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163-453: Post- Cultural Revolution , the CCP is responsible for the formulation of policies and the government is responsible for its day-to-day execution . At every level of jurisdiction, a government leader serves alongside the party secretary. For example, in the case of a province, the provincial Party Secretary is the de facto highest office, but the government is headed by a government leader called

326-457: A semi-colony to a leading world power by advancing literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy. Under Mao, China's population grew from about 550 million to more than 900 million. Within China, he is revered as a national hero who liberated the country from foreign occupation and exploitation. He became an ideological figurehead and a prominent influence within

489-487: A "Governor" ( simplified Chinese : 省长 ; traditional Chinese : 省長 ; pinyin : shěng zhǎng ). The Governor is usually the second-highest-ranking official in the party's Provincial Committee, and holds the concurrent title of " Deputy Party Committee Secretary " (simplified Chinese: 省委副书记 ; traditional Chinese: 省委副書記 ; pinyin: shěng wěi fù shū jì ). A similar comparison can be made for municipal Party Secretaries and Mayors in city-level, or even for

652-552: A "political consciousness" from Zheng Guanying 's booklet which lamented the deterioration of Chinese power and argued for the adoption of representative democracy . Mao also read translations of works by Western authors including Adam Smith , Montesquieu , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Charles Darwin , and Thomas Huxley . Interested in history, Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte . His political views were shaped by Gelaohui -led protests which erupted following

815-461: A "sinister" attempt to oppose the party and advance revisionism. Mao promptly endorsed Nie's poster as "the first Marxist big-character poster in China". Approved by Mao, the poster rippled across educational institutions. Students began to revolt against their school's party establishments. Classes were cancelled in Beijing primary and secondary schools, followed by a decision on 13 June to expand

978-605: A "traitor to the nation", on 5 May, he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanjing National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin. Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, Zhang Xueliang , in Xi'an , leading to the Xi'an Incident ; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with

1141-560: A CCP victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. Officials in Moscow desired greater control over the CCP and removed Li from power by calling him to Russia for an inquest into his errors. They replaced him with Soviet-educated Chinese Communists, known as the " 28 Bolsheviks ", two of whom, Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian , took control of

1304-553: A Cultural Book Society which opened a bookstore to propagate revolutionary literature throughout Hunan. 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. When the movement was successful in establishing provincial autonomy under a new warlord, Mao forgot his involvement. By 1921, small Marxist groups existed in Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Jinan; it

1467-619: A base. 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. They were initially successful, but the KMT counter-attacked, and pushed the CCP back; over the next few weeks, they fought an entrenched guerrilla war in the mountains. The Central Committee again ordered Mao to march to south Hunan, but he refused, and remained at his base. Contrastingly, Zhu complied, and led his armies away. Mao's troops fended

1630-567: A corrupt emperor. While Mao initially praised the play, in February 1965, he secretly commissioned his wife Jiang Qing and Shanghai propagandist Yao Wenyuan to publish an article criticizing it. Yao described the play as an allegory attacking Mao; flagging Mao as the emperor, and Peng Dehuai, who had previously questioned Mao during the Lushan Conference , as the honest civil servant. Yao's article put Beijing mayor Peng Zhen on

1793-468: A famine in Changsha , the capital of Hunan; Mao supported the protesters' demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders. The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain. He disapproved of their actions as morally wrong, but claimed sympathy for their situation. At age 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan, where he

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1956-547: A far-reaching revolutionary coalition, one that displaced existing Red Guard groups. On January 3, 1967, with support from CRG heavyweights Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, the group of firebrand activists overthrew the Shanghai municipal government under Chen Pixian in what became known as the January Storm , and formed in its place the Shanghai People's Commune . Mao then expressed his approval. Shanghai's

2119-414: A force of around 1,800 troops. He laid down rules for his soldiers: prompt obedience to orders, all confiscations were to be turned over to the government, and nothing was to be confiscated from poorer peasants. In doing so, he moulded his men into a disciplined, efficient fighting force. 敵進我退， 敵駐我騷， 敵疲我打， 敵退我追。 When the enemy advances, we retreat. When the enemy rests, we harass him. When

2282-571: A general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji. Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang. Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, Karl Kautsky , and Marx and Engels—notably The Communist Manifesto —he came under their increasing influence, but

2445-587: A great goal. His father saw no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, cut off his allowance and forced him to move into a hostel for the destitute. Mao wanted to become a teacher and enrolled at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which soon merged with the First Normal School of Hunan , widely seen as the best in Hunan. Befriending Mao, professor Yang Changji urged him to read a radical newspaper, New Youth ( Xin qingnian ),

2608-717: A guerrilla force, he laid out a destination: the Shenshi Soviet in Shaanxi , Northern China, from where the Communists could focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that in focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the Communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, who in turn would renounce the KMT. From Zunyi, Mao led his troops to Loushan Pass , where they faced armed opposition but successfully crossed

2771-726: A job as assistant to the university librarian Li Dazhao , who would become an early Chinese Communist. Li authored a series of New Youth articles on the October Revolution in Russia, during which the Communist Bolshevik Party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin had seized power. Lenin was an advocate of the socio-political theory of Marxism , first developed by the German sociologists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , and Li's articles added Marxism to

2934-466: A local party organization was called the First Secretary , its deputy the "Second Secretary". The local party organizations each had its own Secretariat with numerous secretaries. Beginning at the provincial level, China's party-government dual administrative system arranges a hierarchy by which the party chief is in charge of determining the direction of policy as well as personnel changes, and

3097-411: A million Red Guards from across the country gathered in and around Tiananmen Square for an audience with the chairman. Mao mingled with Red Guards and encouraged them, donning a Red Guard armband. Lin also took centre stage, denouncing perceived enemies in society that were impeding the "progress of the revolution". Subsequently, violence escalated in Beijing and quickly spread. The 18 August rally

3260-418: A new stage in the development of the socialist revolution in our country:" Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds and endeavour to stage a comeback. The proletariat must do the exact opposite: it must meet head-on every challenge of the bourgeoisie ... to change

3423-600: A rally was held at the Great Hall of the People to announce the decision and reveal the tone of the movement to teachers and students. At the rally, Party leaders encouraged the masses to 'not be afraid' and take charge of the movement, free of Party interference. The work-teams issue marked a decisive defeat for Liu; it also signaled that disagreement over how to handle the CR's unfolding events would irreversibly split Mao from

