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117-538: There are two interpretations of the origin of the term "May Seventh Cadre School." According to the majority view, the term comes from Mao Zedong 's May Seventh Directive of 1966. The May Seventh Directive (also translated into English as the "May Seventh Instructions") was issued by Mao to Lin Biao and detailed Mao's views on basic socialist tenets. Eight days later, the CCP Central Committee forwarded

234-552: 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

351-605: 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

468-609: 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

585-553: 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

702-568: 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

819-450: A broader school which would provide opportunities for political study, agricultural work, and mass production. In Mao's view, these activities would integrate the people and the military, enabling millions of troops to also advance civilian activities. According to Mao, workers should take production as their first priority but should likewise be trained in military affairs and culture, and should take an active role in political matters such as

936-468: 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

1053-414: 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

1170-571: 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

1287-587: 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 ),

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1404-717: 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

1521-726: 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

1638-741: 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 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

1755-536: 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

1872-759: 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

1989-625: A study by the Committee to Protect Journalists . The People's Daily also maintains agreements with foreign newspapers to republish its content. The People's Daily is published by the People's Daily News Agency, a ministerial-level institution. The agency is also responsible for the publication of the nationalist tabloid Global Times . The People's Daily employs "writing task groups" ( Chinese : 写作小组 ; pinyin : xiězuò xiǎozǔ ) of various staff to compose editorial pieces to signal

2106-647: 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 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

2223-622: Is increasingly common, the Wade–Giles-derived spelling Mao Tse-tung continues to be used in modern publications to some extent. Mao Zedong 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,

2340-512: Is rather infrequent, means that the government has reached a final decision on an issue. During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre , the People's Daily editorial of 26 April , which condemned "unlawful parades and demonstrations," marked a significant moment in the newspaper's history. The editorial increased tension between the government and protesters, and top CCP leaders argued about whether to revise it. An article that compiles

2457-523: 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 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

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2574-733: 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

2691-578: The Four Clean-ups Movement . Farmers and students should likewise be involved in broader matters than agricultural production and traditional academic study. Thus while it did not specifically concern itself with the training of cadre or rehabilitation of wayward cadre, the May Seventh Directive broadly advocates for a polytechnical culture. An alternative view is that May Seventh Cadre Schools take their name from that of

2808-510: 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

2925-598: 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

3042-788: 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 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

3159-819: 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 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

3276-486: The People's Daily has been under direct control of the CCP's top leadership. Deng Tuo and Wu Lengxi served as editor-in-chief from 1948 to 1958 and 1958–1966, respectively, but the paper was in fact controlled by Mao Zedong 's personal secretary Hu Qiaomu . The newspaper is the official "mouthpiece" (喉舌) of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party . It is often viewed as most representative of

3393-660: The People's Daily launched a commercial software service called Renmin Shenjiao (People's Proofreader) that provides outsourced content censorship. The People's Daily also provides artificial intelligence companies in China with training data that CCP leaders consider permissible. The People's Daily also maintains a multilingual internet presence; and established the People's Daily Online (人民网) in 1997. The website of People's Daily includes content in Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and English. In comparison to

3510-677: The People's Daily stated that the novel coronavirus had "multiple origins." In November 2020, the People's Daily published a claim that COVID-19 was "imported" into China. In January 2021, the People's Daily inaccurately attributed deaths in Norway to the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine . In 2020, the United States Department of State designated the People's Daily a foreign mission , thereby requiring it to disclose more information about its operations in

3627-470: 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

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3744-564: The State Council in February 1979. 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 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

3861-724: 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

3978-706: 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

4095-516: 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

4212-573: 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

4329-510: 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

4446-920: The 1970s, debates occurred over how to balance book learning and manual labor at May Seventh Cadre Schools. Proponents of greater focus on manual labor cited Mao's May Seventh Directive, while proponents of greater focus on theoretical study cited a later directive by Mao to "study conscientiously, [and] become expert in Marxism." Ultimately, manual labor remained the core focus of May Seventh Cadre Schools countrywide while some schools did incorporate more theoretical study. The institutional status of May Seventh Cadre Schools became uncertain after Mao's death. On November 9, 1978, People's Daily reported that Beijing and Shanghai authorities were exempting technical and scientific cadre from being required to attend May Seventh Cadre Schools which focused primarily on manual labor. The May Seventh Cadre Schools were officially abolished by

4563-503: 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

4680-591: 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

4797-671: 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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4914-675: 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

5031-575: 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

5148-561: 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

5265-790: 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

5382-460: 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,

5499-400: 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

5616-440: 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

5733-452: 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

5850-457: 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

5967-446: 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

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6084-552: 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

6201-411: 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

6318-510: 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

6435-412: 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

6552-405: 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

6669-416: 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

6786-410: 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

6903-440: 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

7020-410: 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

7137-460: 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

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7254-409: 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

7371-513: 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

7488-418: The amount of official authoritativeness they contain by design – from the top. For example, although an opinion piece is unlikely to contain views opposed to those of the government, it may express a viewpoint, or it may contain a debate that is under consideration and reflect only the opinions of the writer: an editorial trial balloon to assess internal public opinion. By contrast, an official editorial, which

7605-464: 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

7722-507: The boys Zemin and Zetan , as well as an adopted sister/cousin, Zejian . Mao's mother, Wen Qimei , 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

7839-436: 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 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

