{"record":{"affiliations":[{"polityId":"polity-b04eedd32c9208b616ed5405","sourceIds":["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia"]}],"aliases":["Mao Tse-tung","Mao Tse Tung","Mao"],"appointmentIds":[],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"birth":{"date":"1893","sourceIds":["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia"]},"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-5ca1b0e185/","countrySlug":null,"countrySlugs":["china"],"death":{"date":"1976","sourceIds":["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia"]},"entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-5ca1b0e185/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Mao Zedong was born in Hunan in 1893 and helped found the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. Work among peasants helped shape his approach to revolution, which emphasized rural organization and armed struggle. After the Nationalist–Communist rupture of 1927, he developed bases in the countryside. He consolidated his authority during and after the Long March and became party chairman in 1945.","The Communists defeated Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces across most of the mainland during the civil war that followed Japan’s surrender. On October 1, 1949, Mao proclaimed the People’s Republic of China. His government undertook land reform, extended state control over economic life, and later collectivized agriculture. Changes to marriage law and the expansion of public services accompanied political campaigns that concentrated power in the party.","The Great Leap Forward, launched in 1958, sought accelerated industrial and agricultural growth through mass mobilization and communes. Mao drove its radical goals and overrode opposition, while officials struggled to meet unrealistic production demands. The campaign contributed to a famine that killed tens of millions.","In 1966 Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, mobilizing supporters against people and institutions he portrayed as obstructing revolution. Red Guards and other participants became involved in persecution and violent struggles. Officials, teachers, intellectuals, and many other people suffered violence and political persecution. Mao’s personality cult reached extraordinary intensity, and the upheaval continued in changing forms until his death in 1976.","Under Mao, China intervened in the Korean War against forces led by the United States, deepening the hostility between Beijing and Washington. Relations with the Soviet Union also deteriorated, breaking the earlier unity of the two Communist powers. These rivalries gave Chinese foreign policy a changing set of dangers: confrontation with the United States did not prevent conflict with Moscow.","Concern about the Soviet Union helped make an opening to Washington possible. Mao met Richard Nixon in Beijing in February 1972, while Zhou Enlai conducted much of the detailed negotiation. The Shanghai Communiqué recorded areas of cooperation and the governments’ different positions on Taiwan. The visit began a strategic rapprochement; full diplomatic relations followed in 1979, after Mao’s death."],"id":"global:person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c","identifiers":{},"identityScope":"global","legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-5ca1b0e185bd5ec7b959.html","name":"Mao Zedong","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia"],["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-china-revolution","growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia","growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-pbs"],["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-great-leap","growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-pbs"],["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-pbs","growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia"],["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-korea-army-timeline","growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia","growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-china-rapprochement"],["growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-china-rapprochement"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-5ca1b0e185bd5ec7b959.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-11-04","revision":"7ebeb01b301a504d","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-columbia","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-04","language":"en","representation":"secondary_account","scope":"Inspected biographical chronology and rural strategy. Its favorable evaluations of Mao’s concern for the oppressed are not adopted; later scholarship and public history supply the human consequences omitted from this profile.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"Early Years; Leader of the Chinese Revolution","publisher":"Columbia University, Asia for Educators; reprinted from Asia Society, Focus on Asian Studies (1984)","title":"Mao Zedong: Biographical and Political Profile","type":"educational-history","url":"https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1900_mao_early.htm"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-china-revolution","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-04","language":"en","representation":"secondary_account","scope":"Inspected chronology; avoids implying the proclamation ended every theater of the civil war.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"Communist victory and October 1, 1949 proclamation","publisher":"Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State","title":"The Chinese Revolution of 1949","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/chinese-rev"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-great-leap","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-04","language":"en","representation":"secondary_account","scope":"Inspected the openly available scholarly abstract, not the paywalled book chapters. Uses only the abstract’s supported argument about decision making and implementation.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"Public book abstract, paragraphs on Mao’s initiative, central ministries, and unrealistic targets","publisher":"Alfred L. Chan, Oxford University Press (2001)","title":"Mao’s Crusade: Politics and Policy Implementation in China’s Great Leap Forward","type":"scholarship","url":"https://academic.oup.com/book/51913"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-mao-pbs","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-04","language":"en","representation":"secondary_account","scope":"Inspected article. Reports famine scale as tens of millions rather than treating a single estimate as an exact count. Avoids the page’s geographic error calling Yan’an a province.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"Domestic transformation; Great Leap Forward; Cultural Revolution; death in 1976","publisher":"PBS American Experience, Nixon’s China Game","title":"Mao Tse-Tung","type":"public-history","url":"https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/china-mao/"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-korea-army-timeline","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-04","language":"en","representation":"secondary_account","scope":"Inspected account of Chinese intervention; used only for military participation, not for speculative motives.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"Conflict Timeline, Chinese intervention in autumn 1950","publisher":"United States Army","title":"The Korean War, 1950–1953","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.army.mil/koreanwar/"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-04","date":"","id":"growth-person-9d93bdda59a5a057d012941c-china-rapprochement","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-04","language":"en","representation":"secondary_account","scope":"Inspected full relevant narrative. Distinguishes rapprochement from recognition and accurately describes differing Taiwan positions.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"Sino-Soviet tension; Nixon’s February visit; Shanghai Communiqué; normalization in 1979","publisher":"Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State","title":"Rapprochement with China, 1972","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/rapprochement-china"}],"topics":[]},"schemaVersion":1}