There was a huge crowd waiting to see the mangos. They wanted to reach out and touch them, smell them out. The Beijing Textile Factory came to a halt on that August day in 1968. Hundreds of people filed in silence to the beautifully adorned altar where Mao Zedong had placed his gift. When the employees realized that Mao had really brought them a mango, they bent down before it as a show of their profound gratitude.
They gathered again a few days later. The employees once again formed a queue and waited. This time, a big pot of water was waiting for them upfront, and every one of them got a teaspoon. The liquid could have a hint of mango flavor if you let it linger on your tongue for a while. There was also a whiff of moldiness.
A mango parade. The fruit cult was a boon for the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department. Massive papier-mache mangos were wheeled through Beijing as part of the National Day celebration on October 1, 1968.
Many Chinese workers grew to associate the free mangos that Mao gave them with his dedication to the working class.
Mangos became a symbol of the “Great Chairman’s” righteousness, toured the nation like pop singers, were promoted as products, and were worshiped like relics during the brief but bizarre chapter of Mao Zedong’s deadly Cultural Revolution that started in the summer of 1968. Despite the reality that most of them were only dummies.
A bloody decade of torture and killing
Soldiers on the Chinese border examine a wax mango dummy. As this fruit had never been seen in China before, it piqued the interest of many locals. (Credit: Museum Rietberg)
Ten years of mass killing and torture had been unleashed by Mao Zedong’s proclamation of the start of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966. He urged students and schoolchildren to destroy the existing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) structure on purpose so as to build a new one. Using acts of violence against dissidents, traditional cultural places, and religious organizations, the “Red Guards,” as the student groups dubbed themselves, spread “the Red Terror” across China.
The country was on the verge of civil war as “Red Guards” fought violent power battles with one another. Mao was unable to bring them together, so in the summer of 1968, he dissolved the “Red Guards” and established workers’ propaganda squads to carry out the Cultural Revolution in their stead.
When the members of the workers’ and peasants’ propaganda squad took back control of the Tsinghua University from the Red Guards in 1968. Mao rewarded them with 40 mangos.
In an effort to remove the Red Guards from Beijing’s illustrious Tsinghua University, he sent 30,000 manufacturing employees there on July 27. With spears and sulfuric acid, they fought back, killing five and injuring 731. The Red Guards were eventually overwhelmed and surrendered because of the large number of employees.
On August 4, 1968, the foreign minister of Pakistan, Mian Arshad, presented a box of mangos to Mao Zedong during a meeting. Mao decided to reward the worker soldiers at Tsinghua University by presenting them with 40 mango fruits.
Funding for psychedelic fruit consumption
Workers at a Beijing Textile Factory celebrate one of Mao’s mangos in October 1968. (Credit: Rainer Wolfsberger)
Only a small percentage of Chinese people were familiar with mangos. Wang Xiaoping, a contemporaneous witness, spoke about the fruit in 2013: “A few who were very well informed stated it was an extraordinarily rare and valuable fruit, like the mushroom of immortality, […] yet no one had the least notion what this fruit looked like.”
The reception of Mao’s gift was just as enthusiastic. The official party publication Renmin Ribao reported about the euphoria in Beijing on August 7, 1968.
Even though they were typically only wax dummies, mangos transported by special train to the provinces were sometimes anticipated by hundreds of thousands of people.
Almost immediately, a crowd formed around the attendees. They yelled and sang with unbridled fervor. Their eyes welled up with tears, and they prayed over and again that the Great Leader and Chairman Mao may have a long and healthy life. To disseminate the good news, they assembled work brigades and planned a variety of celebrations to last all night.
The propaganda coup was successful since the mangos were sent from the university to all the factories whose employees had participated in the July 27 coup. They saw the mangos as a sign of Mao’s approval and the end of the “Red Terror.” They were literally able to get their propaganda message out to the populace because of this.
To ridicule a mango is to face the death sentence
Soon, factories in Beijing started mass-producing fake mangos like this one so that they could give one to every worker.
