Introduction

• Mao Zedong (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and led the country from 1949 until 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, known as Mao Zedong Thought (or Maoism), are a Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism.

• Born in a peasant family in Shaoshan, Hunan, Mao was influenced by the 1911 Revolution and May Fourth Movement (1919), supporting Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism.

• Mao adopted Marxism–Leninism while working as a librarian at Peking University and became a founding member of the CCP in 1921.

• Mao led the Autumn Harvest Uprising and founded the Jiangxi Soviet after the start of the Chinese Civil War (1927).

• He helped establish the Chinese Red Army and developed a strategy of guerilla warfare.

• In 1935, Mao became the leader of the CCP during the Long March.

• The CCP allied with the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937) but resumed civil war after Japan’s surrender in 1945.

• Mao’s forces defeated the Nationalist government, which withdrew to Taiwan in 1949.

• On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the PRC, a one-party state controlled by the CCP.

• Mao initiated land redistribution and industrialisation campaigns, suppressed political opponents, and intervened in the Korean War.

• He began the Hundred Flowers Campaign and Anti-Rightist Campaigns, aiming to address ideological and political issues.

• In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, aimed at transforming China from an agrarian to an industrial economy, resulting in the Great Chinese Famine.

• In 1966, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution, a violent campaign to remove “counter-revolutionary” elements, including destruction of historical artifacts and the promotion of Mao’s cult of personality.

• Mao’s foreign policy in the late 1950s was marked by a split with the Soviet Union and efforts to establish relations with the United States in the 1970s.

• China was also involved in the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War.

• Mao died in 1976 after suffering multiple heart attacks and was succeeded by Hua Guofeng and later Deng Xiaoping in 1978.

• The CCP officially praises Mao’s legacy while acknowledging errors in his later years.

• Mao is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century.

• His policies resulted in 40 to 80 million deaths, primarily from starvation, persecution, prison labor, and mass executions, and his regime is described as totalitarian.

• Mao is credited with transforming China from a semi-colony to a leading world power by advancing literacy, women’s rights, healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy.

• Under Mao, China’s population grew from about 550 million to more than 900 million.

• Within China, Mao is regarded as a national hero who liberated the country from foreign occupation and exploitation.

• Mao became an ideological figurehead and a prominent influence within the international communist movement, inspiring various Maoist organizations.