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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.