Mao’s personal physician, Li Zhisui, said in his 1994 memoirs that when the arrival of the mango was celebrated at the Beijing Textile Factory, “the fruit was sealed in wax, hoping to preserve it for posterity.” Unfortunately, the decaying mango became immediately apparent. As a practical matter, the Revolutionary Committee decided to boil the spoiled fruit in a huge vat. Next, “each worker drank a teaspoon of the water in which the holy mango had been cooked,” as Li puts it.
Li claims that when Mao found out about the workers’ reverence, “he began laughing.” When seen in the context of Mao’s political career, this looks callous now, because just a few years earlier, he had precipitated a famine (the Great Chinese Famine) with the “Great Leap Forward” campaign that killed millions of Chinese and pushed others to cannibalism.
During the height of the Mao Zedong personality cult, buttons bearing images of the “Great Chairman” were widely distributed. From 1966 to 1971, China reportedly manufactured between 2.5 and 5 billion units.
Mangos were responsible for Mao’s rise to prominence in 1968, and he was eventually worshipped for them. Many manufacturers used formaldehyde to preserve their mangos, which were supplied by hospitals. During an interview in February 2016, Zhang Kui revealed that wax mangos, each with its own glass shrine, were created to give to each worker. Numerous fake mangos ended up in Chinese homes by the thousands.
Although many places of worship were demolished during the Cultural Revolution, a new path was being forged out of a yearning for spirituality. According to Li Zhisui, mangos were elevated to the status of holy relics. A warning was given to anyone who handled the waxed mango shrine improperly. According to the Daily Telegraph, in 2013, a dentist from a tiny community was hanged for deliberate disparagement after he compared a mango to a sweet potato.
Mango cigarettes are a hit
Two packs of Chinese mango cigarettes. In 1969, the Mango brand was the most sought after by Chinese smokers for lighting up a smoldering stalk. The company hoped to cash in on the fruit’s reputation as a panacea for longevity. (Credit: Museum Rietberg, Switzerland)
Mango mania quickly spread across the nation. Since September, all provinces have been receiving shipments of phony fruit. The mangos were treated like rock stars and sent on a tour on special trains. On September 19th, half a million people waited in Chengdu for one of the wax mangos to arrive, just as they had in other places.
The leading manufacturer of machine tools in Beijing even hired a plane to transport a mango to its Shanghai counterpart factory. The automobile that transported the fruit to the airport was followed by a crowd of observers and drummers. In Guizhou province, hundreds of armed peasants battled to the death over a black-and-white photocopy of a mango.
The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department capitalized on the increasing popularity of mangoes by creating a wide range of mango-themed goods.
The CCP’s propaganda machine benefited from the global mango frenzy. It mass-produced items including mango-patterned enamelware and washbowls, mango-inspired brooches and dressing tables, and mango-scented soap. There was a market for everything from mango cigarettes to mango-themed bedding. In addition, huge papier-mache mangos were wheeled through the streets on October 1 as part of the national holiday parade.
In little over a year and a half, the popularity of the mango cult began to decline. The disillusionment with the prospect of a world free of fear may have been a contributing factor. There was probably nothing more to it than mangos simply losing their exotic allure. Some employees even found a new use for the waxed mangos by turning them into candles.
A mango movie in 1976
Large parades honoring Mao Zedong’s mangos were held all around China in October 1968, not just in Beijing.
The ailing Chairman Mao, now in his dotage, made fewer public appearances as his health deteriorated. An effort to resurrect the mango cult in 1974 failed when Imelda Marcos, the wife of the Philippine dictator, delivered a box of mangos on a state visit to Mao, who was already wildly ill. Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, had previously supplied fruit to the Chinese laborers and did so again. The expected excitement, however, never materialized; the mango’s formerly potent symbolic significance had long ago worn off.
Jiang made one last effort. She financed the 1975 film The Song of the Mango, about twins who join opposing “Red Guards” at the height of the mango craze. They came to terms with the fact that they must still acknowledge the proletariat’s authority, and, as a result, they welcomed the arrival of mangos with a joyous procession through Beijing’s streets.