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3586-490: A report known as the February Outline . The Outline as sanctioned by the party center defined Hai Rui as a constructive academic discussion and aimed to distance Peng Zhen formally from any political implications. However, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan continued their denunciations. Meanwhile, Mao sacked Propaganda Department director Lu Dingyi , a Peng ally. Lu's removal gave Maoists unrestricted access to

3749-536: A school essay. As a symbol of rebellion against the Manchu monarch, Mao and a friend cut off their queue pigtails, a sign of subservience to the emperor. Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the Xinhai Revolution . Changsha's governor fled, leaving the city in republican control. Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a private soldier , but

3912-584: A series of heart attacks . He was succeeded as leader by Hua Guofeng and in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping . The CCP's official evaluation of Mao's legacy both praises him and acknowledges he made errors in his later years. Mao is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. His policies were responsible for a vast number of deaths, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims of starvation, persecution, prison labour , and mass executions, and his regime has been described as totalitarian . He has been also credited with transforming China from

4075-759: A soldier. Around this time, Mao discovered socialism from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by Jiang Kanghu , the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea. Over the next few years, Mao Zedong enrolled and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school, an economics school, and the government-run Changsha Middle School . Studying independently, he spent much time in Changsha's library, reading core works of classical liberalism such as Adam Smith 's The Wealth of Nations and Montesquieu 's The Spirit of

4238-427: A time when almost all mass organizations claimed to be "leftist" or "revolutionary". PLA commanders had developed close working relations with the party establishment, leading many military units to repress radicals. Spurred by the events in Beijing, power seizure groups formed across the country and began expanding into factories and the countryside. In Shanghai, a young factory worker named Wang Hongwen organized

4401-506: A topic of controversy later. In May 1966, an expanded session of the Politburo was called in Beijing. The conference was laden with Maoist political rhetoric on class struggle and filled with meticulously prepared 'indictments' of recently ousted leaders such as Peng Zhen and Luo Ruiqing . One of these documents, distributed on 16 May, was prepared with Mao's personal supervision and was particularly damning: Those representatives of

4564-717: A total clampdown by the Portuguese government. The event set in motion Portugal's de facto abdication of control over Macau, putting Macau on the path to eventual absorption by China. By the beginning of 1967, a wide variety of grassroots political organizations had formed. Beyond Red Guard and student rebel groups, these included poor peasant associations, workers' pickets, and Mao Zedong Thought study societies, among others. Communist Party leaders encouraged these groups to "join up", and these groups joined various coalitions and held various cross-group congresses and assemblies. Mass organizations coalesced into two hostile factions,

4727-637: Is placed on you ... The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you. During the Red August of Beijing, on August 8, 1966, the party's General Committee passed its "Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," later to be known as the "Sixteen Points". This decision defined the Cultural Revolution as "a great revolution that touches people to their very souls and constitutes

4890-482: The 12-3 incident . The event was prompted by the colonial government's delays in approving a new wing for a CCP elementary school in Taipa . The school board illegally began construction, but the colonial government sent police to stop the workers. Several people were injured in the resulting melee . On December 3, 1966, two days of rioting occurred in which hundreds were injured and six to eight were killed, leading to

5053-733: The Autumn Harvest Uprising , in the hope of sparking peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat and with 1000 survivors marched east to

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5216-727: The Cultural Revolution , a campaign to remove "counter-revolutionary" elements, marked by violent class struggle , destruction of historical artifacts, and Mao's cult of personality . From the late 1950s, Mao's foreign policy was dominated by a political split with the Soviet Union , and during the 1970s he began establishing relations with the United States ; China was also involved in the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War . In 1976, Mao died after suffering

5379-758: The Five Black Categories . Intellectuals and scientists were considered to be the Stinking Old Ninth , and many were persecuted. The country's schools and universities were closed, and the National College Entrance Examination were cancelled. Over 10 million youth from urban areas were relocated under the Down to the Countryside Movement policy. In December 1978, Deng Xiaoping became

5542-510: The Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian'anmen) on 1 October 1949, and later that week declared "The Chinese people have stood up" ( 中国人民从此站起来了 ). Mao went to Moscow for talks in the winter of 1949–50. Mao initiated the talks which focused on the political and economic revolution in China, foreign policy, railways, naval bases, and Soviet economic and technical aid. The resulting treaty reflected Stalin's dominance and his willingness to help Mao. Following

5705-528: The General Secretary of CCP and the Premier of State Council in state-level. There have been rare instances where both Party Secretary and Governor (or Mayor) positions were held by the same person, though this is not the common practice since the end of the Cultural Revolution. The Party Secretary is usually assisted by numerous Deputy Party Secretaries. Until the 1980s, the leading position of

5868-865: The Jiangxi Soviet . He helped establish the Chinese Red Army and developed a strategy of guerilla warfare . In 1935, Mao became the leader of the CCP during the Long March . Although the CCP allied with the KMT under the Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War , China's civil war resumed after Japan's surrender in 1945; Mao's forces defeated the Nationalist government , which withdrew to Taiwan in 1949. On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed

6031-598: The Jinggang Mountains of Jiangxi . 革命不是請客吃飯，不是做文章，不是繪畫繡花，不能那樣雅緻，那樣從容不迫，文質彬彬，那樣溫良恭讓。革命是暴動，是一個階級推翻一個階級的暴烈的行動。 Revolution is not a dinner party , nor an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. — Mao, February 1927 The CCP Central Committee, hiding in Shanghai, expelled Mao from their ranks and from

6194-580: The People's Volunteer Army was sent 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. The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the Korean War , lasting until Richard Nixon 's improvements of relations. At least 180,000 Chinese troops died during

6357-724: The Treaty of Versailles , wherein Japan was allowed to receive territories in Shandong which had been surrendered by Germany . 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. In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School and organising protests against

6520-739: The United Nations and reneged on its pledge to supply China with a nuclear weapon. Mao publicly denounced revisionism in April 1960. Without pointing at the USSR, Mao criticized its Balkan ally, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia . In turn, the USSR criticized China's Balkan ally, the Party of Labour of Albania . In 1963, CCP began to denounce the USSR, publishing nine polemics. One was titled On Khrushchev's Phoney Communism and Historical Lessons for

6683-650: The Xiang River after heavy fighting, and then the Wu River , in Guizhou where they took Zunyi in January 1935. Temporarily resting in the city, they held a conference ; here, Mao was elected to a position of leadership, becoming Chairman of the Politburo , and de facto leader of both Party and Red Army, in part because his candidacy was supported by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin . Insisting that they operate as

