used a famous line from one of Mao's poems.[293] In the mid-1990s, Mao's picture began to appear on all new renminbi currency from the People's Republic of China. This was officially instituted as an anti-counterfeiting measure as Mao's face is widely recognised in contrast to the generic figures that appear in older currency. On 13 March 2006, the People's Daily reported that a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference proposed to include the portraits of Sun Yat-sen and Deng Xiaoping in the renminbi.[294]

Public image

Mao gave contradicting statements on the subject of personality cults. In 1956, as a response to the Khrushchev Report that criticised Joseph Stalin, Mao stated that personality cults are "poisonous ideological survivals of the old society", and reaffirmed China's commitment to collective leadership.[295] At the 1958 party congress in Chengdu, Mao expressed support for the personality cults of people whom he labelled as genuinely worthy figures, not those that expressed "blind worship".[296]

In 1962, Mao proposed the Socialist Education Movement (SEM) in an attempt to educate the peasants to resist the "temptations" of feudalism and the sprouts of capitalism that he saw re-emerging in the countryside from Liu's economic reforms.[297] Large quantities of politicised art were produced and circulated—with Mao at the centre. Numerous posters, badges, and musical compositions referenced Mao in the phrase "Chairman Mao is the red sun in our hearts" (毛主席是我們心中的紅太陽; Máo Zhǔxí Shì Wǒmen Xīnzhōng De Hóng Tàiyáng)[298] and a "Savior of the people" (人民的大救星; Rénmín De Dà Jiùxīng).[298]

In October 1966, Mao's Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, known as the Little Red Book, was published. Party members were encouraged to carry a copy with them, and possession was almost mandatory as a criterion for membership. According to Mao: The Unknown Story by Jun Yang, the mass publication and sale of this text contributed to making Mao the only millionaire created in 1950s China (332). Over the years, Mao's image became displayed almost everywhere, present in homes, offices and shops. His quotations were typographically emphasised by putting them in boldface or red type in even the most obscure writings. Music from the period emphasised Mao's stature, as did children's rhymes. The phrase "Long Live Chairman Mao for ten thousand years" was commonly heard during the era.[299]

Visitors wait in line to enter the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.

Mao also has a presence in China and around the world in popular culture, where his face adorns everything from T-shirts to coffee cups. Mao's granddaughter, Kong Dongmei, defended the phenomenon, stating that "it shows his influence, that he exists in people's consciousness and has influenced several generations of Chinese people's way of life. Just like Che Guevara's image, his has become a symbol of revolutionary culture."[278] Since 1950, over 40 million people have visited Mao's birthplace in Shaoshan, Hunan.[300]

A 2016 survey by YouGov survey found that 42% of American millennials have never heard of Mao.[301][302] According to the CIS poll, in 2019 only 21% of Australian millennials were familiar with Mao Zedong.[303] In 2020s China, members of Generation Z are embracing Mao's revolutionary ideas, including violence against the capitalist class, amid rising social inequality, long working hours, and decreasing economic opportunities.[304] As of the early 2020s, surveys conducted on Zhihu frequently rank Mao as one of the greatest and most influential figures in Chinese history.[10]: 58 

Genealogy

Ancestors

Mao's ancestors were:

  • Máo Yíchāng (毛貽昌, born Xiangtan 1870, died Shaoshan 1920), father, courtesy name Máo Shùnshēng (毛順生) or also known as Mao Jen-sheng
  • Wén Qīmèi (文七妹, born Xiangxiang 1867, died 1919), mother. She was illiterate and a devout Buddhist. She was a descendant of Wen Tianxiang.
  • Máo Ēnpǔ (毛恩普, born 1846, died 1904), paternal grandfather
  • Liú (劉/刘, given name not recorded, born 1847, died 1884),[305] paternal grandmother
  • Máo Zǔrén (毛祖人), paternal great-grandfather

Wives

Mao with Jiang Qing and daughter Li Na in the 1940s

Mao had four wives who gave birth to a total of 10 children, among them:

  1. Luo Yixiu (1889–1910) of Shaoshan: married 1907 to 1910
  2. Yang Kaihui (1901–1930) of Changsha: married 1921 to 1927, executed by the KMT in 1930; mother to Mao Anying, Mao Anqing, and Mao Anlong
  3. He Zizhen (1910–1984) of Jiangxi: married May 1928 to 1937; mother to 6 children
  4. Jiang Qing (1914–1991), married 1939 until Mao's death; mother to Li Na

Siblings

Mao had several siblings:

  • Mao Zemin (1896–1943), younger brother, executed by a warlord
  • Mao Zetan (1905–1935), younger brother, executed by the KMT
  • Mao Zejian (1905–1929), adopted sister, executed by the KMT

Mao's parents altogether had five sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and both daughters died young, leaving the three brothers Mao Zedong, Mao Zemin, and Mao Zetan. Like all three of Mao Zedong's wives, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were communists. Like Yang Kaihui, both Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were killed in warfare during Mao Zedong's lifetime. Note that the character () appears in all of the siblings' given names; this is a common Chinese naming convention.

From the next generation, Mao Zemin's son Mao Yuanxin was raised by Mao Zedong's family, and he became Mao Zedong's liaison with the Politburo in 1975. In Li Zhisui's The Private Life of Chairman Mao, Mao Yuanxin played a role in the final power-struggles.[306]

Children

Mao had a total of ten children,[307] including:

  • Mao Anying (1922–1950): son to Yang, married to Liú Sīqí (劉思齊), killed in action during the Korean War
  • Mao Anqing (1923–2007): son to Yang, married to Shao Hua, son Mao Xinyu, grandson Mao Dongdong
  • Mao Anlong (1927–1931): son to Yang, died during the Chinese Civil War
  • Mao Anhong: son to He, left to Mao's younger brother Zetan and then to one of Zetan's guards when he went off to war, was never heard of again
  • Li Min (b. 1936): daughter to He, married to Kǒng Lìnghuá (孔令華), son Kǒng Jìníng (孔繼寧), daughter Kong Dongmei (孔冬梅)
  • Li Na (b. 1940): daughter to Jiang (whose birth surname was Lǐ, a name also used by Mao while evading the KMT), married to Wáng Jǐngqīng (王景清), son Wáng Xiàozhī (王效芝)

Mao's first and second daughters were left to local villagers because it was too dangerous to raise them while fighting the Kuomintang and later the Japanese. Their youngest daughter (born in early 1938 in Moscow after Mao separated) and one other child (born 1933) died in infancy. Two English researchers who retraced the entire Long March route in 2002–2003[308] located a woman whom they believe might well be one of the missing children abandoned by Mao to peasants in 1935. Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen hope a member of the Mao family will respond to requests for a DNA test.[309]

Through his ten children, Mao became grandfather to twelve grandchildren, many of whom he never knew. He has many great-grandchildren alive today. One of his granddaughters is businesswoman Kong Dongmei, one of the richest people in China.[310] His grandson Mao Xinyu is a general in the Chinese army.[311] Both he and Kong have written books about their grandfather.[312]

Personal life

Mao and Zhang Yufeng in 1964

Mao's private life was kept very secret at the time of his rule. After Mao's death, Li Zhisui, his personal physician, published The Private Life of Chairman Mao, a memoir which mentions some aspects of Mao's private life, such as chain-smoking cigarettes, addiction to powerful sleeping pills and large number of sexual partners.[313] Some scholars and others who knew Mao personally have disputed the accuracy of these accounts and characterisations.[314]

Having grown up in Hunan, Mao spoke Mandarin with a marked Hunanese accent.[315] Ross Terrill wrote Mao was a "son of the soil ... rural and unsophisticated" in origins,[316] while Clare Hollingworth said that Mao was proud of his "peasant ways and manners", having a strong Hunanese accent and providing "earthy" comments on sexual matters.[315] Lee Feigon said that Mao's "earthiness" meant that he remained connected to "everyday Chinese life."[317]