As a member of the influential “Gang of Four,” Jiang was detained by the Communist Party’s left-wing within a week of the film’s 1976 debut, and all copies of the mango film were banned. Unfortunately, Mao did not survive to witness the mango show’s debut. His death occurred in Beijing on September 9, 1976, not much earlier.
Mao’s tomb was the subject of an architectural contest. The idea that the chairman should be buried under a massive concrete mango stood out.
Raging mad, Jiang Qing yelled into the microphone. Her eyes sparkled spitefully from behind her rimmed spectacles as she repeatedly clenched her fist. The Cultural Revolution in China was initiated by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966. Jiang Qing, his wife, also had ambitions of seizing power. After proclaiming herself Mao’s “mouthpiece,” the lady promptly unleashed a public campaign of devastation.
Born in 1914, Jiang Qing tried her hand at acting first. In the 1930s, she became active in the communist movement and by 1939, she was married to Mao Zedong. She was a leading figure in the new administration that emerged after the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and she was much admired for her radical views and harsh stance on a variety of topics.
In addition to persecuting intellectuals, artists, and others who were seen as threats to the state, she was also responsible for the wholesale destruction of cultural and historical relics. Traditional operas and plays were forbidden, and books were burned at the stake. Many scholars, academics, and educators were publicly flogged to death.
Originally named Li Shumeng, Jiang Qing had been married to Mao for over 30 years at that point. Third-rate actress or not, her extramarital escapades were enough to make waves in Shanghai. Eventually, she had even Chairman Mao under her spell at the Communist Party headquarters in Yan’an. That day, all the other ladies in the room had short hairstyles and combat attire. Jiang Qing, on the other hand, decided to put on cosmetics and go dancing because she wanted to have fun.
Jiang Qing on the cover of a film magazine.
The other comrades found the young actress to be an annoyance. But Mao was already in her grasp. He ended his marriage to his first wife and married the stunning beauty in 1939. Jiang Qing, which translates to “green river,” was the name Mao chose for her. Mao was about twice her age since she was just 24.
Jiang Qing actually looked up to Mao like he was her real father. Her biological father was an alcoholic who was aggressive toward his children. She has been looking for acceptance ever since. She used every means necessary to get other people’s attention.
Mao’s betrayal
Jiang Qing’s agreement to the marriage was a huge bargaining chip for the communists in Yan’an. Together, she and her husband were banned from making public appearances for a minimum of two decades. She was also forbidden from engaging in any kind of politics. At least after then, dancing was tolerated at the Communist headquarters. During that, they also played a few love songs from Hollywood movies. But her husband, Mao, didn’t give a hoot about her. He slept with other ladies instead.
As a result of this humiliation, Jiang Qing acquired a ravenous appetite for power and a deep-seated hatred of her female rivals. She was not cut out to be Mao’s submissive second wife, particularly as Mao increasingly ignored her. Her feelings had long ago faded by the time the 1950s rolled around.
But there was nothing she could do; she was trapped. Beijing was her ultimate home. And she was stuck in her marriage to Mao Zedong, for better or worse.
A Cultural Revolution in retaliation
Jiang advocating the arts during the Cultural Revolution, carrying Mao’s Little Red Book, as seen on a poster.
However, Mao soon found that Jiang Qing was a useful tool in consolidating his influence in the state. His attempt to rapidly industrialize China had failed miserably. Up to 40 million people perished in the Great Chinese Famine caused by the “Great Leap Forward” effort in 1958. As a result, Mao stepped down from his presidency, while he remained a powerful figure behind the scenes.
During the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing was supposed to assist Mao to destroy his enemies. Qing was a key figure in the radical group known as the Gang of Four. She realized her time had arrived to emerge into the political limelight as Mao’s ally. She did this by obliterating the heritage that had once meant so much to her.