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6846-516: The Yan'an Soviet during October 1935 and settled in Bao'an , until spring 1936. While there, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment, and began literacy programs. Mao now commanded 15,000 soldiers, boosted by the arrival of He Long 's men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao returned from Tibet. In February 1936, they established

7009-663: The zhuanzhi deputy party chief is also the head of the party school of any given jurisdiction. For example, in Sichuan province, the Party Secretary heads the party committee, while the Governor of Sichuan serves as the top ranked deputy party chief, and the "specifically-designated" deputy party chief ranks immediately next to the governor in precedence. A "Party Branch" or " Party Group " (党组; dangzu ) exists in almost all institutions of state which are not formally part of

7172-573: The " Red Army ", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General Zhu De was ordered to take the city of Nanchang on 1 August 1927, in what became known as the Nanchang Uprising . They were initially successful, but were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to Shantou , and from there they were driven into the wilderness of Fujian . Mao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army and led four regiments against Changsha in

7335-599: The "16 May Notification", this document summarized Mao's ideological justification for CR. Initially kept secret, distributed only among high-ranking party members, it was later declassified and published in People's Daily on 17 May 1967. Effectively it implied that enemies of the Communist cause could be found within the Party: class enemies who "wave the red flag to oppose the red flag." The only way to identify these people

7498-510: The "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were Edgar Snow , who used his experiences as a basis for Red Star Over China , and Agnes Smedley , whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause. On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizhen had been injured by a shrapnel wound to the head. She travelled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, Jiang Qing . He Zizhen

7661-425: The "Three Supports and Two Militaries" initiative, in which PLA troops were sent to schools and work units across the country to stabilize political tumult and end factional warfare. The three "Supports" were to "support the left", "support the interior", "support industry". The "two Militaries" referred to "military management" and "military training". The policy of supporting the left failed to define "leftists" at

7824-401: The "literary battle" against Peng raged, Mao fired Yang Shangkun —director of the party's General Office , an organ that controlled internal communications—making unsubstantiated charges. He installed loyalist Wang Dongxing , head of Mao's security detail. Yang's dismissal likely emboldened Mao's allies to move against their factional rivals. On 12 February 1966, the "Five Man Group" issued

7987-503: The Anyuan mines also involved his wife Yang Kaihui, who worked for women's rights, including literacy and educational issues, in the nearby peasant communities. Although Mao and Yang were not the originators of this political organizing method of combining labor organizing among male workers with a focus on women's rights issues in their communities, they were among the most effective at using this method. Mao's political organizing success in

8150-591: The Anyuan mines resulted in Chen Duxiu inviting him to become a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. Mao claimed that he missed the July 1922 Second Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai because he lost the address. Adopting Lenin's advice, the delegates agreed to an alliance with the "bourgeois democrats" of the KMT for the good of the "national revolution". Communist Party members joined

8313-671: The CCP lost approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members. The CCP continued supporting the Wuhan KMT government, a position Mao initially supported, but by the time of the CCP's Fifth Congress he had changed his mind, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia. The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July. The CCP founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as

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8476-504: The CCP. Likewise, the Soviet Union gave support to Mao by occupying north-eastern China , and secretly giving it to the Chinese communists in March 1946. In 1948, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying Changchun . At least 160,000 civilians are believed to have perished during the siege , which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, in his book White Snow, Red Blood , compared it to Hiroshima : "The casualties were about

8639-446: The Central Committee. In addition to land redistribution, Mao promoted literacy and non-hierarchical organizational relationships in Jinggangshan, transforming the area's social and economic life and attracted many local supporters. Mao proclaimed that "Even the lame, the deaf and the blind could all come in useful for the revolutionary struggle", he boosted the army's numbers, incorporating two groups of bandits into his army, building

8802-454: The Central Committee. Mao disagreed with the new leadership, believing they grasped little of the Chinese situation, and he soon emerged as their key rival. In February 1930, Mao created the Southwest Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in the region under his control. In November, he suffered emotional trauma after his second wife Yang Kaihui and sister were captured and beheaded by KMT general He Jian . Facing internal problems, members of

8965-462: The Communist Party in Shanghai in June 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to working with the KMT. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai. At the First KMT Congress, held in Guangzhou in early 1924, Mao was elected an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee, and put forward four resolutions to decentralise power to urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for

9128-510: The Communist Party organization. These include government organs, People's Congresses, ministries, provincial and municipal departments and so on. These organizations are created by mandate of a Party Committee, serve to ensure that the general policy guidelines of the party is followed at each respective institution. They may gather for ad hoc meetings to study party documents or speeches or carry out "party life meetings" at their respective institutions, but they do not serve as an executive body in

9291-460: The Communists as a greater threat than the Japanese and returned to Jiangxi, where he initiated the fifth encirclement campaign , which involved the construction of a concrete and barbed wire "wall of fire" around the state, which was accompanied by aerial bombardment, to which Zhou's tactics proved ineffective. Trapped inside, morale among the Red Army dropped as food and medicine became scarce. The leadership decided to evacuate. On 14 October 1934,

9454-400: The Communists, resulting in the formation of a United Front with concessions on both sides on 25 December 1937. The Japanese had taken both Shanghai and Nanjing —resulting in the Nanjing Massacre , an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—and was pushing the Kuomintang government inland to Chongqing . The Japanese's brutality led to increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, and

9617-449: The Cultural Revolution marked the effective return of Mao to the center of power in China after his political sidelining , in the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Chinese Famine . In May 1966, with the help of the Cultural Revolution Group , Mao launched the Revolution and said that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society with the aim of restoring capitalism. Mao called on young people to bombard

9780-497: The Headquarters , rallying people to target the "command centre (i.e., Headquarters) of counterrevolution." Mao wrote that despite having undergone a communist revolution, a "bourgeois" elite was still thriving in "positions of authority" in the government and Party. Although no names were mentioned, this provocative statement has been interpreted as a direct indictment of the party establishment under Liu and Deng—the purported "bourgeois headquarters" of China. The personnel changes at

9943-440: The Hunan Provincial Committee, as punishment for his "military opportunism", for his focus on rural activity, and for being too lenient with "bad gentry". The more orthodox Communists especially regarded the peasants as backward and ridiculed Mao's idea of mobilizing them. They nevertheless adopted three policies he had long championed: the immediate formation of workers' councils , the confiscation of all land without exemption, and

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10106-452: The Jiangxi Soviet accused him of being too moderate, and hence anti-revolutionary. 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. The CCP Central Committee moved to Jiangxi which it saw as a secure area. In November, it proclaimed Jiangxi to be the Soviet Republic of China , an independent Communist-governed state. Although he