Sinologist Stuart R. Schram emphasised Mao's ruthlessness but also noted that he showed no sign of taking pleasure in torture or killing in the revolutionary cause.[318] Lee Feigon considered Mao "draconian and authoritarian" when threatened but opined that he was not the "kind of villain that his mentor Stalin was".[319] Alexander Pantsov and Steven I. Levine wrote that Mao was a "man of complex moods", who "tried his best to bring about prosperity and gain international respect" for China, being "neither a saint nor a demon."[320] They noted that in early life, he strove to be "a strong, wilful, and purposeful hero, not bound by any moral chains", and that he "passionately desired fame and power".[321]

Mao learned to speak some English, particularly through Zhang Hanzhi, his English teacher, interpreter and diplomat who later married Qiao Guanhua, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the head of China's UN delegation.[322] His spoken English was limited to a few single words, phrases, and some short sentences. He first chose to systematically learn English in the 1950s, which was very unusual as the main foreign language first taught in Chinese schools at that time was Russian.[323]

Writings and calligraphy

Mao's calligraphy: a bronze plaque of a poem by Li Bai. (Chinese: 白帝城毛澤東手書李白詩銅匾 )

鷹擊長空,
魚翔淺底,
萬類霜天競自由。
悵寥廓,
問蒼茫大地,
誰主沉浮

Eagles cleave the air,
Fish glide in the limpid deep;
Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom.
Brooding over this immensity,
I ask, on this boundless land
Who rules over man's destiny?

—Excerpt from Mao's poem "Changsha", September 1927[324]

Mao was a prolific writer of political and philosophical literature.[325] The main repository of his pre-1949 writings is the Selected Works of Mao Zedong. A fifth volume, which brought the timeline up to 1957, was briefly issued, but subsequently withdrawn from circulation for its perceived ideological errors. There has never been an official "Complete Works of Mao Zedong".[326] Mao is the attributed author of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, known in the West as the "Little Red Book" and in Cultural Revolution China as the "Red Treasure Book" (紅寶書). First published in January 1964, this is a collection of short extracts from his many speeches and articles (most found in the Selected Works), edited by Lin Biao, and ordered topically. The Little Red Book contains some of Mao's most widely known quotes.[d]

Mao wrote prolifically on political strategy, commentary, and philosophy both before and after he assumed power.[e] Mao was also a skilled Chinese calligrapher with a highly personal style.[327] His calligraphy can be seen today throughout mainland China.[328] His work gave rise to a new form of Chinese calligraphy called "Mao-style" or Maoti, which has gained increasing popularity since his death. There exist various competitions specialising in Mao-style calligraphy.[329]

Literary works

Mao's education began with Chinese classical literature. Mao told Edgar Snow in 1936 that he had started the study of the Confucian Analects and the Four Books at a village school when he was eight, but that the books he most enjoyed reading were Water Margin, Journey to the West, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dream of the Red Chamber.[330] Mao published poems in classical forms starting in his youth and his abilities as a poet contributed to his image in China after he came to power in 1949. His style was influenced by the great Tang dynasty poets Li Bai and Li He.[331]

Some of his best known poems are "Changsha" (1925), "The Double Ninth" (October 1929), "Loushan Pass" (1935), "The Long March" (1935), "Snow" (February 1936), "The PLA Captures Nanjing" (1949), "Reply to Li Shuyi" (11 May 1957), and "Ode to the Plum Blossom" (December 1961).

