Mao Zedong «mow
zeh dawng», (1893-1976), also
spelled Mao Tse-tung, led the long struggle that made China a Communist
nation in 1949. He then became China's ruler and one of the world's most
powerful people. Mao controlled China's artistic, intellectual, military,
industrial, and agricultural planning and policies.
After the Communist
victory, Mao's face became familiar throughout the world. Pictures of him
appeared everywhere in China. Young and old learned his slogans and studied his
writings. His writings, particularly on guerrilla warfare and the role of
peasants in Communist revolutions, were influential outside China. Mao also
wrote poetry.
His life. Mao was born to a peasant family in
Shaoshan, a village in Hunan Province. He was still a student when the
revolution of 1911-1912 overthrew the Manchu government and made China a
republic. While he was employed briefly as a library worker at the National
Beijing (Peking) University in 1918, Mao became attracted to the ideas of
Communism. In 1921, Mao and 11 other people founded the Chinese Communist Party
in Shanghai.
The Communists joined forces with Sun Yat-sen's
Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) in the effort to unite China. But distrust
between the Communists and Chiang Kai-shek, who became Nationalist leader after
Sun's death in 1925, soon led to warfare between the two groups. Mao and other
Communist leaders led small bands to Jiangxi province in 1928. By 1931, that
province had become Chiang's chief target. He began a series of "extermination
campaigns" that nearly wiped out the Communists. In 1934, Mao led the Communists
to Shaanxi (Shensi) province, in what is called the Long March. The
6,000-mile (9,700-kilometer) march lasted over a year and welded the survivors
into a tightly-knit group under Mao's leadership.
Japan had invaded
Manchuria in 1931, and launched full-scale war against China in 1937. The
Communists and Nationalists joined in an uneasy alliance until World War II
ended in 1945. As the Nationalist armies were driven inland during the war, Mao
organized guerrilla warfare to spread Communism. By 1945, the Communists
controlled areas populated by nearly 100 million Chinese. In 1946, fighting
between Communists and Nationalists began in Manchuria. Communists gained
control of China by October 1949, and Nationalists withdrew to Taiwan.
His leadership. Mao formed the Chinese into a tightly controlled
society more quickly than most observers thought possible. After taking power,
he made an alliance with the Soviets, who helped strengthen the Chinese army
when Chinese forces aided North Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953). After
the war, Mao began programs to expand agricultural and industrial production. In
1958, a crash program called the Great Leap Forward failed. In the
1960's, a split developed between China and the Soviet Union. Mao ordered
nuclear research that led to Chinese nuclear explosions in the 1960's.
In 1959, Mao gave up his title of chairman of the People's Republic. But
he kept control of the country and of the Communist Party. By the 1960's,
disputes between China and the Soviet Union had grown into a struggle for
leadership of the Communist world. Mao considered himself the true interpreter
of the principles of Communism. He believed that poor nations would inevitably
revolt against richer nations. He also accused Soviet Communists of being soft
toward the United States.
In the mid-1960's, China suffered a series of
diplomatic defeats. To maintain revolutionary enthusiasm, Mao campaigned against
so-called revisionists, who favored economic changes. In the early
1970's, China improved relations with the United States and other Western
nations. Mao died in September 1976, after a long illness.
After Mao's
death, Chinese leaders reversed many of his policies and ended the emphasis on
his personality. They looked to Japan, the United States, and European countries
for help in modernizing China's industry, agriculture, science, and armed
forces. These goals were called the Four Modernizations.
______________ Contributor: • Arif Dirlik, Ph.D., Professor of History, Duke University.
How to cite this article: To cite this
article in a footnote, World Book recommends the
following format:
Arif Dirlik, "Mao
Zedong," World Book Online Americas Edition,