10269-457: The KMT and an Islamic cavalry militia before crossing the Min Mountains and Mount Liupan and reaching the Shenshi Soviet; only 7,000–8,000 had survived. The Long March cemented Mao's status as the dominant figure in the party. In November 1935, he was named chairman of the Military Commission. From this point onward, Mao was the Communist Party's undisputed leader, even though he would not become party chairman until 1943. Mao's troops arrived at

10432-446: The KMT earned him the suspicion of Li Li-san, his Hunan comrade. In late 1924, Mao returned to Shaoshan, perhaps to recuperate from an illness. He found that the peasantry were increasingly restless and some had seized land from wealthy landowners to found communes. This convinced him of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, an idea advocated by the KMT leftists but not the Communists. Mao and many of his colleagues also proposed

10595-552: The KMT off for 25 days while he left the camp at night to find reinforcements. He reunited with the decimated Zhu's army, and together they returned to Jinggangshan and retook the base. There they were joined by a defecting KMT regiment and Peng Dehuai 's Fifth Red Army. In the mountainous area they were unable to grow enough crops to feed everyone, leading to food shortages throughout the winter. In 1928, Mao met and married He Zizhen , an 18-year-old revolutionary who would bear him six children. In January 1929, Mao and Zhu evacuated

10758-411: The KMT, hoping to push its politics leftward. 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. Mao was a vocal anti-imperialist and in his writings he lambasted the governments of Japan, the UK and US, describing the latter as "the most murderous of hangmen". At the Third Congress of

10921-510: The Laws , as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as Darwin , Mill , Rousseau , and Spencer . Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people. He was inspired by Friedrich Paulsen , a neo-Kantian philosopher and educator whose emphasis on the achievement of a carefully defined goal as the highest value led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for

11084-412: The Marxist-Leninist theory of vanguardism , Mao believed that only the correct leadership of the Communist Party could advance China into socialism. Conversely, Mao also believed that mass movements and mass criticism were necessary in order to check the bureaucracy. Mao pushed the Party to organise campaigns to reform society and extend control. These campaigns were given urgency in October 1950, when

11247-405: The North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits. In January 1937, they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", that sent groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks. In May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation. Western reporters also arrived in

11410-406: The PRC's official romanisation system for Mandarin Chinese in 1958; the well-known booklet of Mao's political statements was officially entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in English translations. While the pinyin-derived spelling Mao Zedong is increasingly common, the Wade–Giles-derived spelling Mao Tse-tung continues to be used in modern publications to some extent. Mao Zedong

11573-511: The Party Committee that mandated its creation. Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution , formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution , was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve Chinese socialism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society . Though it failed to achieve its main objectives,

11736-625: The People's Republic of China, symbolically bringing the decades-long Chinese Civil War to a close. Remaining Republican forces fled to Taiwan , and continued to resist the People's Republic in various ways. Many soldiers of the Chinese Republicans were left in mainland China, and Mao Zedong launched the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries to eliminate these soldiers left behind, as well as elements of Chinese society viewed as potentially dangerous to Mao's new government. This

11899-663: The Plenum reflected a radical re-design of the party hierarchy. Liu and Deng kept their seats on the Politburo Standing Committee, but were sidelined from day-to-day party affairs. Lin Biao was elevated to become the CCP's number-two; Liu's rank went from second to eighth and was no longer Mao's heir apparent. Along with the top leadership losing power the entire national Party bureaucracy was purged. The extensive Organization Department , in charge of party personnel, virtually ceased to exist. The top officials in

12062-611: The Propaganda Department were sacked, with many of its functions folded into the CRG. The Little Red Book was the mechanism that led the Red Guards to commit to their objective as China's future. Quotes directly from Mao led to actions by the Red Guards in the views of other Maoist leaders. By December 1967, 350 million copies had been printed. One of these quotes was the famous line " Political power grows out of

12225-480: The Red Army broke through the KMT line on the Jiangxi Soviet's south-west corner at Xinfeng with 85,000 soldiers and 15,000 party cadres and embarked on the " Long March ". In order to make the escape, many of the wounded and the ill, as well as women and children, were left behind, defended by a group of guerrilla fighters whom the KMT massacred. The 100,000 who escaped headed to southern Hunan, first crossing

12388-621: The Red Army grew from 50,000 to 500,000. In August 1938, the Red Army formed the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army , which were nominally under the command of Chiang's National Revolutionary Army . In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the Hundred Regiments Offensive , in which 400,000 troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in

12551-677: The Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 70–80 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party. Mao graduated in June 1919, ranked third in the year. Mao moved to Beijing, where his mentor Yang Changji had taken a job at Peking University. Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome", securing him

12714-672: The Self-Study University, through which readers could gain access to revolutionary literature, housed in the premises of the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi , a Qing dynasty Hunanese philosopher who had resisted the Manchus. He joined the YMCA Mass Education Movement to fight illiteracy, though he edited the textbooks to include radical sentiments. He continued organising workers to strike against

12877-500: The Soviet Union would assist "genuine communists" who overthrew Mao and his "erroneous course". Chinese leadership also feared the increasing military conflict between the United States and North Vietnam , concerned that China's support would lead to the United States to seek out potential Chinese assets. In 1963, Mao launched the Socialist Education Movement , the Cultural Revolution's precursor. Mao set

13040-524: The Three Kingdoms and Water Margin . At age 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father united him in an arranged marriage to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu , thereby uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognise her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910 at 20 years old. Working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously and developed

13203-606: The U.S. sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the Dixie Mission , to the Chinese Communist Party. The American soldiers who were sent to the mission were favourably impressed. The party seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the Kuomintang. The soldiers confirmed to their superiors that the party was both strong and popular over a broad area. In the end of

13366-477: The USSR. In 1956, Khrushchev denounced his predecessor Josef Stalin and his policies , and began implementing economic reforms . Mao and many other CCP members opposed these changes, believing that they would damage the worldwide communist movement. Mao believed that Khrushchev was a revisionist , altering Marxist–Leninist concepts, which Mao claimed would give capitalists control of the USSR. Relations soured. The USSR refused to support China's case for joining

13529-646: The World , in which Mao charged that Khrushchev was a revisionist and risked capitalist restoration. Khrushchev's defeat by an internal coup d'état in 1964 contributed to Mao's fears, mainly because of his declining prestige after the Great Leap Forward. Other Soviet actions increased concerns about potential fifth columnists . As a result of the tensions following the Sino-Soviet split, Soviet leaders authorized radio broadcasts into China stating that