7956-430: 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

8073-517: The creation of the first such cadre school on May 7, 1968, they were established throughout China, and nearly every province had them. They became prominent topics in Chinese journals and newspapers and a feature of Chinese political and public life during the Cultural Revolution. During this period, they were acclaimed for their role in countering bureaucratism. Between 1968 and 1976, millions of people attended May Seventh Cadre Schools. These included many Communist Party officials and cadre who had resisted

8190-420: 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,

8307-540: 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

8424-430: 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

8541-587: The disconnect between the people and the bureaucracy. Among the Maoist prescriptions for addressing this "bureaucratism" was through requiring officials and other intellectual workers to participate regularly in labor, based on the rationale that such participation would prevent them from becoming "divorced from the masses." May Seventh Cadre Schools were an institutionalized means of implementing this concept. Generally, those assigned to May Seventh Cadre Schools spent six months to two years at these rural communes. After

8658-401: 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

8775-456: The document to all party members with the note, "The letter Comrade Mao Zedong wrote to Comrade Lin Biao is a historically important document. This is a new development in Marxism and Leninism ." Recalling the experience of the revolutionary base areas during the Second Sino-Japanese War , Mao wrote that the People's Liberation Army should not only focus on military matters, but should serve as

8892-715: 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

9009-435: 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

9126-402: The epidemic domestically while "presenting AIDS as a relatively innocuous social problem for the country." A 2013 study of the People's Daily coverage of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak reported that it "regurgitated triumph and optimism" and framed the outbreak as an "opportunity to showcase China's scientific achievements, and the strength of national spirits, as well as the wise leadership of

9243-433: 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

9360-541: The first such cadre school, which was established on May 7, 1968. In this regard, academic Sing-Nan Fen observes that unlike the May Seventh Directive, a directive issued by Mao on October 4, 1968, addresses cadre training specifically: Sending the masses of cadres to do manual work gives them an excellent opportunity to study once again; this should be done by all cadres except those who are too old, too weak, ill or disabled. Cadres at work should also go group by group to do manual work. The Cultural Revolution sought to address

9477-564: 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

9594-692: 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 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

9711-452: 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

9828-500: The mainstream perspective of China's government. A large number of articles devoted to a political figure, idea, or geographic focus is often taken as a sign that the mentioned official or subject is rising. Editorials in the People's Daily are regarded both by foreign observers and Chinese readers as authoritative statements of official government policy. Distinction is made between editorials, commentaries, and opinions. Although all must be government approved, they differ sharply on

9945-661: 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

10062-401: 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

10179-630: The most important editorials was released by the People's Daily during the student movement. An analysis of the wording of all the issues of the People's Daily from 1995 to 2000 was used in the writing of The First Series of Standardized Forms of Words with Non-standardized Variant Forms . The People's Daily maintains a unit called People's Data that conducts overseas social media data collection and analysis for police, judicial authorities, CCP organizations. People's Data also has data sharing agreements in place with various companies such as DiDi and Temu 's parent company Pinduoduo . In 2022,

10296-595: 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

10413-531: 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

10530-404: 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

10647-499: The original Chinese version, the foreign-language version offers less in-depth discussion of domestic policies and affairs and more editorials about China's foreign policies and motives. The People's Daily in recent years has been expanding on overseas social media platforms. It has millions of followers on its Facebook page and its accounts on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. An unusually high proportion of its followers are virtually inactive and are likely to be fake users, according to

10764-423: The party and effective measures to protect the lives of ordinary citizens." In February 2020, the People's Daily published an article stating that the novel coronavirus "did not necessarily originate in China." In March 2020, the online insert of the People's Daily , distributed by The Daily Telegraph , published an article stating that Traditional Chinese medicine "helps fight coronavirus." In May 2020,

10881-469: 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 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

10998-493: 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

11115-472: The policies of the Cultural Revolution. Historian Maurice Meisner writes, "Tilling virgin lands and living a spartan life for several years, it was hoped, would cure them of their bureaucratic habits before they were returned to their official posts." May Seventh Cadre Schools were thus intended as a means to ease tensions between the masses and the CCP. At May Seventh Cadre Schools, the day

11232-557: 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

11349-556: 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

11466-597: 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

11583-416: 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

11700-453: The significance of certain pieces or their relationship to the official views of the CCP. These groups are published under "signatures" (i.e., pen names : 署名 shǔmíng ) that may correspond with the topic and weight of a piece, and what specific government or CCP body is backing it, often with homophonous references to their purpose. During the AIDS epidemic , the People's Daily downplayed

11817-594: 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

11934-826: 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

12051-419: 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

12168-665: 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

12285-541: The war. People%27s Daily The People's Daily ( Chinese : 人民日报 ; pinyin : Rénmín Rìbào ) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple languages. The paper was established on 15 June 1948 and was published in Pingshan County, Hebei , until its offices were moved to Beijing in March 1949. Ever since its founding,

12402-651: 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

12519-574: 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

12636-526: 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,

12753-408: Was divided between productive labor and Marxist study. Manual labor was the main point of emphasis at May Seventh Cadre Schools. Manual labor was emphasized not just for its productive value, but also because it was seen as a tempering influence or mechanism for personal transformation. After 1969, May Seventh Cadre Schools began placing an increased emphasis on the study of communist doctrine. In

12870-778: 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

12987-474: 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

13104-479: 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

13221-526: 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

13338-450: 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

13455-417: 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

13572-520: 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

13689-527: 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

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