Mao Zedong Essay

Mao Zedong was born in the Shaoshan village in the Hunan Province of China in 1893. Born to a peasant farmer who independently became wealthy, Mao became a revolutionary whose theoretical ideas spurred him into taking action against imperialist China. His father was noted to be a very strict man who wanted Mao to follow in his footsteps on the farm. Mao, however, was rebellious and had other ideas that he wished to pursue. He was a lover of books and learning the ways of many theoretical writers. One of his favorites for which he would eventually style his own beliefs and actions after is Karl Marx. These would come to be known as Maoism.

Hsun Tzu's philosophy is built from the idea that human beings are by nature inherently evil, and the good they produce will only come through their conscious activity. Hsun Tzu believes that if man follows his nature and indulges in his natural desires, without transforming himself by conscious activity he is doomed to fall victim to his evil nature. "Any man who follows his nature will inevitably become involved in wrangling and strife, will violate the forms and rules of society, and will end as a criminal." Despite the pessimistic tone of Hsun Tzu's message he does propose conscious activity as a solution to man's evil. This paper will examine Hsun Tzu's perspective in light of both Mencius

The relationship between Chinese peasants and the Chinese communist party became more close knit during this time. Between circa 1925 and circe 1250 the Chinese communist party and the peasants had a relationship they both had a sense of nationalism, saw Japan as a common enemy and gained social rights.

The method applied by Zedong focused on uniting China under one belief in order to implement communist ideas in the country, widely changing the country’s structure. (Doc 7). At his defense trial, Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro appealed to those struggling in his country. He spoke to those who hoped for a brighter future and who have been betrayed by their country. By addressing their battle, Castro urged them to fight for a better Cuba. His relentless and undying commitment ultimately granted Castro his wish for a revolution. (Doc 8). An additional document consisting of a diary entry from a Chinese citizen during the communist revolution would create a clearer vision as to how convincing Mao Zedong truly was.

Mao ZeDong is one of the greatest leaders in the history of New China. The influence of Mao’s theory is profound and lasting. He is a great thinker, poet, and a highly intelligent military strategist. Under his leadership and the actions he performed during The Long March, Chinese Civil War then defeating the Kuomintang Party to built the New China are the main epic episodes. Mao ZeDong's extravagant actions made two of the many changes to China. They are the shift from a capitalist system to a socialist system and the achievement of China's independence against Japanese imperialism (Somo, 2013a). The influence of Mao’s theory has been widespread to the world up until this day. Especially, in the countries of the third world have

When he put himself as the leader of China, he renamed the country, “The people's republic of China”. In 1958, Zedong wanted a more Chinese form of communism, so he launched “The Great Leap Forward”. This was an attempt to improve agricultural and industrial production, which were major parts of the Communism promise. Soon, his idea led to poor harvests, famine and the deaths of millions. Mao Zedong’s leadership position was weakened. In order to reactivate his power, Mao Zedong called for a cultural revolution.” He said, “If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.” -Mao Zedong. (brainyquotes.com). In the cultural revolution, he wanted to purge his country of all its impure elements, and renovate the revolutionary spirit and build support of Communist principles. In the process, he killed one and a half million people. One year after, 1967, cities were on the verge of anarchy, Chairman Mao sent in the army to restore order. Zedong started to feel pressure from other countries to stop treating his citizens badly, so he looked for a way to make himself look better. He decided to meet with the American President Nixon, as China and America are complete opposites, in terms of government, and try build a bridge to establish peace and show how

He feared the Soviet Unions “deviationism” ha tainted his Maoist communism. So he mobilized young people in china, forming the Red Guards and shutting down schools. These kids were encouraged to attack “bourgeois” and root out enemies of the system, including family members. The results of this were devastating. The economy was left struggling to survive, people and elders were mistreated for things they didn’t do, and there were as many as 30 million casualties. After explaining this and how Maos death practically saved china, the author makes this statement. “On July 28, 1976, twin earthquakes struck near the city of Tangshan…the death toll…may have exceeded 700,000 people…The chairmen for life died on September 9, just six weeks after Tangshan. It probably was no coincidence.” This quote suggests that a political reaction was connected to Maos death. Practically a conspiracy theory, the author never backs it up with any evidence, proof, or reason. This weakens the overall topic and distracts from his main

Hitler and Stalin will probably go down in history as two of the greatest known evil leaders of the 20th Century. You might ask what could bring two men to become the menaces they were. What kind of upbringing would cause someone to turnout the way they did?

