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. The CCP declared that Lin was planning to depose Mao and posthumously expelled Lin from the party. In 1958, he launched the Great Leap Forward that aimed to rapidly transform China's economy from agrarian to industrial, which led to the deadliest famine in history and the deaths of 1555 million people between 1958 and 1962. [108] 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. During the Mao era, China's population grew from around 550 million to over 900 million while the government did not strictly enforce its family planning policy. [20] The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain. "[282] Mao is credited for boosting literacy (only 20% of the population could read in 1949, compared to 65.5% thirty years later), doubling life expectancy, a near doubling of the population, and developing China's industry and infrastructure, paving the way for its position as a world power.[283][4][5]. How Mao Zedong Reshaped Global Politics And Continues To Today [69] He was involved in the movement for Hunan autonomy, in the hope that a Hunanese constitution would increase civil liberties and make his revolutionary activity easier. Excerpt from Mao's poem "Changsha", September 1927[348], Mao was a prolific writer of political and philosophical literature. Based on a Soviet-style 5 year plan for economic growth, individual land-ownership is abolished and replaced with co-operatives (of about 200-300 families). 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. The old imperial capital of Peking surrendered to the Communists at the end of January after a month's siege. [259] On 17 September the body was taken in a minibus to the 305 Hospital, where his internal organs were preserved in formaldehyde. Some of his best known poems are "Changsha" (1925), "The Double Ninth" (October 1929), "Loushan Pass" (1935), "The Long March" (1935), "Snow" (February 1936), "The PLA Captures Nanjing" (1949), "Reply to Li Shuyi" (11 May 1957), and "Ode to the Plum Blossom" (December 1961). Mao returned to Hunan and started compiling his famous Hunan Peasant Report while organising and delivering military training to peasant militias. The deaths of others meant nothing to him. Toggle Early revolutionary activity subsection, Toggle Writings and calligraphy subsection, Youth and the Xinhai Revolution: 18931911, Fourth Normal School of Changsha: 19121919, Beijing, anarchism, and Marxism: 19171919, New Culture and political protests: 19191920, Founding the Chinese Communist Party: 19211922, Collaboration with the Kuomintang: 19221927, Nanchang and Autumn Harvest Uprisings: 1927, , Jiangxi Soviet Republic of China: 19291934, Mo Zhx Sh Wmen Xnzhng De Hng Tiyng, Mao's only direct involvement of hunting down political opponents was limited to the period from 19301931, during the. After Mao's death, Li Zhisui, his personal physician, published The Private Life of Chairman Mao, a memoir which mentions some aspects of Mao's private life, such as chain-smoking cigarettes, addiction to powerful sleeping pills and large number of sexual partners. Official history in China states that Lin was planning a military coup or an assassination attempt on Mao. Mao launched more than a dozen campaigns during his rule, which began when he founded Communist China in 1949 and . Keystone/Getty Images Mao Zedong was a man with big dreams, and unfortunately, he also tried to make them become real regardless of whether they were possible. [220][221][222], On the international front, the period was dominated by the further isolation of China. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 7080 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party. [189][273] Mao rarely gave direct instruction for peoples' physical elimination. During his leadership tenure, China was heavily involved with other Asian communist conflicts such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cambodian Civil War. [307] The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, also claims MarxismLeninism-Maoism as its ideology, as do other Communist Parties around the world which are part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. Music from the period emphasised Mao's stature, as did children's rhymes. 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. He was responsible for the disastrous policies of the 'Great Leap Forward' and the 'Cultural. [311] 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. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. 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.[347]. [18]:35, At the university, Mao was snubbed by other students due to his rural Hunanese accent and lowly position. [321] Large quantities of politicised art were produced and circulatedwith Mao at the centre. [204] Other violent campaigns followed in which party leaders went from village to village in search of hidden food reserves, and not only grain, as Mao issued quotas for pigs, chickens, ducks and eggs. In November, it proclaimed Jiangxi to be the Soviet Republic of China, an independent Communist-governed state. He joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919. The 660 delegates included representatives of labour and business, cultural interests and overseas Chinese, but the Communists dominated the conference, which swiftly proclaimed the new People's Republic of China and endorsed the 'organic law' of the Central People's Government. Like Yang Kaihui, both Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were killed in warfare during Mao Zedong's lifetime. [277], China's population grew from around 550 million to over 900 million under his rule while the government did not strictly enforce its family planning policy, leading his successors such as Deng Xiaoping to take a strict one-child policy to cope with human overpopulation. These campaigns were given urgency in October 1950, when Mao made the decision to send the People's Volunteer Army, a special unit of the People's Liberation Army, into the Korean War and fight as well as to reinforce the armed forces of North Korea, the Korean People's Army, which had been in full retreat. Mao's troops fended the KMT off for 25 days while he left the camp at night to find reinforcements. This meant that proper smelting conditions could not be achieved. [115][116] Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to world revolution, believing that a CCP victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. [84] There, he