Thinkers Timeline

Mao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. He founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 and ruled it until his death in 1976. He was born on 26 December 1893 in Shaoshan, a village in Hunan province. His father was a rural grain dealer who had become relatively well-off. Mao did farm work as a boy, left an arranged marriage, and moved to the provincial capital Changsha to study. China at the time was in crisis. The old imperial system collapsed in 1911. Foreign powers had humiliated the country. Warlords controlled many regions. Millions lived in extreme poverty. Young Mao read widely and met revolutionary ideas. While working at Peking University library in 1918, he was introduced to Marxism. In 1921, he was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party. A civil war followed between the Communists and the Nationalist Party led by Chiang Kai-shek. In 1934-35 Mao led the Long March, an 8,000-kilometre retreat that saved the Communist Party from destruction. By the end of World War II, his forces had grown strong. He defeated the Nationalists in 1949. On 1 October 1949 he stood atop Tiananmen Gate in Beijing and proclaimed the People's Republic of China. He ruled for twenty-seven years. He launched huge campaigns: land reform, the Great Leap Forward (1958-62), and the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Some brought great changes. Others brought disaster. He met US President Nixon in 1972, ending China's isolation from the West. He died in Beijing on 9 September 1976, aged 82.