View source for Mao Zedong

{{Short description|Leader of China from 1949 to 1976}}
{{Redirect|Mao}}
<!-- Please DO NOT add {{family name hatnote}}; this article uses a footnote template to clarify the name. -->
{{pp-move}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mao Zedong
| native_name = {{nobold|毛泽东|}}
| native_name_lang = zh
| image = Mao Zedong 1950 Portait (3x4 cropped).jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = Formal portrait, 1950
| office = [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]]
| term_start = 20 March 1943
| term_end = 9 September 1976{{efn|Mao Zedong held the [[Leader of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP leader]] position under the title of "Chairman of the CCP Central Politburo" from 20 March 1943 until 19 June 1945 and "Chairman of the CCP Central Committee" from 19 June 1945 until his death on 9 September 1976.}}
| predecessor = [[Zhang Wentian]] (as [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary]])
| successor = [[Hua Guofeng]]
| deputy = {{unbulleted list|[[Liu Shaoqi]]|[[Lin Biao]]|[[Zhou Enlai]]|Hua Guofeng}}
| office2 = [[Chairman of the People's Republic of China]]
| term_start2 = 27 September 1954
| term_end2 = 27 April 1959
| premier2 = Zhou Enlai
| deputy2 = [[Zhu De]]
| predecessor2 = [[Yan Xishan]] (as Acting [[President of the Republic of China]]; 1949)
| successor2 = Liu Shaoqi
| office3 = [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)|Chairman of the Central Military Commission]]
| deputy3 = {{unbulleted list|Zhu De|Lin Biao|[[Ye Jianying]]}}
| term_start3 = 8 September 1954
| term_end3 = 9 September 1976
| predecessor3 = 
| successor3 = Hua Guofeng
| 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
| term_end4 = 27 September 1954
| deputy4 = 
| premier4 = Zhou Enlai
| predecessor4 = {{ubli|''Office established''|[[Li Zongren]] (as [[President of the Republic of China]])}}
| successor4 = 
| office5 = [[Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
| term_start5 = 9 October 1949
| term_end5 = 25 December 1954
| predecessor5 = ''Office established''
| successor5 = Zhou Enlai
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{birth date|1893|12|26|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Shaoshan]], Hunan, China
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|9|9|1893|12|26|df=y}}
| death_place = Beijing, China
| resting_place = [[Chairman Mao Memorial Hall]]
| 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:<!--This is not a proper entry. Don't put a * in front of it.-->
* [[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]]}}
| relatives = [[Mao family]]
| 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
}}
----
{{Collapsible list
| titlestyle    = background-color:#FCF;text-align:center;
| title         = Other offices held
| bullets       = on
| 1954–1959: Chairman of the People's Republic of China
| 1954–1976: Chairman, [[Central Military Commission (China)|CCP Central Military Commission]]
| 1954–1959: President and Chairman, National Defence Council
| 1954–1976: Honorary Chairman, [[CPPCC National Committee]]
| 1949–1954: Chairman, Central People's Revolutionary Military Commission
| 1949–1954: Chairman, CPPCC National Committee
| 1949–1954: Chairman, [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|PRC Central People's Government]]
| 1943–1956: Chairman, [[Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP Central Secretariat]]
| 1936–1949: Chairman, CCP Central Military Commission
}}
| module3 = {{longitem|
'''[[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    = 0.5
| 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
}}
| footnotes = {{Notelist}}
}}
'''Mao Zedong'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aʊ|_|(|t|)|s|ə|ˈ|t|ʊ|ŋ}};<ref>{{Cite Dictionary.com |Mao Tse-tung |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mao-tse-tung}}</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{{nbsp}}December 1893{{snd}}9{{nbsp}}September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC) in 1949 and led the country from [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|its establishment]] until [[Death and state funeral of Mao Zedong|his death]] in 1976. Mao served as [[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]].

