Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s4.t16: Mao Zedong

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s4.t16

Language: English

Mao Zedong

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Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893-September 9, 1976) was the Chinese proletarian revolutionist, theorist and militarist, main founder and leader

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Mao Zedong greets Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on his visit to China

of the Communist Party of China, Chinese People’s Liberation Army and People’s Republic of China; Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the People’ Republic of China. He was styled Run Zhi and was born in Xiangtan, Hu’nan Province.

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Mao Zedong was born into a farmer’s family. He was admitted to Hu’nan First Normal School in 1913 and took part in the May 4th Movement in 1919. Since then, he learned Marxism and began to organise communist groups. He attended the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in July 1921. After the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation in 1924, he was elected as an executive member of the Kuomintang Central Committee at the first and second National Congress of the Kuomintang and served as acting minister of the Central Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang in Guangzhou. In 1926, participated in organising the National Institute of Peasant Movement and became the secretary of the Peasant Movement Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In 1927, after the break-up of the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, he attended the “August 7th Meeting” held in Hankou and was elected as an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. In September of the same year, he led the Autumn Harvest Uprising in Hu’nan-Jiangxi border region and later, established the first rural revolutionary base area in Jinggang Moutains. In 1928, his troops joined forces with the Nanchang uprising troops and he became a Party representative of the fourth army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. In 1931, he was elected as the Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Republic. In October 1934, he followed the Red Army and started the Long March. He was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau at the Zunyi Meeting in January 1935 and led the Red Army to arrive in Shaanxi in October of the same year. In December 1936, he became the Chairman of the Central Military Commission till he died. In March 1943, he was elected as the Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In 1945, he chaired and opened the 7th National Congress of CPC. Mao Zedong Thought was designated as the guiding ideology of CPC. He had been serving as the Chairman of the Central Committee of CPC since the First Plenary Session of the Seventh National Congress of CPC and till his death. In August 1945, he went to Chongqing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek. Between 1946 and 1949, he led CPC to win the War of Liberation. In September 1949, he was elected as the Chairman of the People’s Government and Chairman of CPPCC at the First Session of CPPCC. The People’s Republic of China was founded in October 1, 1949. In September 1954, he led the draft of the first socialist constitution of China and was elected as the Chairman of PRC. In 1958, he launched the “Great Leap Forward” and Rural People’s Commune Movement. In 1959, he resigned from the post of the Chairman of PRC. In 1966, he launched the “Cultural Revolution” movement. In 1974, he put forward the theory of dividing “three worlds”. He died in Beijing on September 9, 1976.

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Mao Zedong attached importance to India-China friendly communications. In 1942, he wrote a eulogy to an Indian friend Dr Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis saying, “The entire army lost a helping hand and the nation lost a friend. We will never forget the internationalist spirit of Dr Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis.” After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong received many visiting Indian delegates and attended in person the National Day reception chaired by K M Panikkar, the then Indian ambassador to China on January 26, 1951. He praised at the reception, “India nation is a great nation and Indian people are good people.” In 1954, he received the visiting Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and held three talks with him in connection with the international situation, world peace and other major issues. In 1963, he instructed the International Liaison Department of CPC to study the revolutionary problems of India and establish the Institute for Indian Studies in Liaoning University and Sichuan University. On May 1, 1971, he expressed the wish of resuming the traditional amicable relations with India while receiving the Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Indian embassy in China at the Tian’anmen Rostrum.