She said that anybody who appreciated classical forms of art, including opera, theater, music, and movies, was not a worthy communist. In the early 1960s, she started writing “model operas.” In each and every one of these dramas, the communist heroes ultimately prevailed over the capitalist antagonists. However, she reportedly kept watching Hollywood movies behind closed doors, as reported by witnesses in the present day.
“Sex is engaging in the first rounds”
The picture of Mao with a young Jiang Qing in Yan’an, 1940s.
Jiang Qing’s absolute dominance over Chinese culture finally earned her the respect and acclaim she had long craved. Even when Mao’s interest waned, she nonetheless continued what she was doing. “Sex is engaging in the first rounds, but what really sustains attention, in the long run, is power,” Qing offered her thoughts on the matter.
At Mao and Jiang Qing’s orders, the “Red Guards” terrorized the populace. A lot of people who used to be “comrades” but had fallen on hard times were put to death by the couple’s Summary Courts. By 1976, it was believed that two million individuals had been killed in these persecution efforts.
Ye Yonglie, a Chinese biographer, admits, “I once called Jiang Qing a ‘goddess of vengeance.’” In every aspect of her life, she was petty and vengeful. When she gained control, she made amends to all of her creditors.
White-boned demon
Jiang Qing’s blind animosity extended to the wife of Liu Shaoqi, who succeeded Mao as head of state in 1959. In Beijing, Wang Guangmei was shown to an angry crowd while dressed in the same outfit and high heels she had worn on a state visit. The ping pong balls were strung together to form a necklace that she wore around her neck. Wang Guangmei spent the next twelve years behind bars after her husband passed away while in police custody.
Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s widow, is shown here on December 5, 1980, sitting in the defendant’s box during her trial for crimes committed during the deadly Cultural Revolution that swept China from 1966 to 1976.
Even though she was widely despised, “Madame Mao” (Jiang Qing) rose through the ranks to become the first female member of the Communist Party’s ruling Politburo. She had hoped to succeed in her late husband’s position in the office, but that did not happen. Jiang Qing fell prey to her enemies after Mao’s death on September 9, 1976, the most prominent of whom was Deng Xiaoping, who would control China until 1997.
The former first lady was now widely seen as a “white-boned demon” by the general public. She was found guilty of many things, including murder, and condemned to death in a high-profile trial that was seen by millions across the world on television in 1981. However, the punishment was reduced from death to life in prison in 1983 because of the sensitivity involved in executing Mao’s widow.
Jiang Qing’s whole life was spent obeying Mao Zedong, and she stood trial in front of 35 judges, all of whom found her guilty. “I was Chairman Mao’s dog. What he said to bite, I bit.”
Jiang Qing was transferred from jail to house arrest in 1991. Cancer debilitated her and left her hopeless. For her, the country she had controlled was now an alien place. She made a noose out of handkerchiefs and hung herself in her bathtub ten days later.
As a result of the revolution, China is now a unified nation, no longer subject to the Western dominance that had been a source of turmoil since the late 19th century. But the conflicts inside Mao Zedong’s (1893–1976) ideology—between Marxist philosophy and a denial of modernity, between the building of a totalitarian regime and the wish to see the people rule themselves via a continual kind of activism—led to actual disasters. As a result, the Great Leap Forward sent the nation into the worst famine of the 20th century, which directly resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people. The Cultural Revolution rapidly deteriorated into a bloody civil war. But even now, some thirty years after his death, the man who dubbed himself “The Great Helmsman” continues to reap the rewards of the personality cult he created. It is still difficult to tell the difference between the mythic fate of a legendary politician and the actual life of an authoritarian dictator.
Mao Zedong as a young man: From privileged peasantry to communist activism
Mao Zedong in 1927.
On December 26, 1893, in the town of Shaoshan, Hunan Province, west-central China, Mao Zedong entered the world. He was raised by a prosperous family of peasants. Nationalist ideals abounded in his locality, much as they did in China, which was experiencing a crisis at the same time. Mao Zedong, all 1.80 meters of him, wanted to join the nationalist army when he was eighteen years old. But the trial period ends up being too short, and he decides to enroll in Changsha’s standard school instead.