ran the 6th term of the KMT's Peasant Movement Training Institute from May to September 1926. The teenaged 14th Dalai Lama (the current one) becomes a Chinese figurehead ruler. [98] 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. Over the years, Mao's image became displayed almost everywhere, present in homes, offices and shops. When Mao stepped down as head of state on 27 April 1959, further diplomatic state visits and travels abroad to the Soviet Union and other countries were undertaken by either President Liu Shaoqi, Premier Zhou Enlai or Deputy Premier Deng Xiaoping rather than Mao personally. December 26, 1893. [242] Mao and Kissinger then agreed that their comments on women be removed from public records, prompted by a Chinese official who feared that Mao's comments might incur public anger if released. and the amplified voice of Mao responded, 'Long Live the People's Republic of China!' Growing up in rural Hunan, Mao described his father as a stern disciplinarian, who would beat him and his three siblings, the boys Zemin and Zetan, as well as an adopted girl, Zejian. [28], Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the Xinhai Revolution. The Hungarian Revolution also influenced Mao's Hundred Flowers Campaign. [47] Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome",[48] securing him a job as assistant to the university librarian Li Dazhao, who would become an early Chinese Communist. October 1 will mark 70 years since Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party of China, founded the People's Republic of China. He has many great-grandchildren alive today. . 25 years. I need to reconsider my actions" and pushed even harder for the creation of the Third Front. I revised this question because I felt like this was a better fit for this project. On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the PRC, a MarxistLeninist single-party state controlled by the CCP. [63] Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang. Mao had a total of ten children,[331] including: Mao's first and second daughters were left to local villagers because it was too dangerous to raise them while fighting the Kuomintang and later the Japanese. View All Trips Mao Zedong proclaims the People's Republic of China, 1 October 1949 | Orihara1/WikiCommons From 1949 until his death in 1976, Chairman Mao set out to transform China. 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. [202], Jasper Becker notes that Mao was dismissive of reports he received of food shortages in the countryside and refused to change course, believing that peasants were lying and that rightists and kulaks were hoarding grain. Chinese citizens are aware of Mao's mistakes, but nonetheless, many see Mao as a national hero. [228]:9, Development of the Third Front slowed in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, but accelerated again after the Sino-Soviet border conflict at Zhenbao Island, which increased the perceived risk of Soviet Invasion. 1952: Mao begins Rural Collectivization. After years of ill health, Mao suffered a series of heart attacks in 1976 and died at the age of 82. We don't have much. Discusses the life, military influence and writings of Chairman Mao ZeDong. Widely considered one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, Mao has been credited with transforming China from a semi-colony to a leading world power, with advanced literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education and improved life expectancy. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented. Lin was later officially named as Mao's successor. 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. The Sino-Soviet split resulted in Nikita Khrushchev's withdrawal of all Soviet technical experts and aid from the country. He only buried alive 460 scholars, while we buried 46,000. [57], In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School[58] 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. Leadership in Hunan The March 1925 death of Sun Yixian (Sun Yat-sen) and the rise of Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) saw Mao lose his position within the Guomindang. "[291] In a similar vein, journalist Liu Binyan has described Mao as "both monster and a genius. Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China, qualifies as the greatest mass murderer in world history, an expert who had unprecedented access to official Communist Party archives said . Mao Zedong - CCP, Peasant Movement, and Northern Expedition He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary. [318], Mao gave contradicting statements on the subject of personality cults. It is probably fair to say, then, that Mao was responsible for about 1.5 million deaths during the Cultural Revolution, another million for the other campaigns, and between 35 million and 45 million for the Great Leap Famine. [351] His calligraphy can be seen today throughout mainland China. [70] 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. Mao Zedong (1893-1976) was both a product and a part of the revolutionary change in 20th-century China. [43] 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. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. READ MORE: China: A . He is regarded as one of the most important and influential individuals in the twentieth century. Yi introduced Mao to General Tan Yankai, a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months. Both men are thought of as having done terrible things yet this does not necessarily prevent them from being used as positive symbols. 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. The first of those is the initial three years when Mao and Zhu De, the commander in chief of the army, successfully developed the tactics of guerrilla warfare from base areas in the countryside. Mao Zedong's 22 years in the wilderness can be divided into four phases. That way you can lessen our burdens. . Democratic Kampuchea - Government of Democratic Kampuchea decided on national mourning from September 12 to 18. [15], While working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously[16] 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. "[309], 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. [303] The television series Biography stated: "[Mao] turned China from a feudal backwater into one of the most powerful countries in the World. 1556332. 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.