Portrayal in media

Mao has been portrayed in film and television numerous times. Some notable actors include: Han Shi, the first actor ever to have portrayed Mao, in a 1978 drama Dielianhua and later again in a 1980 film Cross the Dadu River;[332] Gu Yue, who had portrayed Mao 84 times on screen throughout his 27-year career and had won the Best Actor title at the Hundred Flowers Awards in 1990 and 1993;[333][334] Liu Ye, who played a young Mao in The Founding of a Party (2011);[335] Tang Guoqiang, who has frequently portrayed Mao in more recent times, in the films The Long March (1996) and The Founding of a Republic (2009), and the television series Huang Yanpei (2010), among others.[336] Mao is a principal character in American composer John Adams' opera Nixon in China (1987). The Beatles' song "Revolution" refers to Mao in the verse "but if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao you ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow...";[337] John Lennon expressed regret over including these lines in the song in 1972.[338]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ /ˈm (t)səˈtʊŋ/;[1] Chinese: 毛泽东; pinyin: Máo Zédōng pronounced [mǎʊ tsɤ̌.tʊ́ŋ]; traditionally romanised as Mao Tse-tung. In this Chinese name, the family name is Mao and Ze is a generation name.
  2. ^ "The People's Republic of China under Mao exhibited the oppressive tendencies that were discernible in all the major absolutist regimes of the twentieth century. There are obvious parallels between Mao's China, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Each of these regimes witnessed deliberately ordered mass 'cleansing' and extermination."[258]
  3. ^ "Though admittedly far from perfect, the comparison is based on the fact that Jackson is remembered both as someone who played a significant role in the development of a political organisation (the Democratic Party) that still has many partisans, and as someone responsible for brutal policies toward Native Americans that are now referred to as genocidal. Both men are thought of as having done terrible things yet this does not necessarily prevent them from being used as positive symbols. And Jackson still appears on $20 bills, even though Americans tend to view as heinous the institution of slavery (of which he was a passionate defender) and the early 19th-century military campaigns against Native Americans (in which he took part). At times Jackson, for all his flaws, is invoked as representing an egalitarian strain within the American democratic tradition, a self-made man of the people who rose to power via straight talk and was not allied with moneyed interests. Mao stands for something roughly similar."[280]
  4. ^ Among them are:

    War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes.

    — "Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War" (December 1936), Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, I, p. 180.

    Every communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.'"

    — 1938, Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, II, pp. 224–225.

    Taken as a whole, the Chinese revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party embraces two stages, i.e., the democratic and the socialist revolutions, which are two essentially different revolutionary processes, and the second process can be carried through only after the first has been completed. The democratic revolution is the necessary preparation for the socialist revolution, and the socialist revolution is the inevitable sequel to the democratic revolution. The ultimate aim for which all communists strive is to bring about a socialist and communist society."

    — "The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party" (December 1939), Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, 'II, pp. 330–331.

    All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful.

    — Mao Zedong (July 1956), "U.S. Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger".
  5. ^ The most influential of these include:

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Bibliography

Further reading

General

Commentary

Party political offices
Preceded by Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party
1924–1925
Succeeded by
Preceded by Head of the Kuomintang Propaganda Department
1925–1926
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Lu Yi
Head of the CPC Central Military Commission General Political Department
1931
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
1936–1949
Succeeded by
Himself
as Chairman of the PRC People's Revolutionary Military Council
Preceded by President of the CPC Central Party School
1943–1947
Succeeded by
Preceded byas General Secretary Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China
1943–1945
Post merged with the Chairman of the Central Committee
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
1945–1976
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Himself
as Chairman of the PRC People's Revolutionary Military Council
Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
1954–1976
Political offices
Chinese Soviet Republic
New title Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic
1931–1937
Chinese Soviet Republic disbanded
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Chinese Soviet Republic
1931–1934
Succeeded by
People's Republic of China
New title Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
1949–1954
Succeeded by
Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China
1949–1954
Succeeded by
Himself
as Chairman of the People's Republic of China
Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Council of the Central People's Government
1949–1954
Succeeded by
Himself
as Chairman of the National Defence Commission in the capacity as President of the PRC
Preceded by
Himself
as Chairman of the Central People's Government
President of the People's Republic of China
1954–1959
Succeeded by