13692-513: The administration of Hunan Governor Zhao Hengti . Yet labour issues remained central. The successful and famous Anyuan coal mines strikes  [ zh ] (contrary to later Party historians) depended on both "proletarian" and "bourgeois" strategies. Liu Shaoqi and Li Lisan and Mao not only mobilised the miners, but formed schools and cooperatives and engaged local intellectuals, gentry, military officers, merchants, Red Gang dragon heads and even church clergy. Mao's labour organizing work in

13855-461: The barrel of a gun ." The passage continues: Revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy's poison but also purges us of our filth. Every just, revolutionary war is endowed with tremendous power and can transform many things or clear the way for their transformation. The Sino-Japanese war will transform both China and Japan; Provided China perseveres in the War of Resistance and in

14018-587: The base with 2,000 men and a further 800 provided by Peng, and took their armies south, to the area around Tonggu and Xinfeng in Jiangxi. The evacuation led to a drop in morale, and many troops became disobedient and began thieving; this worried Li Lisan and the Central Committee, who saw Mao's army as lumpenproletariat , that were unable to share in proletariat class consciousness . In keeping with orthodox Marxist thought, Li believed that only

14181-575: The bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Party, the government, the army, and various spheres of culture are a bunch of counter-revolutionary revisionists. Once conditions are ripe, they will seize political power and turn the dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Some of them we have already seen through; others we have not. Some are still trusted by us and are being trained as our successors, persons like Khrushchev for example, who are still nestling beside us. Later known as

14344-417: The class suspension nationwide. By early June, throngs of young demonstrators lined the capital's major thoroughfares holding giant portraits of Mao, beating drums, and shouting slogans. When the dismissal of Peng and the municipal party leadership became public in early June, confusion was widespread. The public and foreign missions were kept in the dark on the reason for Peng's ousting. Top Party leadership

14507-454: The conference, Liu, once a powerful moderate pundit, was placed under house arrest, then sent to a detention camp, where he was denied medical treatment and died in 1969. Deng was sent away for a period of re-education three times and was eventually sent to work in an engine factory in Jiangxi . Rebellion by party cadres accelerated after the conference. In Macau , rioting broke out during

14670-425: The corresponding government leader is responsible for implementing party policy and arranging the annual budget, as well as other everyday government matters and ceremonial tasks. The list of party chief levels is as follows: The Communist Party secretaries at the provincial level also often serve as the chair of the provincial people's congress. Generally, a top government official (the mayor, governor) will also hold

14833-467: The country from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao also served as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1943 until his death, and as the party's de facto leader from 1935. His theories, which he advocated as a Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism , are known as Maoism . Mao was the son of a peasant in Shaoshan , Hunan . He was influenced early in his life by

14996-430: The creation of his friend Chen Duxiu , a dean at Peking University . Although he was a supporter of Chinese nationalism , Chen argued that China must look to the west to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy. In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Zisheng ; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food. A popular student, in 1915 Mao

15159-524: The death of 20,000 Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine. From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including Philosophy of Revolution , which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge; Protracted Warfare , which dealt with guerrilla and mobile military tactics; and On New Democracy , which laid forward ideas for China's future. In 1944,

15322-603: The death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of counter-revolutionary activity, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods cannot suffice". In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the KMT's five-member Central Land Committee, urging peasants to refuse to pay rent. Mao led another group to put together a "Draft Resolution on the Land Question", which called for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in

15485-639: The death toll vary widely, typically ranging from 1–2 million. Red Guards sought to destroy the Four Olds (old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits), which often took the form of destroying historical artifacts, cultural and religious sites, and targeting others deemed to be representative of the Four Olds. Tens of millions were persecuted, including senior officials: most notably, president Liu Shaoqi , as well as Deng Xiaoping , Peng Dehuai , and He Long . Millions were persecuted for being members of

15648-430: The defence of China against Japanese expansionism, the Red Army was able to expand its area of control, eventually encompassing a population of 3 million. Mao proceeded with his land reform program. In November 1931 he announced the start of a "land verification project" which was expanded in June 1933. He also orchestrated education programs and implemented measures to increase female political participation. Chiang viewed

15811-709: The defensive. Peng, Wu Han's direct superior, was the head of the Five Man Group , a committee commissioned by Mao to study the potential for a cultural revolution. Peng Zhen, aware that he would be implicated if Wu indeed wrote an "anti-Mao" play, wished to contain Yao's influence. Yao's article was initially published only in select local newspapers. Peng forbade its publication in the nationally distributed People's Daily and other major newspapers under his control, instructing them to write exclusively about "academic discussion", and not pay heed to Yao's petty politics. While

15974-401: The doctrines in Chinese revolutionary movement. Becoming "more and more radical", Mao was initially influenced by Peter Kropotkin 's anarchism , which was the most prominent radical doctrine of the day. Chinese anarchists , such as Cai Yuanpei , Chancellor of Peking University, called for complete social revolution in social relations, family structure, and women's equality , rather than

16137-493: The domains which they reside. The Party Branch Secretary or Party Group Secretary (党组书记; dangzu shuji ) is a distinct office from that of the Party Committee Secretary. They do not have the elaborate organization and bureaucracy that is commonplace with a Party Committee. Unlike Party Committees, which report to parent Party Committees at a higher level of jurisdiction, Party Branches are responsible to

16300-715: The end of cooperation with the KMT, which was rejected by the Comintern representative Mikhail Borodin . In the winter of 1925, Mao fled to Guangzhou after his revolutionary activities attracted the attention of Zhao's regional authorities. There, he ran the 6th term of the KMT's Peasant Movement Training Institute from May to September 1926. The Peasant Movement Training Institute under Mao trained cadre and prepared them for militant activity, taking them through military training exercises and getting them to study basic left-wing texts. When party leader Sun Yat-sen died in May 1925, he

16463-435: The enemy avoids a battle, we attack. When the enemy retreats, we advance. — Mao's advice in combating the Kuomintang, 1928 In spring 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao's troops to southern Hunan, hoping to spark peasant uprisings. Mao was skeptical, but complied. They reached Hunan, where they were attacked by the KMT and fled after heavy losses. Meanwhile, KMT troops had invaded Jinggangshan, leaving them without

16626-553: The events of the 1911 Revolution and May Fourth Movement of 1919, supporting Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism . He later adopted Marxism–Leninism while working as a librarian at Peking University , and in 1921 was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. After the start of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and CCP in 1927, Mao led the failed Autumn Harvest Uprising and founded