There was evidence to suggest that a young Mao had conflicts with authority figures, but this did not prevent him from graduating and becoming an assistant librarian at Beijing University in 1919. Upon moving to a city, a hub of learning, he educated himself independently in Western philosophy, in particular Marxism. But he also had strong ties to classic Chinese culture and drew inspiration from the past more than anything else. In Beijing, he came across literature and student activists.
Indeed, Mao was sympathetic to the revolutionary cause and took part in the Changsha uprising of May 4, 1919. The teenager wavered between socialism, nationalism, and communism. The last political hue to win his support was this one. So, he went to the inaugural Chinese Communist Party conference in Changsha on July 23, 1921, and spoke for his faction. He was a staunch supporter of these views and faithfully followed Soviet theory, but for practical reasons he declared his support for an alliance with the Guomindang (Chinese Nationalist Party). From 1923 forward, he served in the executive office during the United Front (an alliance between the Guomindang and the Chinese Communist Party).
Towards a new communist thought
This photo is the third version of the standard portrait of Mao Zedong taken by Hou Bo and Meng Qingbiao on the eve of the National Day in 1959. After the photo was taken, for various reasons, the picture could not meet the requirements for making a standard portrait, so it took a lot of post-processing to make the photo present to the public, and this became the only standard portrait of Mao Zedong without both ears showing.
For Mao Zedong, 1927 was a watershed year. In fact, the United Front was dissolved after a failed workers’ rebellion in Shanghai in April 1927, which provided an opening for Chiang Kai-shek, a leading figure of the Kuomintang. Following this, the Guomindang launched a massive onslaught against the CCP. The fighting between the two sides was the culmination of tensions that had been building for almost a year. However, the Guomindang proved to be an overwhelming force. Mao attempted to organize a peasant army to quell the rebellion, but his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
After his failure, he was shunned by the CCP. Then, in the Jiggang Mountains, he established the first Chinese Soviet, where he could try out a different party structure and organizational model. A report Mao made that year, “Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan Province,” served as the impetus for the formation of this group. The CCP’s political policy at the time agreed with Moscow’s by making the proletariat the revolution’s backbone. Nonetheless, China’s industrial landscape was still in its infancy, making students a more fertile ground for revolutionary Marxism-Leninism than the working class.
Mao Zedong developed a peasant-based philosophy of communist revolution, focusing on the rural areas where he was raised. He had a romantic view of the peasant revolts and said they might form the backbone of a revolution to restructure food production. This was one of the major differences between Maoism and Russian Marxism-Leninism, which had never placed a premium on rural life. Expelled from the CCP for a year, he was eventually readmitted. Up until 1934, he assisted Zhu De in expanding his system across the area. But when the Guomindang army advanced, Mao had no choice but to retreat and launch the Long March.
This particular one takes place between October 1934 and October 1935, covering a distance of around 10,000 kilometers. Mao, weakened by malaria, hobbled along with the help of a nurse and a secretary. On several occasions, four men would carry him on a litter while an oilcloth shielded him from the elements. The Communists were able to escape the encirclement of the nationalists thanks to this treacherous and fatal adventure, which became a true myth later on. It also served as a vehicle for the communist message to reach the rural populace. In 1935, Mao’s leadership of the CCP was bolstered by this.
The proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949
Mao Zedong proclaiming the new China. Source: /AP/SIPA
After years of experimenting with guerilla warfare, Mao Zedong bolstered it to its furthest extent, but the situation shifted in 1937 with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War. From that point on, the civil war was halted to some extent, and the Communists gained valuable guerilla warfare experience by stopping the Japanese. During this time, Mao used his rising stature within the CCP to win over more people to his rural-based vision of communism. The peace treaty with the Guomindang that had been in place since Japan’s surrender in 1945 quickly crumbled. The Guomindang, still under Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership, withdrew and eventually crumbled in 1949, eventually fleeing to Formosa (Taiwan). The People’s Republic of China was officially established by Mao on October 1.
