Mao Tse Tung (In power: 1949 – 1976)
The mausoleum for Mao Tse Tung located in Beijing is a massive edifice. It reflects the sheer size of the country he once ruled and also the notorious legacy he had left behind. Mao was born in 1893 in the Hunan province of China. He was the son of a wealthy farmer which allowed him the rare access of an education. He was a voracious reader and he quickly became an anti-imperialist against the fading Chinese dynastic rule. When Mao was older, he traveled to Peking (as it was known at the time) to study and work at the university there. He soon became involved in radical student movements there – particularly against the Chinese government’s lack of resistance to Japanese aggression.
When the Communist Party was founded in 1921, Mao was one of its earliest recruits. The party presented a different ideology than the opposition Koumintang (KMT or the nationalist party). These differences boiled over into a civil war which began in 1927. At the first, the KMT was well supported and won several battles. In 1934, the Communist army was forced to flee and this is where Mao’s legend really began to grow. Mao led his army hundreds of miles into western China in what became known as the “Long March.” However, World War II and the invasion by Japan forced an uneasy alliance between the KMT and Communist forces.
Upon victory over Japan in 1945, the KMT and Communist Chinese forces resumed their civil war. However, this time the Communist would prove to be victorious in 1949 and Mao would become the first Chairman of the Community Party. While he was leader, he instituted many cultural and social reforms. One of which was the infamous “Great Leap Forward” in 1958. The result was one of the worst manmade famines in history where it is estimated that over 40 million people died of starvation. This was followed by the “Cultural Revolution” in 1966 which destroyed much of the cultural and historic legacy of China. It is probably with much relief that Mao died in September 1976 at the age of 82.