In this lesson, you’ll be learning about the life of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China. You’ll look at the facts surrounding his ascension and even his accomplishments and then you can test your knowledge with a quiz.
Mao Zedong’s Accomplishments
Mao Zedong was one of the most important leaders during the 20th century. His most prominent accomplishment was the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. His other achievements include leading his people on The Long March, over four thousand miles to keep the Communist movement alive.
Best services for writing your paper according to Trustpilot
He also led an event known as the Cultural Revolution in which he compelled the people to believe that they had a right to revolt, among other things. Many of these accomplishments were controversial for a number of reasons, but they all held great importance in the development of the China we know today.
Mao Zedong’s Young Life
The son of a prominent peasant family in Shao-shan in China’s Hunan province, Mao was born on December 26, 1893. He worked in the fields and attended a local primary school, leading a relatively normal life. His mother was a Buddhist who was always willing to support her son, but he experienced frequent clashes with his very strict father. Mao went to Changsha, the capital of Hunan where he learned a great deal about politics and political change. A cultural movement was happening, and he was in the middle of it.
Attending Peking University with very little money, Mao had to work while he studied. The fact that his rich classmates led such cosmopolitan existences compared to him led him to connect more with the common people. After graduation, he returned to Hunan and served as a primary school principal.
Outside of work, he spent countless hours publishing political propaganda. He then married Yang K’ai-hu in 1920, but she was executed ten years later by Chinese Nationalists. He married a second time in 1930 to a woman named Ho Tzu-Chen, but he later divorced her in 1937, and then married another woman, Chiang Ch’ing.
Communists vs.
Nationalists
The Chinese Communist party was organized in 1921, and Mao founded a branch in Hunan. Although Mao was previously aligned with the party known as the Koumintang, when a man named Chiang Kai-shek took over and didn’t respect the Communists, Mao lost faith in the party. Conflicts between the Communists and Nationalists began.They continued to intensify until Mao was forced to lead his people on The Long March. They covered between 4.
000 and 8,000 miles in a year. His supporters were in grave danger from the Koumintang and Chaign Kai-shek. If they hadn’t taken this march, the Chinese Communist Party probably wouldn’t have survived.In 1937 when the Japanese invaded China, Mao took a military leadership role.
He was an example to all of his followers that the whole was more important than any part. During the same period of time, he published papers entitled ‘On Contradiction’ and ‘On Practice’ which helped to lay his claim as an important Marxist theorist and laying the seed for Communist China.
A Communist China
By the end of World War II, the Chinese Communist Party had grown to 1.2 million members. Chiang’s government was forced to flee to Taiwan, leaving room for Mao to found the new People’s Republic of China.
One of Mao’s first moves was to try to open relations with the United States. He wanted the expansion of Chinese markets to be global. The U.S. showed little interest in dealing with China due to its anti-Communist stance at the time, so Mao turned to the U.S.S.
R. When Joseph Stalin died, Mao’s status rose as the international leader of Communist theory.
Great Leap Forward
Mao kept to his Communist convictions as he called for the elimination of private property in rural areas to be replaced by communes. He established his industrial growth program known as The Great Leap Forward.
This program called for the rapid transformation of China from an agrarian economy to socialist industrial society. Unfortunately, a period of bad weather led to drought, bad crops, and a tremendous food shortage in China. Mao’s call for action along with poor planning led to the deaths of over 30 million people. Due to this, Mao lost a great amount of power and influence, not only in China but also with Russia.
Cultural Revolution
The roller coaster of power continued for years.
The rise of the Red Guard, who were student supporters of Mao, helped him retain power. However, Mao decided to retire and hand leadership to a man named Lin Piao. Shortly after his decision, Lin died in a plane crash. Some believe the crash happened as a result of him planning the assassination of Mao.
Despite all of these circumstances, the Cultural Revolution went on in China. The premise was that the Chinese had a right to revolt, criticize authority, and take an active role in decision making. Mao’s sayings were printed in Mao’s Little Red Book, and his words served as the ultimate authority.Mao believed that there were three groups of states: the underdeveloped nations, the developed nations, and the two superpowers (the United States and the USSR).
It was his true hope to establish closer relations with the United States to lessen the power of the USSR. China was the leader of the Third World. To prove this theory, Mao changed his policy and received Richard Nixon, United States President, in Peking. Mao died in Peking in 1976.
Lesson Summary
Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China. He saved the Communists by directing the Long March.
His program to nationalize industry, collectivize farms, and transform the nation into a powerful communist state was known as the Great Leap Forward, which ended disastrously in the deaths of over 30 million Chinese people. The Cultural Revolution was Mao’s follow-up and held the premise that the Chinese had a right to revolt, criticize authority, and take an active role in decision making, though its success is questionable. Despite his controversial status as a leader, Mao’s decisions did contribute to China’s ascension to being leader of the Third World.