Now that he was at the pinnacle of authority, Mao set about reforming the nation thoroughly, although with some trepidation. He made an effort to improve relations with the Soviet Union, which he initially viewed with suspicion, and even embraced some of its policies. Despite China’s diplomatic isolation during the Korean War, Mao permitted Chinese “volunteers” to help the nation establish its military might. His paradigm of thinking is rooted in the peasants, but it has nothing in common with Soviet bureaucracy.
The announcement of de-Stalinization by Khrushchev accelerated Mao’s drift away from the USSR. The “Hundred Flowers” campaign, begun in 1957, was an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the educated elite. Everyone was encouraged to speak out against the CCP. At the same time that the opening was taking place, Mao was secretly putting in place a plan to increase his personal authority at the cost of the Party. Mao elevates himself above the latter by calling for its denigration, establishing a direct line of communication between himself and the revolutionizing masses. This same principle would justify the Cultural Revolution.
Mao’s Great Leap Forward
Sending government officials to work in the countryside, 1957.
The “Great Leap Forward,” Mao Zedong’s first major intervention, occurred in 1958. The goal was to completely restructure society by employing everyone in communal settings. This was envisioned as a replacement for the family unit and a means of increasing output. One further objective was to stop relying so much on the Soviet Union’s economy. However, the Great Leap Forward was overly ambitious, and it threw the economy, particularly the agricultural sector, into disarray. The catastrophe that Mao’s program became was made worse by the fact that he refused to admit it had failed. There was a horrible famine since production was inadequate. Mao Zedong was deposed by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping 10 years after the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
Mao’s Red Book: The chaos of the Cultural Revolution
Cover of the first edition English version of the Little Red Book circa 1966.
Mao Zedong, however, would not surrender and instead made plans to return to the spotlight with his wife, Jiang Qing. Starting in 1966, they criticized an entrenched party for turning into a sclerotic adversary of the people and called on the young to rise up in a coup. The revolution must continue indefinitely if the rights of the people were to be preserved. This was the fresh insight Mao wished to impart to the populace. With the release of the Little Red Book, a genuine political education for Mao, hundreds of images of him were posted across the country. He became famous by riding the CCP to prominence. As he overthrew Deng Xiaoping, he also solidified the cult of his ego. However, until 1969, considerable unrest was generated by the Red Guards, an army of students. Mao personally called in the troops to quell the unrest and prevent a civil war.
Declining power against a backdrop of a cult of personality
Chairman Mao en route to Anyuan.
Mao Zedong’s political activities and communist beliefs earned him the nickname “The Great Helmsman” beginning in the 1970s. As an added bonus, the cult of personality was institutionalized for a considerable period of time. Portraits of the leader were widely disseminated, and anybody caught defacing one faced the possibility of a short jail sentence or possibly execution. From 1949 through 1962, Mao was never without his lone official photographer, Hou Bo, whose pictures were used to spread communist party propaganda.
The “Official Portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square” by Zhang Zhenshi was printed in two billion and two hundred million copies during the Cultural Revolution and distributed all throughout the country. The 900 million copies of Liu Chunhua’s 1967 artwork “Chairman Mao en route to Anyuan” There was also an artwork by Dong Xiwen named “The Founding Ceremony of the Nation” and a song praising Mao titled “The East is Red“. This one depicts Mao’s proclamation of the new Republic, but Xiven paints over it whenever a major player in Chinese politics dies. The “Little Red Book” also contributes to Mao’s personality cult.
A large portrait of Mao at Tiananmen.
The leader’s influence, however, was waning. Therefore, Zhou Enlai, his Prime Minister, was responsible for restoring order and enforcing a more practical policy. More peace and order might be established as a result. Timonier’s influence dwindled as he declined in health, and he left politics in 1974.