His plan was to destroy old culture, customs, ideas, and habits. He would humiliate the capitalist individuals and held public executions. In order to create violence, he created the Red Guards, who were a paramilitary movement of China’s youth assemble, in order to destroy anything they felt to be a threat. Christopher Klein states, “Thousands of party leaders, including Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, were jailed for “crimes against the state.” Millions of young radicals who formed the paramilitary Red Guards shut down schools, destroyed religious and cultural relics and killed intellectuals and party elites believed to be anti-revolutionaries.” Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, was responsible for purifying the arts by banning specific music, literature, film, and theater. Chinese literature, scrolls and other cultural relics were burned, paintings torn to pieces, murals defaced and priceless antiques were shattered. “A cult of personality grew around Mao as millions of copies of the “Little Red Book” filled with his thoughts were forced to be read by those in need of ‘re-education.’” The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China states,

It is clear that Mao’s initial goal was to gain power in China, which is demonstrated by his determination to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (KMT) via his idiosyncratic version of communist revolution. In order to do so, Mao utilised methods he deemed most suitable for the communists and, more broadly, Chinese society. For example, unlike his Marxist predecessors, Mao believed that peasants, not urban workers, were the key to rebellion in China. Subsequently, in 1926, he organised peasant unions

Over the course of Mao’s leadership from 1949 until his death in 1976 we can see the significance of his leadership and what made him a good and bad leader. Mao had made some very good decisions to help certain groups but also made some very bad decisions that paid the price, in some cases killing millions. Due to the social and economic changes that then followed by a significant increase in the population and weak leadership that led to rebellions from 1911 that saw the end of 3500years of rule by the Chinese imperial dynasties. The social and economic chaos then led to the formation of two political parties. The CCP, led by Mao Zedong and the GMD led by Chiang Kai Shek. Mao and his party defeated the GMD in 1949 bringing Mao into power. Mao’s main goal was to turn China into a pure communist country. Over the course of Mao’s leadership he did this by making significant social, economic and political changes to the Chinese way of life. However due to his poor leadership and the faults that he made it caused people to oppose him and get in the way of his goal. That is why in 1966 Mao decided to assert his beliefs through a series of decisions, which came to be known as the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was a hard time for many people throughout China as Mao enforced many things upon them to achieve his aim of removing capitalism. Mao used the youth of China to be that

In Mao's era, there was also little room for free speech due to the immense censorship that pervaded the period. Individual thinking and Confucian philosophy were renounced with a youth movement, The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, to criticize everything and to revive the spirit of the revolution. Until his death in 1976, when Deng Xiao Ping took control of the Communist Party, Mao accentuated maintaining the revolutionary ideals of communal 'freedom' and the ultimate sacrifice of the individual for the enhancement of China.

After fleeing Chiang Kai-Shek Mao became the leader of a small communist republic he founded in the northern mountains of China. After WWII and the following power struggle with Chiang Mao founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. Mao ruled China until 1962 when he was taken from power by the communist party due to his disastrous “Great Leap Forward” which was intended to increase production to the level of Britian in a short amount of time. The result was the deaths of around 40 million people, although there was never an official count made. In 1966, after 25 years on the sidelines, Mao regained power by creating a threat that only he could fix. He claimed that China was under threat by capitalists. Mao’s followers killed thousands of people who posed a threat to his power. Mao also closed schools and sent intellectuals to labor camps to prevent opposition. This “revolution” solidified Mao's political position until his death, but also destroyed much of China’s cultural

He was a philosopher attributed with the writing of the Tao-Te-Ching and the reputed founder of Taoism. ("Tao" meaning the way of all life, "Te" meaning the fit use of life by all men, and "Ching" meaning text.) Lao Tzu was not his real name but rather an honorary title given to him by his followers meaning "Old Master".

In 1949 a powerful communist leader by the name of Mao Zedong came to power based on his idea for a, “Great Leap Forward.” This idea was meant to bring China’s economy into the twentieth century. He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history. However, the product of this revolution created a massive national shortage in vital materials and initiated a wide scale famine to China’s people (Gabriel).