16789-433: The first congress ignored Lenin's advice to accept a temporary alliance between the Communists and the "bourgeois democrats" who also advocated national revolution; instead they stuck to the orthodox Marxist belief that only the urban proletariat could lead a socialist revolution. Mao was party secretary for Hunan stationed in Changsha, and to build the party there he followed a variety of tactics. In August 1921, he founded

16952-500: The first deputy party chief position. A Deputy Party Secretary ( 党委副书记 ) assists in the work of the Party Secretary. In provincial and most prefecture-level jurisdictions, there are two deputy party chiefs. The higher-ranked deputy party chief is generally also concurrently the head of the government of the party committee's area of jurisdiction. The other deputy party chief is known as the zhuanzhi fushuji ( 专职副书记 ), literally, "Specifically-designated Deputy Party Secretary." Generally,

17115-712: The foundation of the PRC , a one-party state controlled by the CCP. He initiated campaigns of land redistribution and industrialisation , suppressed counter-revolutionaries , intervened in the Korean War , and began the Hundred Flowers and Anti-Rightist Campaigns . In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward , which aimed to transform China's economy from agrarian to industrial ; it resulted in Great Chinese Famine . In 1966, Mao initiated

17278-591: The founding of the People's Republic of China. During this period, the term was used interchangeably with "cultural construction" and referred to eliminating illiteracy in order to widen public participation in civic matters. This usage of "cultural revolution" continued through the 1950s and into the 1960s, and often involved drawing parallels to the May Fourth Movement or the Soviet cultural revolution of 1928–1931. On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong declared

17441-651: The growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement. In March 1927, Mao appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing Wang Jingwei leader. There, Mao played an active role in the discussions regarding the peasant issue, defending a set of "Regulations for the Repression of Local Bullies and Bad Gentry", which advocated

17604-713: The headquarters , and proclaimed that "to rebel is justified". Mass upheaval began in Beijing with Red August in 1966. Many young people, mainly students, responded by forming cadres of Red Guards throughout the country. A selection of Mao's sayings were compiled into the Little Red Book , which became revered within his cult of personality . In 1967, emboldened radicals began seizing power from local governments and party branches, establishing new revolutionary committees in their place. These committees often split into rival factions, precipitating armed clashes among

17767-532: The international communist movement, inspiring various Maoist organisations. During Mao's lifetime, the English-language media universally rendered his name as Mao Tse-tung, using the Wade–Giles system of transliteration though with the circumflex accent in the syllable Tsê dropped. Due to its recognizability, the spelling was used widely, even by the PRC's foreign ministry after Hanyu Pinyin became

17930-452: The liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage. In fall 1919, Mao organized a seminar in Changsha studying economic and political issues, as well as ways to unite the people, the feasibility of socialism, and issues regarding Confucianism. During this period, Mao involved himself in political work with manual laborers, setting up night schools and trade unions. In December 1919, Mao helped organise

18093-661: The majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", and strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution. His ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of mutual aid . Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of the liberal magazine New Hunan ( Xin Hunan ) and authored articles in popular local newspaper Ta Kung Pao . Several of these advocated feminist views, calling for

18256-430: The mental outlook of the whole of society. At present, our objective is to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic "authorities" and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform education, literature and art and all other parts of the superstructure not in correspondence with

18419-401: The mission, the contacts which the U.S. developed with the Chinese Communist Party led to very little. After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their diplomatic and military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the People's Liberation Army (PLA) led by Mao Zedong during the civil war and abandoned the idea of a coalition government which would include

18582-529: The most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the people, the country, and the party since the founding of the People's Republic." Given its broad scope and social impact, memories and perspectives of the Cultural Revolution are varied and complex in contemporary China. It is often referred to as the "ten years of chaos" ( 十年动乱 ; shí nián dòngluàn ) or "ten years of havoc" ( 十年浩劫 ; shí nián hàojié ). The terminology of cultural revolution appeared in communist party discourses and newspapers prior to

18745-595: The mountain ranges around Ma'anshan ), and together proceeded to Maoerhkai and then Gansu . Zhang and Mao disagreed over what to do; the latter wished to proceed to Shaanxi, while Zhang wanted to retreat west to Tibet or Sikkim , far from the KMT threat. It was agreed that they would go their separate ways, with Zhu De joining Zhang. Mao's forces proceeded north, through hundreds of kilometres of grasslands , an area of quagmire where they were attacked by Manchu tribesman and where many soldiers succumbed to famine and disease. Finally reaching Shaanxi, they fought off both

18908-469: The movement's most radical elements, fearing that the movement would spin out of control. In July, Mao, in Wuhan, crossed the Yangtze River, showing his vigor. He then returned from Wuhan to Beijing and criticized party leadership for its handling of the work-teams issue. Mao accused the work teams of undermining the student movement, calling for their full withdrawal on July 24. Several days later

19071-476: The movement, however. At the university, Mao was snubbed by other students due to his rural Hunanese accent and lowly position. 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 . Mao's time in Beijing ended in the spring of 1919, when he travelled to Shanghai with friends who were preparing to leave for France. He did not return to Shaoshan, where his mother

19234-556: The new paramount leader of China , replacing Mao's successor Hua Guofeng . Deng and his allies introduced the Boluan Fanzheng program and initiated reforms and opening of China , which, together with the New Enlightenment movement , gradually dismantled the ideology of Cultural Revolution. In 1981, the Communist Party publicly acknowledged numerous failures of the Cultural Revolution, declaring it "responsible for

19397-404: The new leadership followed a policy of open confrontation and conventional warfare. In doing so, the Red Army successfully defeated the first and second encirclements . Angered at his armies' failure, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the operation. He too faced setbacks and retreated to deal with the further Japanese incursions into China . As a result of the KMT's change of focus to

19560-524: The party leadership. On 1 August, the Eleventh Plenum of the 8th Central Committee was convened to advance Mao's radical agenda. At the plenum, Mao showed disdain for Liu, repeatedly interrupting him as he delivered his opening day speech. On July 28, Red Guard representatives wrote to Mao, calling for rebellion and upheaval to safeguard the revolution. Mao then responded to the letters by writing his own big-character poster entitled Bombard

19723-493: The philosopher Wang Fuzhi . In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding soldiers. 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. Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen , and with other young revolutionaries they formed

19886-435: The political movement of the 1950s that squarely targeted intellectuals, the new movement was focused on established party cadres, many of whom were part of the work teams. As a result, the work teams came under increasing suspicion as thwarting revolutionary fervor. Party leadership subsequently became divided over whether or not work teams should continue. Liu Shaoqi insisted on continuing work-team involvement and suppressing