Born to [[Family of Mao Zedong|a peasant family]] in [[Shaoshan]], Hunan, during the [[Qing dynasty]], Mao studied in [[Changsha]] and was influenced by the [[1911 Revolution]] and ideas of [[Chinese nationalism]] and [[anti-imperialism]]. He was introduced to [[Marxism]] while working as a librarian at [[Peking University]], and later participated in the [[May Fourth Movement]] of 1919. In 1921, Mao became a founding member of the CCP. After the start of the [[Chinese Civil War]] between the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) and CCP, Mao led the failed [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]] in Hunan in 1927, and in 1931 founded the [[Jiangxi Soviet]]. He helped build the [[Chinese Red Army]], and developed a strategy of [[guerilla warfare]]. In 1935, Mao became leader of the CCP during the [[Long March]], a military retreat to the [[Yan'an Soviet]] in [[Shaanxi]], where the party began rebuilding its forces. The CCP allied with the KMT in the [[Second United Front]] at the start of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] in 1937, but the civil war resumed after [[Japan's surrender]] in 1945. In 1949, Mao's forces defeated the [[Nationalist government]], which withdrew to [[Taiwan]].

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 [[Land Reform Movement|land redistribution]] and [[Five-year plans of China|industrialisation campaigns]], [[Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries|suppressed political opponents]], intervened in the [[Korean War]], and oversaw the ideological [[Hundred Flowers Campaign|Hundred Flowers]] and [[Anti-Rightist Campaign]]s. From 1958 to 1962, Mao oversaw the [[Great Leap Forward]], a campaign which aimed to rapidly collectivise agriculture and industrialise the country. It failed, and resulted in the [[Great Chinese Famine]]. In 1966, Mao launched the [[Cultural Revolution]], which was 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 in the 1970s he began establishing [[China–United States relations|relations with the United States]]. In 1976, Mao died of a [[heart attack]]. He was initially succeeded by [[Hua Guofeng]], then 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 mistakes in his later years.

Mao's policies resulted in a vast number of deaths, with tens of millions of victims of famine, political persecution, [[Laogai|prison labour]] and executions, and his regime has been described as [[totalitarian]]. Mao has also been credited with transforming China from a [[semi-colony]] to a major world power and advancing [[Literacy in China|literacy]], [[Women's rights in China|women's rights]], [[Healthcare in China|basic healthcare]], education, and life expectancy. In modern China, he is widely regarded as a national hero who liberated the country from [[imperialism]]. He became an ideological leader 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 [[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 ==
{{Main|Early life of Mao Zedong}}

=== Youth and the Xinhai Revolution: 1893–1911 ===
[[File:China 1976-054 Shaoshan.jpg|left|thumb|Mao's Parents: [[Wen Qimei]] and [[Mao Yichang]]|254x254px]]
[[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|203x203px]]
{{Mao Zedong series}}
Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893, near [[Shaoshan]] village in [[Hunan]], during the [[Qing dynasty]].{{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 of dysentery 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>
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 |author-link= |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}}</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, where there was widespread animosity towards Emperor [[Puyi]]'s [[absolute monarchy]] and many were advocating [[republicanism]]. The republicans' figurehead was [[Sun Yat-sen]], a [[Hawaiian Kingdom|Hawaiian]]-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 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: 1912–1919 ===
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]].<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|thumb|upright|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.<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>

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 ==
=== Beijing, anarchism, and Marxism: 1917–1919 ===
[[File:Mao Zedong in 1924.jpg|left|thumb|Mao 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}}

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 ===
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>

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|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 [[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 Chinese Communist Party: 1921–1922 ===
[[File:中共一大会址正面2021 (2).jpg|thumb|Location of the [[1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|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.<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}}

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. |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. |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>

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}}
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 ===
[[File:Chairman Mao-1.webm|thumb|Mao giving a speech (no audio)]]

At the [[3rd National Congress of the Chinese 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}}

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}}

[[File:Mao 1925.jpg|thumb|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 CCP.{{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}}

[[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.]]

