Mao Zedong (Tse-tung Mao) Name pronounced "mow say-toong"; name sometimes transliterated as Mao Zedong; born December 26, 1893, in Shoa Shan, Hunan, China; died of Parkinson's disease, September 9, 1976, in Beijing, People's Republic of China; son of Mao Jen-sheng (a grain merchant) and Mao Wen; married Yan K'ai-hui, 1920 (died, 1927); married Ho Tze-cheng, 1928 (divorced); married Chiang Ch'ing (an actress), 1939; children: An-ying (died, 1950), Anch'ing, Li Na. Education: Teachers' Training College at Changsha, diploma, 1918. Politician and political theorist. Attended First Congress of Chinese Communist Party as one of twelve original delegates, 1921; organized labor unions in Hunan, China, 1921-27, and served as head of Chinese Communist Party Peasants' Department, 1926; led Hunan peasants in abortive Autumn Harvest Uprising and fled to Chingkangshan, China, during Chiang Kai-shek's purge of Communists, 1927; established Fourth Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, 1928, and remained in mountain base in Chingkangshan until Chiang's extermination campaign of the Red Army, 1934-35; headquartered in caves of Yenan, China, 1935-45, organizing peasants and building the Communist Army; fought Civil War with Chiang's Nationalists, 1946-49, defeating Chiang's troops and forcing them in political retreat to Taiwan; elected Chair of People's Government, 1949, served through 1954; instituted series of rectification campaigns during early 1950s; Chair of People's Republic of China and National Defense Council, 1954-59; launched "anti-rightist campaign" and Great Leap Forward program, 1957; directed Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966-69; chair of Chinese Communist Party central committee, 1967-76.

Founder, Hunan Reconstruction Alliance, 1919; teacher at First Normal School at Changsha, 1920-22; member of Kuomintang, 1923-27, and director of propaganda department, 1925; president, All-China Peasants' Association, 1927; chair, China Workers and Revolutionary Committee, 1930; chair, Central Peasants and Workers Government, 1933; political commissar, Red First Front Army, 1935; chair of politburo, Chinese Communist Party Seventh Central Committee, 1945; chair, People's Revolutionary Military Council, 1945-46; chair, Chinese Communist Party Eighth Central Committee and Standing Committee Politburo, 1956-59; chair presidium, Chinese Communist Party Ninth Congress, 1969; Supreme Commander, Whole Nation and Whole Army, 1970-76.
-- "Tse-tung Mao." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003.