Mao Zedong’s death
A state funeral is being held for Mao Tse-tung, and members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army are paying their respects. Source: Associated Press
On May 11, 1976, Mao Zedong had a heart attack. On September 9 of that year, he passed away from Parkinson’s disease. Even though he had requested cremation, his remains were embalmed at the request of his political office. Afterward, on May 24, 1977, he was laid to rest in a mausoleum erected in his honor from November 24, 1976, until the present day in Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square. His political blunders led to genuine tragedies, including the deaths of nearly 80 million people, and his ideology led to the foundation of a totalitarian regime. The irony is that he is still revered in China since he was the catalyst for the country’s modernization and regaining of its independence.
Mao Zedong and his family
Mao with Jiang Qing and daughter Li Na in the 1940s.
Mao Zedong had four marriages. To begin with, he had a relationship with Luo Yixiu, whom he wed against his will when he was 13 and she was 17. Unfortunately, she passed away just three years into their married life. He married Yang Kaihui but eventually divorced her for his third wife. During the 1930s, nationalists had Yang Kaihui put to death. Among Mao Zedong’s wives, He Zizhen was the third and last. Jiang Qing (formerly known as Lan P’ing) was a 24-year-old actress when she married the leader in 1939; she remained by his side until his death and was a pivotal figure in the Cultural Revolution.
There were a total of 12 children born to Mao Zedong; just three of them are still alive and well now. He has three daughters, Mao Anying, Mao Anqing, and Mao Anlong, from his second marriage. And then, in his third marriage, he produced three males and three females. Then, in 1940, Mao’s beloved daughter, Li Na, was born to him and Jiang Qing. She had a prominent role in the Chinese Communist Party, but after suffering from despair, she withdrew from view.
In his latter years, Mao Zedong was no longer living with Jiang Qing and was heavily influenced by his numerous mistresses, particularly Zhang Yufeng. Mao Zedong’s family consisted of three members: brothers Mao Zemin (1896–1943) and Mao Zetan (1905–1935), as well as an adopted sister, Mao Zejian (1905–1929). When the civil war broke out, the Guomindang had all three of them put to death. Mao Yuanxin, born in 1941, was an important participant in the Cultural Revolution. He was the son of Mao Zemin and the nephew of Mao Zedong.
TIMELINE OF THE MAO ZEDONG
December 26, 1893: Born in Shaoshan, a village in Hunan province
Raised in a wealthy peasant household as the son of Mao Yichang and Wen Qimei.
1911: Mao Zedong joins the army
To help overthrow the Manchu monarchy and create the Republic, Mao Zedong enlisted in the nationalist army during the height of the revolution. But he didn’t like being a soldier, so he got out of it as soon as he could.
1918: Graduates from Changsha Normal School
But even though he struggled with authority, he was able to complete his education.
1919 : Mao was hired at the university library in Peking
As a self-taught person, he used this time to learn more. He studied Marxist ideas and Western philosophy, but he stayed true to Chinese customs.
July 21, 1921: First meeting of the CCP
Participating in the inaugural congress of the Chinese Communist Party, activists from different Chinese Marxist parties converge on Shanghai. Since the turn of the twentieth century, revolutionary groups in China have proliferated in response to student and public hopes for more freedom and modernization. Before turning against the Guomindang nationalists and achieving victory in October 1949, the CCP first collaborated with them. The future leader of the Chinese Communist Party, a youthful Mao Zedong, is among the participants. He was a very small player for a Changsha-based organization.
April 12, 1927: The Guomindang launched the offensive against the Shanghai insurrection
Chiang Kai-shek began his first large-scale battle against communism in response to a worker rebellion in Shanghai. The Nationalist leader’s fight against the Communists was successful and violent, just like this insurrection that was brutally put down. During the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek split with the Communists and successfully defeated the “warlords.” Mao led the Communist Party into conflict with Chiang Kai-shek’s authoritarian military regime beginning in 1934 and lasting for the next 22 years.