20049-532: The press. Mao delivered his final blow to Peng at a high-profile Politburo meeting through loyalists Kang Sheng and Chen Boda . They accused Peng of opposing Mao, labeled the February Outline "evidence of Peng Zhen's revisionism", and grouped him with three other disgraced officials as part of the "Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang Anti-Party Clique". On 16 May, the Politburo formalized the decisions by releasing an official document condemning Peng and his "anti-party allies" in

20212-557: The pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, Zhang Jingyao , popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule. In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with He Shuheng and Deng Zhongxia , organising a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, Xiang River Review . Using vernacular language that would be understandable to

20375-681: The radicals . After the fall of Lin Biao in 1971, the Gang of Four became influential in 1972, and the Revolution continued until Mao's death in 1976, soon followed by the arrest of the Gang of Four. The Cultural Revolution was characterized by violence and chaos across Chinese society, including a massacre in Guangxi that included acts of cannibalism , as well as massacres in Beijing, Inner Mongolia , Guangdong , Yunnan , and Hunan . Estimates of

20538-456: The radicals who backed Mao's purge of the Communist party, and the conservatives who backed the moderate party establishment. The "support the left" policy was established in January 1967. Mao's policy was to support the rebels in seizing power; it required the PLA to support "the broad masses of the revolutionary leftists in their struggle to seize power." In March 1967, the policy was adapted into

20701-659: The realms of culture and religion. Historical sites throughout the country were destroyed. The damage was particularly pronounced in the capital, Beijing. Red Guards laid siege to the Temple of Confucius in Qufu , and other historically significant tombs and artifacts. Libraries of historical and foreign texts were destroyed; books were burned. Temples, churches, mosques, monasteries, and cemeteries were closed and sometimes converted to other uses, or looted and destroyed. Marxist propaganda depicted Buddhism as superstition, and religion

20864-556: The rejection of the KMT. Mao's response was to ignore them. He established a base in Jinggangshan City , an area of the Jinggang Mountains, where he united five villages as a self-governing state, and supported the confiscation of land from rich landlords, who were "re-educated" and sometimes executed. He ensured that no massacres took place in the region, and pursued a more lenient approach than that advocated by

21027-597: The river. Chiang flew into the area to lead his armies against Mao, but the Communists outmanoeuvred him and crossed the Jinsha River . Faced with the more difficult task of crossing the Tatu River , they managed it by fighting a battle over the Luding Bridge in May, taking Luding . In Moukung, Western Sichuan, they encountered the 50,000-strong CCP Fourth Front Army of Zhang Guotao (who had marched from

21190-423: The same day. In Heilongjiang, local party secretary Pan Fusheng seized power from the party organization under his own leadership. Some leaders even wrote the CRG asking to be overthrown. Mao Zedong Mao Zedong (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) and led

21353-416: The same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months." On 21 January 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in decisive battles against Mao's forces. In the early morning of 10 December 1949, PLA troops laid siege to Chongqing and Chengdu on mainland China , and Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland to Taiwan. Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China from

21516-408: The scene by " cleansing " powerful Beijing officials of questionable loyalty. His approach was not transparent, executed via newspaper articles, internal meetings, and by his network of political allies. In late 1959, historian and deputy mayor of Beijing Wu Han published a historical drama entitled Hai Rui Dismissed from Office . In the play, an honest civil servant , Hai Rui , is dismissed by

21679-594: The simple change in the form of government called for by earlier revolutionaries. He joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919. Paid a low wage, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven other Hunanese students, but believed that Beijing's beauty offered "vivid and living compensation". A number of his friends took advantage of the anarchist-organised Mouvement Travail-Études to study in France, but Mao declined, perhaps because of an inability to learn languages. Mao raised funds for

21842-503: The socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system. The implications of the Sixteen Points were far-reaching. It elevated what was previously a student movement to a nationwide mass campaign that would galvanize workers, farmers, soldiers and lower-level party functionaries to rise, challenge authority, and re-shape the superstructure of society. On 18 August in Beijing, over

22005-660: The strongest terms, disbanding his "Five Man Group", and replacing it with the Maoist Cultural Revolution Group (CRG). The Cultural Revolution can be divided into two main periods: The early phase was characterized by mass movement and political pluralization. Virtually anyone could create a political organization, even without party approval. Known as Red Guards, these organizations originally arose in schools and universities and later in factories and other institutions. After 1968, most of these organizations ceased to exist, although their legacies were

22168-826: The success of the Northern Expedition against the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Chiang ignored the orders of the Wuhan-based left KMT government and marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. As the Communists awaited Chiang's arrival, he loosed the White Terror , massacring 5,000 with the aid of the Green Gang . In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by Zhang Zuolin . That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and

22331-646: The surface, incredible industrialization, but also caused some of the worst famines in modern history, while still falling short of projected goals. The Great Leap Forward soon came to be seen as one of Mao's greatest mistakes, eventually costing him some of his official status in the Communist Party . In the early 1950s, the PRC and the Soviet Union (USSR) were the world's two largest communist states. Although initially they were mutually supportive, disagreements arose after Nikita Khrushchev took power in

22494-413: The travel expenses of Red Guards. At the rallies, Lin called for the destruction of the "Four Olds"; namely, old customs, culture, habits, and ideas. Some changes associated with the "Four Olds" campaign were mainly benign, such as assigning new names to city streets, places, and even people; millions of babies were born with "revolutionary" names. Other aspects were more destructive, particularly in

22657-415: The united front, the old Japan will surely be transformed into a new Japan and the old China into a new China, and people and everything else in both China and Japan will be transformed during and after the war. The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope

22820-419: The urban proletariat could lead a successful revolution, and saw little need for Mao's peasant guerrillas; he ordered Mao to disband his army into units to be sent out to spread the revolutionary message. Mao replied that while he concurred with Li's theoretical position, he would not disband his army nor abandon his base. Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to world revolution , believing that

22983-414: The victims were teachers who were attacked or killed by their own students. The first such victim was Bian Zhongyun , the deputy principal of Beijing Normal University Female Middle School , who was killed on 5 August by Red Guards following several hours of physical abuse and public humiliation. The leader of the Red Guards, who had organised on campus only days prior, was 19-year-old Song Binbin , who

23146-665: The villages". Proceeding to carry out a "Land Survey", he stated that anyone owning over 30 mou (four and a half acres), constituting 13% of the population, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary. Presenting his conclusions at the Enlarged Land Committee meeting, many expressed reservations, some believing that it went too far, and others not far enough. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented. Fresh from

