Early life

Mao Zedong was born on December 26, 1893, in the village of Shaoshan in the Hunan Province of China. He grew up in a fairly successful peasant family. When he was a teenager his parents forced him to leave school and work on the family farm. In an act of rebellion, he left home to continue his studies. Mao then learned about new political and cultural ideas from the West. In 1911 he joined a revolutionary army fighting to overthrow the ruling Qing, or Manchu, Dynasty. When the fighting ended and a new republic was established the following year Mao left the army and continued his education. He eventually enrolled at Beijing University.

Creation of the Chinese Communist Party

While at the university, Mao became interested in the ideas of Communism. In a Communist system, property and goods are owned by the government. In theory, all citizens share the common wealth according to their needs. In the years after the republic was established in China many different groups fought for control of the country. As a result, little progress was made in addressing the country's problems. Mao and others believed that Communism could help China develop faster. In 1921 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was formed, and Mao became an active member. In 1924 the CCP joined forces with the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, to bring about change in the country.

Fight for control of China

In the mid-1920s Mao returned to the village of Shaoshan, where he saw peasants taking part in political protests. He began to think that he could rally the peasant class in support of Communism. Mao then planned to start a Communist revolution by organizing the peasants into associations and an army. During this same time, a new leader named Chiang Kai-shek took control of the Nationalist Party. The Nationalists turned against Mao and the Communists as Mao continued to rally the peasants.

Mao and his troops, called the Red Army, fought the Nationalists in the countryside, surrounding a number of cities. In 1934, however, the Red Army was driven out of its base. The Communists then set off toward northwestern China in what is called the Long March. By 1935 Mao controlled the CCP, though he did not gain formal leadership over the party until the early 1940s.

After Japan invaded China in 1937, the Communists and the Nationalists joined forces to fight the Japanese. Japan was defeated in 1945, at the end of World War II. The Communists and Nationalists then began fighting each other for control of China. By this time a huge number of Chinese peasants supported Mao's effort. They encircled and captured Chinese cities. In 1949 Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists were defeated and fled to the island of Taiwan. That same year Mao took control of the country and declared the formation of the People's Republic of China. His title as ruler of China was chairman of the People's Republic.

Mao as a leader

After his victory over the Nationalists, Mao was determined to introduce his revolutionary ideas in China. Other members of his party, however, disagreed with his plans for transforming China's economic and political systems. As a result, Mao could not achieve the total control in China that Communist dictator Joseph Stalin did in the Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, Mao began to pursue his ideas more forcefully in the mid-1950s. He started programs that were aimed at increasing the pace of economic development in China. His famous campaign of 1958–60 was known as the Great Leap Forward. It was an attempt to organize China's huge population into groups to work together in agriculture or small industries. Because of the unrealistic demands the program put on people, the Great Leap Forward was unsuccessful. Twenty million people died of starvation as a result. Other Communist Party leaders came forward to create policies to fix the problems caused by the Great Leap Forward.

Cultural Revolution

Mao stayed out of the public eye for much of the period from 1960 to 1966. Many people believed he was dying or had died. In 1966, however, he returned to the public life with a program called the Cultural Revolution. It was meant to inspire young people to be enthusiastic about Communism. To accomplish this goal, Mao shut down China's schools. He formed groups of young people called Red Guards who punished people who seemed to disagree with him. People were required to destroy items, such as paintings, jewelry, and furniture, that came from pre-Communist times. Many important historical and cultural artifacts were destroyed. In addition, Mao banned some of his party members so that he could take more power. The changes brought by the Cultural Revolution weakened the Communist Party, stopped progress in education and research, and left the economy struggling.

Mao died on September 9, 1976. The Cultural Revolution was officially ended in 1977. It took years for China to recover from the setbacks it created.