Communist revolutionary and founding father of the People's Republic of China.

Commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), he was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People`s Republic of China. A prolific writer of political and philosophical literature, Mao published poems in classical forms starting in his youth and his abilities as a poet contributed to his image in China after he came to power in 1949.The son of a peasant farmer, Mao Tse-tung was born in the village of Shao Shan, Hunan province in China. Polotically active from an early age at 27 Mao attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai, in July 1921.  Within two years he had been elected to the Central Committee of the party at its Third Congress. 

From 1931 to 1934, Mao helped established the Chinese Soviet Republic in SE China, and was elected as the chairman. 

Starting in October 1934 and under Mao`s leadership, "The Long March" began – a retreat from the SE to NW China. In 1937, Japan opened a full war of aggression against China, which gave the Chinese Communist Party cause to unite with the nationalist forces of the Kuomintang. After defeating the Japanese, in an ensuing civil war the Communists defeated the Kuomintang, and established the People’s Republic of China, in October 1949. 

Mao served as Chairman of the Chinese People’s Republic until after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, in 1959. Still chariman of the Communist Party, in May 1966 Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution. He continued to serve as Party chairman until his death in 1976.

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