November 1, 1927: Mao settles in the Jinggang Shan
The Chinese Communist Party ousted Mao Zedong after the failure of the harvest uprising (Autumn Harvest Uprising) he organized. His first soviet was founded during his time spent in exile in the Jinggang mountains. Contrary to the Marxist-Leninist doctrines that had previously governed the Chinese CP, Mao turned to the peasants. His “Report on the Investigation of the Hunan Peasant Movement” was written during this period. His ban would end after a year. But what really gives him pause is the juxtaposition between the collapse of the urban insurrections and the stability of his rural soviet.
October 15, 1934: Beginning of the Long March
As Guomindang (Nationalist Party) forces advanced, communists fled Jiangxi. At that point, they would have to travel approximately 12,000 kilometers to reach Shaanxi. Mao Zedong became chairman of the Communist Party of China during this time.
October 20, 1935: End of the Long March
Rebel Communist forces commanded by Mao Zedong finally made it to Yenan in northern China after a year-long march across the country. Out of an estimated 100,000 soldiers at the outset, just 8,000 made it to the end. This trip not only saved the Communists from being captured by the Nationalists, but it also boosted the reputations of the survivors, most notably Mao. The communists would be able to relocate to other areas and keep fighting the nationalists.
October 1, 1949: Foundation of the People’s Republic of China
The People’s Republic of China was declared by Mao Zedong on the balcony of the Forbidden City in Beijing. After years of fighting between nationalists and communists, Mao, head of the Chinese Communist Party, finally ended the conflict. The “Great Helmsman” was elevated to head the government’s Central Committee. This advancement extends the Cold War into Asia. From 1949 until his death on September 9, 1976, Mao ruled China with an iron fist.
February 27, 1957: Launch of the Hundred Flowers Campaign
In a public address, Mao declared the commencement of an initiative to expand citizens’ rights to free speech. Since May 1956, he had been working on this effort to promote criticism of the ruling party. Ideally, he’d win over some smart people. However, this independence soon worked against the CCP, as they were seen as a new ruling class grabbing control. Unhappiness runs deep throughout the nation, giving weight to Mao’s calls for criticism and forcing the administration to back down. A short time later, persecution and mass deportations to work camps put a stop to the movement. The size of the Hundred Flowers movement foreshadowed that of the Cultural Revolution.
May 5, 1958: Mao’s Great Leap Forward
On the occasion of the Communist Party’s Eighth Congress, Mao declares radical changes in Chinese society. The CCP wanted to forsake the Soviet-inspired industrial program, so it embarked on a massive collectivization effort centered on people’s communes, which were more essential than any of the existing models at the time. One of the goals was to “stand on both feet,” or to boost manufacturing and farming. However, the worst famine in a century was caused by a genuine catastrophe. Between 15 and 30 million lives would have been lost in this one.
August 18, 1966: Beginning of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
Lin Biao, the Army’s commander, led a massive protest against President Liu Shaoqi’s revisionist policies on the streets of Beijing. Red guards, most of whom were students, marched with copies of Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book by the thousands. They damaged “bourgeois” institutions and vandalized monuments to the past as a way of rejecting Western influence. All of China’s major metropolises would be hit by this proletarian Cultural Revolution. As a result, it would have an impact on numerous communist nations.
September 9, 1976: Mao Zedong died in Beijing at the age of 82
Known as the “Great Helmsman,” he has been China’s leader since 1949. His death brought together the ultra-maoist “gang of four,” including his widow, and the reformists headed by Deng Xiao Ping. He was the theorist and practitioner of a unique communist approach, completely distinct from his great communist brother. The September 13 funeral would not be open to any foreign delegations.
Bibliography:
Wilkinson, Endymion (2018). Chinese History: A New Manual (5th paperback ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0998888309.
Ng, Yong-sang (1963). “The Poetry of Mao Tse-tung”. The China Quarterly13: 60–73. doi:10.1017/S0305741000009711.
MacFarquhar, Roderick; Schoenhals, Michael (2006). Mao’s Last Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674027480.
Dikötter, Frank (2010). Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China’s Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62. London: Walker & Company. ISBN 978-0802777683.
