Mao Zedong | Chinese History | Five Minute Intro

Mao Zedong's portrait above Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China. — The portrait above Tiananmen Gate has become one of China’s most enduring symbols. Repainted regularly since 1949, it is perhaps the world’s most recognizable political image. As Mao aged, so did his portrait, though it has remained unchanged since his death in 1976.

With the Nationalists driven to Taiwan, Mao Zedong and the Communists established the People’s Republic of China. Having grown up doing farm labor, Mao understood village life firsthand, and millions of peasants believed he spoke for them. But as leader of one-quarter of humanity for 27 years, Mao made decisions that brought devastating consequences.

Land Reform

Mao championed the idea that those who worked the land should own it, not wealthy landlords. His government seized estates and divided them among millions of poor farming families. For many villagers, it was the first time they had ever owned the fields they worked.

But Mao never intended for farmers to keep their land forever. He soon required them to join large collective farms rather than own land individually. Under this system, everyone shared the harvest, but many farmers quickly learned that working harder no longer meant their own family would receive more food.

Social Reform

Despite growing concerns, Mao remained popular with millions of Chinese peasants. Beyond land, his government expanded women’s legal rights by banning forced and child marriages. It also launched nationwide literacy campaigns, improved basic health care, and sharply reduced the opium addiction that had plagued China for generations. As a result, life expectancy soared, leaving a lasting impact on society.

The Great Leap Forward

In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, an ambitious plan to transform China from a poor farming nation into a modern industrial power in just a few years. He expected villagers to produce record harvests while at the same time constructing massive infrastructure and manning backyard furnaces. To make this possible, Mao forced families into communal kitchens and nurseries. He believed that determination and hard work could accomplish in a few years what had taken other nations generations.

People eating together in a crowded communal dining hall during China's Great Leap Forward. — People eating together in a crowded communal dining hall during China’s Great Leap Forward.

Backyard Furnaces

Steel is normally produced in large factories by trained experts using carefully controlled temperatures. Instead, Mao ordered thousands of backyard furnaces built across the countryside. Under pressure to meet production quotas, villagers melted down their pots, pans, and essential farm tools. Some low-grade iron reached factories, but most villages were left with nothing but inferior slag, created from the tools farmers needed to grow food.

Famine

The Great Leap Forward quickly unraveled. Eager to impress their superiors, local officials wildly exaggerated how much grain their villages produced. Believing these reports, the government ordered grain deliveries based on harvests that existed only on paper, leaving farming families to starve.

As famine spread across the countryside, parents watched helplessly as their children grew weaker each day. Families searched fields for roots, leaves, and any scrap they could eat. Entire villages fell silent as hunger claimed one life after another. By the time it ended, tens of millions of Chinese had died in one of the deadliest famines in human history.

The Cultural Revolution

The failure of the Great Leap Forward weakened Mao’s influence over policy, but not his enormous prestige or authority with the public. Believing the government had lost its revolutionary spirit, he called on young Chinese to lead the Cultural Revolution.

Millions joined the Red Guards, who attacked teachers, officials, and anyone accused of opposing Mao. They destroyed historic temples, books, and art, while publicly humiliating, imprisoning, and killing countless citizens. What began as an effort to revive the revolution plunged China into years of fear, violence, and chaos.

People marching with a large portrait of Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution. — Millions of teenagers joined the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Recruited from schools across China, they marched in rallies like this beneath Mao’s portrait, believing they were helping build a better Communist society.

Mao’s Legacy

Mao died in 1976, ending one of the most remarkable and controversial careers in modern history. He reunited China, transformed its society, and inspired millions to believe they could build a better future. Yet his determination to reshape the nation also led to famine, persecution, and the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Inescapable Presence

Today, nearly half a century after his death, it is still impossible to escape the image of Mao Zedong in China. His giant portrait continues to overlook Tiananmen Gate, and his face appears on every Chinese banknote. Yet Mao has also become a pop culture icon. His likeness appears on T-shirts, vintage wristwatches, refrigerator magnets, and countless souvenirs sold to tourists.

This enduring presence grew out of the powerful cult of personality that surrounded Mao during his lifetime. During the Cultural Revolution, his portrait hung in schools, factories, government offices, and countless homes, while millions of Chinese wore metal badges bearing his likeness as a public sign of loyalty.

The Philosopher Behind Mao’s Revolution

Mao was a Communist who followed the ideas of Karl Marx, a German philosopher who argued that history was a struggle between the rich and the poor. Marx believed that factories, farms, and businesses should belong to the people rather than private owners. “Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains,” Marx famously wrote, predicting that working people would eventually overthrow the wealthy to build a classless society where everyone shared equally in a nation’s wealth. Mao deeply admired these ideas but adapted them to China, where the vast majority of people were poor farmers instead of factory workers.

The Little Red Book

Few books have ever wielded as much power as Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, better known as the Little Red Book. Small enough to fit in a pocket, its bright red cover became a defining symbol of China. With more than a billion copies printed, the Little Red Book became the second most widely distributed book in history, surpassed only by the Bible. During the Cultural Revolution, virtually every student, worker, soldier, and official carried the Little Red Book.

The book contained hundreds of short quotations from Mao’s speeches and writings, organized by topics like revolution and discipline. Citizens memorized its sayings in classrooms, recited them at factory meetings, and quoted them in everyday conversation. Waving the Little Red Book at mass rallies became a mandatory display of loyalty, and failing to carry the Little Red Book invited immediate suspicion. Few books have ever dominated the daily life of a nation so completely.

The Nationalists Escape to Taiwan

When Communist forces won the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and nearly two million soldiers, government officials, and civilians fled across the Taiwan Strait to the island of Taiwan. There they continued to call themselves the Republic of China, while Mao established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland. For decades, both governments claimed to be the true government of all China. Today, Taiwan governs itself as a prosperous democracy, while the government in Beijing continues to claim the island as part of China. That disagreement remains one of the most important issues in East Asia.

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Mr. Donn has an excellent website that includes a section on Chinese History.

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