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, which also included [[Deng Yanda]], [[Xu Qian]], [[Ku Meng-yu]], and [[Tan Pingshan]]. Together, the five were tasked with deliberating land reform policies, drafting proposals, and coordinating efforts to implement agrarian change under the Wuhan government.<ref>{{cite book  
 | last = 余  
 | first = 克禮  
 | title = 中共黨兩黨關係90年圖鑑  
 | publisher = 千華駐科技出版公司  
 | year = 2017  
 | isbn = 9789575630263  
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TndIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT169  
 | language = zh  
}}</ref>He also 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}}

== Civil War ==
{{Main|Chinese Civil War|Chinese Communist Revolution}}

=== Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings: 1927 ===
[[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}}

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>

=== Base in Jinggangshan: 1927–1928 ===
[[File:Mao1927.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mao in 1927]]
{{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>
| align = right
| width = 25em
| bgcolor = #ACE1AF
}}

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. |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>

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" />

{{Quote box
| 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.
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>
| align = left
| width = 25em
| bgcolor = #ACE1AF
}}
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>

=== Jiangxi Soviet Republic of China: 1929–1934 ===
[[File:Mao Zedong in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|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 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 Communist 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}}

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>

=== 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 CCP'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>

== World War II ==
{{Main|Second Sino-Japanese War}}

[[File:1938 Mao Zedong Zhang Guotao in Yan'an.jpg|thumb|left|[[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 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}}

[[File:1945 Mao and Chiang.jpg|thumb|In an effort to defeat the Japanese, Mao (left) agreed to collaborate with Chiang (right).]]
[[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>

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>

[[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>

== Leadership of China ==
{{Communism sidebar}}
{{See also|History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)}}

=== Establishment of the People's Republic of China ===

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.]]

Mao proclaimed the [[Proclamation of the People's Republic of China|establishment of the People's Republic of China]] from [[Tiananmen]] 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>

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" />

[[File:Mao and Jiang Qing 1946.jpg|thumb|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.<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>

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>

=== Social reform ===
During the [[Chinese Land Reform|land reform campaigns]], large numbers of people accused of being "landlords" and "rich peasants" were beaten to death at mass meetings as land was taken from them and given to poorer peasants,{{sfn|Short|2001|pp=436–437}} which reduced [[economic inequality]].<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> However, the peasants were now subject to a grain levy/tax, which left them with not enough grain for bare subsistence, once seed grain was set aside. This was further reduced (from 20 kg per month to only 10 kg) to a starvation diet in 1953. One of the main beneficiaries of "land reform" were CCP cadres who acquired "black land" (untaxed village land) and used their power to dominate the local peasants. In some cases "middle peasants" were also arrested, tortured and expropriated, and even children were killed, having been labeled as "little landlords". As a result of the campaign, by 1953 agricultural productivity plummeted and famine appeared. In some provinces, like Hubei, whole counties experienced mass starvation, according to reports from work teams sent to the Committee on Land Reform, and millions of people became destitute. Villagers resorted to eating bark, leaves and mud and in some cases sold their children in exchange for food.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dikotter |first=Frank |title=The Tragedy of Liberation. A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945-57 |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-62040-347-1 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=73, 210–213}}</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 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>

[[File:Mao, Bulganin, Stalin, Ulbricht Tsedenbal.jpeg|thumb|left|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.<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>

=== 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.<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}}

[[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 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}}

[[File:Mao Zedong sitting.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Photo of Mao sitting, published in "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung", c. 1955]]

=== Five-year plans ===
[[File:Mao Tsé-toung, portrait en buste, assis, faisant face à Nikita Khrouchtchev, pendant la visite du chef russe 1958 à Pékin.jpg|thumb|Mao with Soviet leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in a state visit in Peking, 1957]]

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>

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>

=== 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.<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>

=== Great Leap Forward ===
{{Main|Great Leap Forward}}

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>

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>

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"/>

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>

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}}

=== Split from Soviet Union ===
{{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>

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>

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}}

=== Third Front ===
{{Main|Third Front (China)}}

[[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]] ]]
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}}

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 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 |s2cid=253067190}}</ref>{{Rp|page=180}} Through distributing infrastructure, state investment, and human talent through the country, the Third Front mitigated regional disparities and ultimately contributed to favorable conditions for later market development.<ref name=":92" />{{Rp|pages=177–182}}

=== Cultural Revolution ===
{{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>

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%3D|title=The Kremlin's Killing Ways |author-link=Ion Mihai Pacepa|author-first1=Ion Mihai|author-last1=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>

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:

* {{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}}
* {{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}}
* {{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}}

== 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]].<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 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 ==
{{Main|Death and state funeral of Mao Zedong}}

{{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]] 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 |archive-date=3 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003014659/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/07/florcruz.china.smokers/ |url-status=dead }}</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 on May 11 and another on June 26, then a third on 2 September, rendering him as invalid. He died nearly one week later, shortly after midnight on 9 September 1976, at the age of 82.<ref name = NYT1/>{{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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010614202909/https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0909.html#article|archive-date = 14 June 2001|agency = [[Reuters]]}}</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/>

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>

== Legacy ==
{{Maoism sidebar}}
[[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 called 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> 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 |authorlink=Julia Lovell |date=16 March 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=20 January 2020 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Mao has been credited with his role in 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" />{{sfn|Gao|2008|p=81}} Mao has been credited for boosting literacy, reducing poverty, a near doubling life expectancy, a near doubling of the population, rapidly developing China's industry and infrastructure, and creating a self-sufficient and self-reliant economy, paving the way for its position as a world power.<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>{{sfn|Gao|2008|p=81}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/chinas-capitalist-reforms-are-said-to-have-moved-800-million-out-of-extreme-poverty-new-data-suggests-the-opposite-216621|title=China's capitalist reforms are said to have moved 800 million out of extreme poverty – new data suggests the opposite|last1=Sullivan|first1=Dylan|last2=Hickel|first2=Jason|author-link2=Jason Hickel|last3=Moatsos|first3=Michail|date=7 January 2024|website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|publisher=|access-date=|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sullivan|first1=Dylan|last2=Hickel|first2=Jason|last3=Moatsos|first3=Michail|date=2024 |title=Capitalist reforms and extreme poverty in China: unprecedented progress or income deflation? |journal=[[New Political Economy (journal)|New Political Economy]]|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2023.2217087|volume= 29|issue= |pages= 1–21|doi=10.1080/13563467.2023.2217087|access-date=August 1, 2025|quote=China’s basic needs poverty rate was markedly lower, and its performance on other social indicators was markedly better, than in capitalist developing economies of comparable size and income.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Selden|first1=Mark|author-link1=Mark Selden|date=1988 |title=Mao Zedong and the Political Economy of Chinese Development|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000944558802400202|journal=[[China Report]]|volume=24 |issue= 2|pages= 125–139|doi=10.1177/000944558802400202|access-date=|url-access=subscription}}</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]]

Mao's policies resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people in China during his tenure,<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> mainly due to starvation, but also through persecution, prison labour in ''[[laogai]]'', and mass executions.{{sfn|Short|2001|p=631}}<ref name="Fenby"/> 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 has been described 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>

=== Assessment in China ===
On 27 June 1981, the CCP 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 CCP'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 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv11hpp6w |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 CCP's resolution stated that Mao's contributions to the Chinese Communist 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}}

In China, a common expression for summarizing Mao's legacy is that he was 70 percent right and 30 percent wrong.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=55}}<ref name=":13"/>{{Rp|page=445}}<ref name=":Lee">{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Haiyan |author-link= |title=Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution |date=2016 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |isbn=978-0-674-73718-1 |editor-last=Li |editor-first=Jie |series=Harvard Contemporary China Series |volume= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |chapter=Mao's Two Bodies: On the Curious (Political) Art of Impersonating the Great Helmsman |doi= |jstor= |editor-last2=Zhang |editor-first2=Enhua}}</ref>{{Rp|page=253}} In December 2013, a poll from the CCP-run tabloid ''[[Global Times]]'', stated 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>

[[File:Forbidden City Beijing China (164849005).jpeg|left|thumb|The portrait of Mao Zedong on [[Tiananmen]], Beijing]]
Opposition to Mao can lead to [[Censorship in China|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 during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] 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" commented positively on 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" />

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 CCP 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]], Mao's personal secretary and CCP 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>

[[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=https://www.economist.com/culture/2006/08/31/big-bad-wolf |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>

=== Assessment in Western world ===
{{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]] argued that a bit more than half of the millions of deaths under Mao were unintended consequences of [[Great Chinese Famine|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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pantsov |first1=Alexander V. |last2=Levine |first2=Steven I. |date=2013 |title=Mao: The Real Story |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-1451654486}}</ref> 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"/>

