Zedong Mao.

Born on December 26, 1893 in Shao-shan, Hunan Province, Mao Zedong was raised in the grinding poverty of rural China during the final years of the Qing dynasty. His father, Mao Yichang, was a farmer, and his mother, Wen Qimei, managed the household. Mao’s hatred of the Imperial government began in his childhood.

In 1911 he left school to join the revolution against Manchu rule. Radicalization followed, and in 1921 he became a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. At Dongshan Senior High School, Xiangxiang First Senior High School, The First High School of Changsha, and Hunan First Normal University, Mao developed his political ideology.

In 1927, after a power struggle with Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists erupted into open warfare, Mao declared that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Badly outnumbered, the Communists were driven out of eastern China. In 1934 Mao led a retreat to the northwest, a 6,000-mile trek known as the Long March, which confirmed his leadership.

After establishing a headquarters at Yenan, Mao rebuilt the Red Army into a guerrilla force. By 1937 they fought Japanese invaders. After World War II, Mao renewed the civil war and by 1949 his forces controlled the mainland. He proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Mao sent Chinese troops to fight in the Korean War in the early 1950s and oversaw China’s first nuclear test in the late 1950s. His Great Leap Forward 1959-1962 caused a massive famine, and the Cultural Revolution 1966-1976 purged dissidents.

Mao married four times. His first marriage to Luo Yixiu lasted from 1907 to 1910. He married Yang Kaihui in 1920 she was executed by the Nationalists in 1930, then He Zizhen in 1930 divorced 1937, and finally Lan Ping, also known as Jiang Qing, in 1938 until his death. Mao had six children: Mao Anying killed in the Korean War, Mao Anqing, Mao Anlong, Yang Yuehua, Li Min, and Li Na.

He also had two siblings, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan, both killed in the civil war. A large appetite and heavy smoking marked Mao’s habits, contributing to his health problems in later years. Posthumous disclosures revealed he maintained pleasure gardens with hundreds of women.

Mao’s radical ideology inspired countless revolutions far beyond China, including guerrilla movements in Nepal, Peru, and the Philippines, and student protests in Europe during May 1968. His Little Red Book became one of the most widely distributed texts in history. Even after his death, some Chinese continue to worship him as a god, using his photos as charms.

His Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution caused immense suffering, with tens of millions of deaths. Mao remains a polarizing figure, but he is undisputed as the founding father of the People’s Republic of China and one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century.