23309-476: The way for disorder in the capital. On 25 May, under the guidance of Cao Yi'ou  [ zh ] —wife of Mao loyalist Kang Sheng— Nie Yuanzi , a philosophy lecturer at Peking University , authored a big-character poster along with other leftists and posted it to a public bulletin. Nie attacked the university's party administration and its leader Lu Ping. Nie insinuated that the university leadership, much like Peng, were trying to contain revolutionary fervor in

23472-402: Was a devout Buddhist who tried to temper her husband's strict attitude. Mao too became a Buddhist, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years. At age 8, Mao was sent to Shaoshan Primary School. Learning the value systems of Confucianism , he later admitted that he did not enjoy the classical Chinese texts preaching Confucian morals, instead favouring classic novels like Romance of

23635-531: Was alleged to have participated personally in the murder of Bian. At a mass rally held on 18 August, Song met Mao, and gifted him a Red Guard armband by tying it around his arm. In September, Shanghai experienced 704 suicides and 534 deaths; in Wuhan, 62 suicides and 32 murders occurred during the same period. Peng Dehuai was brought to Beijing to be publicly ridiculed. Between August and November 1966, eight mass rallies were held, drawing in 12 million people, most of whom were Red Guards. The government bore

23798-651: Was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui, daughter of Yang Changji, in the winter of 1920. The Chinese Communist Party was founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the Shanghai French Concession in 1921 as a study society and informal network. Mao set up a Changsha branch, also establishing a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps and

23961-521: Was born on 26 December 1893, near Shaoshan village in Hunan . His father, Mao Yichang , was a formerly impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. 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 sister/cousin, Zejian . Mao's mother, Wen Qimei ,

24124-574: Was bullied for his peasant background. In 1911, Mao began middle school in Changsha . Revolutionary sentiment was strong in the city, where there was widespread animosity towards Emperor Puyi 's absolute monarchy and many were advocating republicanism . The republicans' figurehead was Sun Yat-sen , an American-educated Christian who led the Tongmenghui society. In Changsha, Mao was influenced by Sun's newspaper, The People's Independence ( Minli bao ), and called for Sun to become president in

24287-479: Was caught off guard by the sudden protest wave and struggled with how to respond. After seeking Mao's guidance in Hangzhou , Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping decided to send in 'work teams'—effectively 'ideological guidance' squads of cadres—to the city's schools and People's Daily to restore some semblance of order and re-establish party control. The work teams had a poor understanding of student sentiment. Unlike

24450-526: Was decided to hold a central meeting, which began in Shanghai on 23 July 1921. The first session of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was attended by 13 delegates, Mao included. After the authorities sent a police spy to the congress, the delegates moved to a boat on South Lake near Jiaxing , in Zhejiang, to escape detection. Although Soviet and Comintern delegates attended,

24613-619: Was elected secretary of the Students Society. He organised the Association for Student Self-Government and led protests against school rules. Mao published his first article in New Youth in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution. He joined the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi ( Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she ), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate

24776-646: Was filmed and shown to approximately 100 million people in its first month of release. On 22 August, a central directive was issued to prevent police intervention in Red Guard activities, and those in the police force who defied this notice were labeled counter-revolutionaries. Central officials lifted restraints on violent behavior. Xie Fuzhi , the national police chief, often pardoned Red Guards for their "crimes". The campaign included incidents of torture, murder, and public humiliation. Many people who were indicted as counter-revolutionaries died by suicide. During Red August, 1,772 people were murdered in Beijing; many of

24939-418: Was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General Tan Yankai , a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organising the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganisation of the provincial administration, Mao

25102-467: Was looked upon as a means of hostile foreign infiltration, as well as an instrument of the ruling class. Clergy were arrested and sent to camps; many Tibetan Buddhists were forced to participate in the destruction of their monasteries at gunpoint. In October 1966, Mao convened a "Central Work Conference", mostly to enlist party leaders who had not yet adopted the latest ideology. Liu and Deng were prosecuted and begrudgingly offered self-criticism. After

25265-424: Was not involved in fighting or combat. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general Yuan Shikai . The monarchy was abolished, creating the Republic of China , but the monarchist Yuan became president. With the revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months as

25428-404: Was one of the earliest examples of mass arrests, detainments, and killings across all of China that would later be mirrored in the Cultural Revolution. The Great Leap Forward, similar to the Five-year plans of the Soviet Union , was Mao Zedong's proposal to make the newly created People's Republic of China an industrial superpower. Beginning in 1958, the Great Leap Forward did produce, at least on

25591-422: Was proclaimed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Mao's power was diminished, as his control of the Red Army was allocated to Zhou Enlai . Meanwhile, Mao recovered from tuberculosis . The KMT armies adopted a policy of encirclement and annihilation of the Red armies. Outnumbered, Mao responded with guerrilla tactics influenced by the works of ancient military strategists like Sun Tzu , but Zhou and

25754-450: Was reportedly "dispatched to a mental asylum in Moscow to make room" for Qing. Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorising. He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal. Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as

25917-417: Was still eclectic in his views. Mao visited Tianjin, Jinan , and Qufu , before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met Chen Duxiu , noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, Yi Peiji , a revolutionary and member of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which

26080-450: Was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek , who moved to marginalise the left-KMT and the Communists. Mao nevertheless supported Chiang's National Revolutionary Army , who embarked on the Northern Expedition attack in 1926 on warlords. In the wake of this expedition, peasants rose up, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising

26243-404: Was terminally ill. She died in October 1919 and her husband died in January 1920. On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing gathered at Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak resistance to Japanese expansion in China. Patriots were outraged at the influence given to Japan in the Twenty-One Demands in 1915, the complicity of Duan Qirui 's Beiyang government , and the betrayal of China in

26406-470: Was the first provincial level government overthrown. Provincial governments and many parts of the state and party bureaucracy were affected, with power seizures taking place. In the next three weeks, 24 more province-level governments were overthrown. "Revolutionary committees" were subsequently established, in place of local governments and branches of the Communist Party. For example, in Beijing, three separate revolutionary groups declared power seizures on

26569-461: Was through "the telescope and microscope of Mao Zedong Thought ." While the party leadership was relatively united in approving Mao's agenda, many Politburo members were not enthusiastic, or simply confused about the direction. The charges against party leaders such as Peng disturbed China's intellectual community and the eight non-Communist parties . After the purge of Peng Zhen, the Beijing Party Committee effectively ceased to function, paving

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