[[File:President Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong.jpg|thumb|left|Mao greets U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] during his [[1972 Nixon visit to China|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.<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"/>
[[File:MaoStatueinLijang.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Statue of Mao in [[Lijiang, Yunnan|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 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>

[[Stuart R. Schram]] said that Mao was an "Eternal rebel, refusing to be bound by the laws of God or man, nature or Marxism, [who] 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 agreed "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>

[[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>

=== Third World ===
{{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 CCP.<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 |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}}

=== 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 [[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 |archive-date=13 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241213153410/https://china.usc.edu/zhang-maos-military-romanticism-china-and-korean-war-1950-1953-1995 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== 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.<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 ===
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">{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090808123527/https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/2%20-%20Part%202%20-%20Mao%20badges%20with%20low%20res%20image%20of%20poster.pdf|date=2009-08-08}} [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"/>

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. 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>

[[File:Mao mausoleum queue.jpg|thumb|upright=2.0|center|<div style="text-align: center">Visitors wait in line to enter the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.</div>|alt=A large mausoleum in the middle of a public square, surrounded by a long line of people, as they wait to enter]]

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>

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 [[income inequality in China|social inequality]], [[996 working hour system|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}}

== Personal life and family ==
[[File:Mao Zedong and Zhang Yufeng in 1964.jpg|thumb|Mao and [[Zhang Yufeng]] in 1964]]

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}}

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}}

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>

=== Family ===
{{Main|Mao family}}

[[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]]Mao had four wives who gave birth to a total of 10 children:  [[Luo Yixiu]] (1889–1910) of [[Shaoshan]], married 1907 to 1910; [[Yang Kaihui]] (1901–1930) of [[Changsha]], married 1920 to 1927, executed by the KMT in 1930, mother to [[Mao Anying]], [[Mao Anqing]], and [[Mao Anlong]]; [[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]]. Mao four siblings: [[Mao Zemin]], [[Mao Zetan]] and [[Mao Zejian]]. 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.{{sfn|Li|1994|p=659}}

Mao had a total of ten children,{{sfn|Spence|1999|p=97}} including: [[Mao Anying]] ([[killed in action]] during the [[Korean War]]), [[Mao Anqing]], Mao Anlong (died during the [[Chinese Civil War]]), Mao Anhong (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 (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Min]], and [[Li Na (daughter of Mao Zedong)|Li Na]]. 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:

* {{cite news |date=9 July 2015 |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 |work=[[HuffPost]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]}}
* {{cite news |author1=Malcolm Moore |date=9 May 2013 |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 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |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 |access-date=29 July 2015 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=Beijing}}{{cbignore}}</ref> His grandson [[Mao Xinyu]] is a general in the Chinese army.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 August 2010 |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]]}}</ref>

== Writings and calligraphy ==
[[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,
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?</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:
* ''[[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 ===
{{main|Poetry of Mao Zedong}}

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).

==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'';<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>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|China|Communism}}
* [[Mao suit]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Carter |first=Peter |title=Mao |year=1976 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0192731401}}
* {{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 |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=Gao |first=Mobo |author-link=Gao 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=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=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 |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=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 |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=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=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 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 |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=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}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{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|d=y<!-- |s=y -->}}

=== General ===
* [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
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20000510085445/http://www.asiasource.org/society/mao.cfm Asia Source biography]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130906033211/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]
* [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]
* [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo47030 Collected Works of Mao Tse-tung (1917–1949)] [[Joint Publications Research Service]]
* [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]
* [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]
* [https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/188416 Photo of Chairman Mao strolling outside his official residence, 1957]

=== Commentary ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100305093011/http://www.chairmanmaozedong.org/ Discusses the life, military influence and writings of Chairman Mao ZeDong.]
* [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]

