Mao+Zedong

Edited by: Amy Wu, 2012

Medina Amirie

Overview
Mao Zedong was a Chinese leader who led the Communist Party of China to victory against the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War. Born on December 26, 1893, he was considered to be the father of Communist China. He was a Marxist theorist. Along with Sun Yat-Sen and Chiang Kai-Shek, he played a fundamental part in  China's history.



**Early Life**

Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-Tung), the son of a peasant farmer, was born on December 26, 1893 in Shaoshan, China. When he was 8 years old, he began studying in the village school, but stopped at age 13 to work on the family farm. He later returned to his education. Mao was introduced to Marxism while working as a library assistant at Peking University and served in the revolutionary army in the 1911 Chinese Revolution. He was an early member of the of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which was established in Shanghai by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in June 1921. Over the next few years Mao adapted the ideas of Lenin who had successfully achieved a revolution in Russia.

**Communist Revolution in China** In 1924, Communists were accepted into the Kuomintang and under this arrangement Mao would be in charge of propaganda for the party. After the Kuomintang had successfully gained control over all of China south of the Yangtse River, Chiang decided to rid himself of the Communists. Mao, however, managed to escape to a remote area in southern China. After settling, he began to build the Communist Party that would one day control China. He built his party upon peasantry, unlike Leninist Marxism. In his southern stronghold, Mao set up China's first communist state, the Kiangsi Soviet. By late 1931 his army had beaten off three attempts by Chiang's forces using the tactics of guerrilla warfare. The principles of guerrilla warfare include acting quickly, concentrating forces, taking advantage of the enemies limitations, the ability to move, maintaining flexibility at all times, the use of hit and run tactics instead of engaging in protected battles, and making use of the people's __#|help__. Mao practiced guerrilla warfare successfully until Chiang simply outnumbered him, forcing him on the longest military retreat in history known as the Long March. The 9,000 km retreat lasted over a year and three-quarters of the Red Army died along the way due to starvation, disease and exposure, but Chiang was still unable to defeat them. Mao settled in the Northern area of Shensei where he formed the Yenan Soviet. The Yenan Soviet attracted many Chinese who believed Mao was capable of building a better China while resisting the Japanese invaders. By the summer of 1945, Mao's forces had liberated most of northern China from the Japanese which gained him public support.

1947-1949 a civil war between the Communists, led by Mao, and the Kuomintang, led by Chiang, broke out. Mao's army was a land-based peasant group called the People's Liberation Army. Chiang and his forces had to flee to the island of Taiwan & on October 1, 1949, Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China.

Mao's Death
Mao’s last public appearance was in April 1976, where he met Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Prior to his death, he had been in poor health for several years. There were unconfirmed reports that he possible had A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The Chairman suffered a heart attack around 5:00 pm on September 2, 1976. He’d had two attacks prior but they did not affect his heart as much. His current lung infection had worsened and his urine output had dropped to less than 300ml a day. His condition throughout the day was fairly unstable and continued to fluctuate. Several days following, his condition was still critical. Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing visited him and insisted on doing several things to him, such as sprinkling powder on his body or changing his sleeping position, even though the doctor protested. Upon changing his sleeping position, Mao’s breathing stopped. His face turned blue. The medical staff performed emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him and he was barely revived. His organ failed not long after and he fell into a coma and was put on life support. Twelve hours later, he was taken off life support and pronounced dead at 12:10 AM on September 9, 1976. A memorial service was held for him in Tiananmen Square on September 18, 1976. His body was later placed into the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. As the Chairmen had left, power struggles for control of China were to appear.

The Student Workbook Twenieth Century History Textbook [] []
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