The Life and foundation of Mao Tse Tung

The Town of Tongdao where the Red army gathers to have a meeting in tongdao which mark the
beginning of Mao Zedongs rise to power.

I. Biography/ Early life in China

o Born on December 26, 1893
o In Shaoshan, Hunan Province, China
o In 1911 Mao left school to join the revolution against Manchu rule.
o Mao joined the Revolutionary Army and the Kuomintang, the Nationalist Party. The Kuomintang
overthrew the monarchy in 1912 and founded the Republic of China.
o Spurred on by the promise of a new future for China and himself, Mao reveled in the political and
cultural change sweeping the country.
o In 1918, Mao Tse-tung graduated from the Hunan First Normal School, becoming a certified teacher.
o In 1921, he became one of the members of the Chinese Communist Party.
o Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen began a policy of active cooperation with the Chinese Communists, who
had grown in strength and number.
o Over the next few years, he adopted Leninist ideas and believed that appealing to the farming
peasants was the key to establishing communism in Asia.
o In March 1925, Chinese President Sun Yat-sen died, and his successor, Chiang Kai-shek, became the
chairman of the Kuomintang
o Unlike Sun Yat-sen, Chiang was more conservative and traditional.
o In April 1927, he broke the alliance and began a violent purge of the Communists, imprisoning or
killing many
o Mao led a retreat to the mountains a 6,000-mile trek that became known as "The Long March

II. Significant Events

Japanese-Chinese Conflict and Mao's Rise To Power

o By 1937 they were fighting the invading Japanese army from their bases in Manchuria.
o Chiang's forces soon lost control of the coastal regions and most of the major cities.
o Chiang reached out to the Communists for a truce and support.
o On October 1, 1949, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, Mao announced the establishment of the People's
Republic of China.
o He instituted positive changes in China, including promoting the status of women, doubling the
school population and improving literacy, and increasing access to health care
o He launched the "Hundred Flowers Campaign" and, in democratic fashion, allowed others to express
their concerns.
o Instead, he received a harsh rebuke and was shaken by the intense rejection by the urban
intelligentsia. Fearing a loss of control, he ruthlessly crushed any further dissent.

Great Leap Forward

o In January 1958, Mao Tse-tung launched the "Great Leap Forward," attempting to increase
agricultural and industrial production.
o Mao had set idealistic, some would say improbable, expectations for both agriculture and industrial
production, believing the country could make a century's worth of advancement in a few decades.
o At first, reports were promising, with accounts of overwhelming advancement. However, three years
of floods and bad harvests told a different story.
o Led to widespread famine and death
o Damaged Maos reputation

Cultural Revolution
o Due to failure of the Great Leap Forward
o Feared the prospect of loosing his place at the political stage, as he had lost esteem among top party
leaders launched Cultural Revolution in 1966
o Mao needed a comeback
o He organized students and mobilized them throughout the country to spread his ideas and wipe out
anyone who tried to contradict him
o He created an extremely effective propaganda campaign that again brought him back to power.
Mao thus ultimately adopted four goals for the Cultural Revolution:
To replace his designated successors with leaders more faithful to his current thinking
To rectify the Chinese Communist Party
To provide Chinas youths with a revolutionary experience
To achieve some specific policy changes so as to make the educational, health care, and cultural
systems less elitist.
He initially pursued these goals through a massive mobilization of the countrys urban youths.
They were organized into groups called the Red Guards, and Mao ordered the party and the army
not to suppress the movement.
A Revolutionary Legacy
Mao Tse-tung met with United States President Richard Nixon, a gesture that eased tensions
between the two countries and elevated China's prominence as a world player.

If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want
to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine
knowledge originates in direct experience.
~ Mao Zedong

References:

Biography.com,. N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.

BrainyQuote,. "Mao Zedong Quotes At Brainyquote". N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Jan.
2016.
Encyclopedia Britannica,. "Cultural Revolution | Chinese Political Movement".
N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.
IMDb,. "Zedong Mao". N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.