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Zhang Guotao]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of the [[Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party]]|years=1924–1925}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Chen Duxiu]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Wang Jingwei]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of the [[Kuomintang]] Propaganda Department|years=1925–1926}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ku Meng-yu]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=Lu Yi}}
{{s-ttl|title=Head of the [[General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army|CCP Central Military Commission General Political Department]]|years=1931}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Zhou Yili]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Zhu De]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)|Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission]]|years=1936–1949}}
{{s-aft|after=Himself|as=Chairman of the PRC People's Revolutionary Military Council}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Deng Fa]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Chinese Communist Party|CCP]] [[Central Party School]]|years=1943–1947}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Liu Shaoqi]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Zhang Wentian]]|as=[[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the [[Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]] |years=1943–1945}}
{{s-non|reason=Post merged with the Chairman of the Central Committee}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]] |years=1945–1976}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hua Guofeng]]|rows=2}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=Himself|as=Chairman of the PRC People's Revolutionary Military Council}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)|Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission]]|years=1954–1976}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-off}}
|-
|colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|'''Chinese Soviet Republic'''
{{s-break}}
{{s-new|rows=2}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]]|years=1931–1937}}
{{s-non|reason=Chinese Soviet Republic disbanded}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]]|years=1931–1934}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Zhang Wentian]]}}
|-
|colspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|'''People's Republic of China'''
{{s-break}}
{{s-new|rows=3}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]|years=1949–1954}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Zhou Enlai]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the [[Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China]] |years=1949–1954}}
{{s-aft|after=Himself|as=[[Chairman of the People's Republic of China]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the [[Central Military Commission (People's Republic of China)|People's Revolutionary Military Council of the Central People's Government]]|years=1949–1954}}
{{s-aft|after=Himself|as=Chairman of the National Defence Commission in the capacity as President of the PRC}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=Himself|as=Chairman of the Central People's Government}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the People's Republic of China]] |years=1954–1959}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Liu Shaoqi]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-end}}
{{Mao Zedong}}
{{Navboxes
|title=Articles related to Mao Zedong
|list1 =
{{Paramount leaders of the People's Republic of China}}
{{CCPHeads}}
{{Presidents of the People's Republic of China}}
{{CPPCCHeads}}
{{10th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party}}
{{9th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party}}
{{8th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party}}
{{7th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party}}
{{communism}}
{{Maoism}}
{{Political philosophy}}
{{Chinese philosophy}}
{{Cultural Revolution}}
}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mao, Zedong}}
[[Category:Mao Zedong| ]]
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:Family of Mao Zedong]]
[[Category:20th-century atheists]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese heads of government]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese philosophers]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Chinese male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century rebels]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionists]]
[[Category:Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]]
[[Category:Chinese anti-capitalists]]
[[Category:Chinese anti-imperialists]]
[[Category:Chinese atheists]]
[[Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan]]
[[Category:Chinese Communist Revolution]]
[[Category:Chinese communists]]
[[Category:Chinese guerrillas]]
[[Category:Chinese Marxists]]
[[Category:Chinese military writers]]
[[Category:Chinese nationalists]]
[[Category:Chinese people of World War II]]
[[Category:Chinese people of the Korean War]]
[[Category:Chinese political philosophers]]
[[Category:Chinese political writers]]
[[Category:Chinese revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Chinese socialist feminists]]
[[Category:Communist poets]]
[[Category:Critics of religions]]
[[Category:Deified Chinese men]]
[[Category:Delegates to the 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Delegates to the 3rd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Delegates to the 5th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Former Buddhists]]
[[Category:General secretaries and Chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Guerrilla warfare theorists]]
[[Category:Hunan First Normal University alumni]]
[[Category:Maoist theorists| ]]
[[Category:Members of the 6th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 7th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 8th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 9th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 10th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 10th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Alternates of the 5th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 4th Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:People of the Chinese Civil War]]
[[Category:People of the Cold War]]
[[Category:People of the Cultural Revolution]]
[[Category:People with Parkinson's disease]]
[[Category:Philosophers from Hunan]]
[[Category:Poets from Hunan]]
[[Category:Politicians from Xiangtan]]
[[Category:Politicide perpetrators]]
[[Category:Presidents of China]]
[[Category:Revolution theorists]]
[[Category:Heads of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Maoist China]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Central Party School]]
[[Category:Republic of China politicians from Hunan]]