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Cultural Revolution

Main article: Cultural Revolution

Following these events, other members of the Communist Party, including Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, decided that Mao should be removed from actual power and only remain in a largely ceremonial and symbolic role. They attempted to marginalize Mao, and by 1959, Liu Shaoqi became State President, but Mao remained Chairman. Liu and others began to look at the situation much more realistically, somewhat abandoning the idealism Mao wished for.

Facing the prospect of losing his place on the political stage, Mao responded to Liu and Deng's movements by launching the Cultural Revolution in 1966. This allowed Mao to circumvent the Communist hierarchy by giving power directly to the Red Guards, groups of young people, often teenagers, who set up their own tribunals. The Revolution led to the destruction of much of China's cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge number of Chinese intellectuals, as well as creating general economic and social chaos in the country. Millions of lives were ruined during this period, which is best depicted by such Chinese films as To Live and Farewell My Concubine.

It was during this period that Mao chose Lin Biao to become his successor. Subsequently it is unclear whether Lin was planning a military coup or an assassination attempt; he died trying to flee China, probably anticipating his arrest, in a suspicious plane crash over Mongolia. It was declared that Lin was planning to depose Mao, and he was posthumously expelled from the CCP. At this time, Mao lost trust in many of the top CCP figures.

In 1969, Mao declared the Cultural Revolution to be over, although the official history of the People's Republic of China marks the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 with Mao's death. In the last years of his life, Mao was faced with declining health due to either Parkinson's disease or, according to Li Zhisui, motor neuron disease, as well as lung ailments due to smoking and heart trouble. Mao remained passive as various factions within the Communist Party mobilized for the power struggle anticipated after his death. When Mao could not swim any longer, the indoor swimming pool he had at Zhongnanhai was converted into a giant reception hall, according to Li Zhisui.

Private Life

Genealogy

Mao Zedong had several wives which contributed to a large family. These were:

1. Luo Yixiu (罗一秀, 1889-1910) of Shaoshan: married 1907 to 1910^{[citation needed]}

2. Ma Daiwei (马代伟,1895-1947) of Xi An; "the unpopular wife", no children, married from 1912-1920, believed to have died of cancer

3. Yang Kaihui (杨开慧, 1901-1930) of Changsha: married 1921 to 1927, executed by the Kuomintang in 1930

4. He Zizhen (贺子珍, 1910-1984) of Jiangxi: married May 1928 to 1939

5. Jiang Qing: (江青, 1914-1991), married 1939 to Mao's death

His ancestors were:

• Wen Qimei (文七妹, 1867-1919), mother

• Mao Yichang (毛贻昌, 1870-1920), father, courtesy name Mao Shunsheng (毛顺生)

• Mao Enpu (毛恩普), paternal grandfather

He had several siblings:

• Mao Zemin (毛泽民, 1895-1943), younger brother

• Mao Zetan (毛泽覃, 1905-1935), younger brother

• Mao Zehong, sister (executed by the Kuomintang in 1930)

Mao Zedong's parents altogether had six sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and both daughters died young, leaving the three brothers Mao Zedong, Mao Zemin, and Mao Zetan. Like all three of Mao Zedong's wives, Mao Zemin and Mao Zetan were communists. Like Yang Kaihui, both Zemin and Zetan were killed in warfare during Mao Zedong's lifetime.

Note that the character ze (泽) appears in all of the siblings' given names. This is a common Chinese naming convention.

He had several children:

• Mao Anying (毛岸英): son to Yang, married to Liu Siqi (刘思齐), who was born Liu Songlin (刘松林), killed in action during the Korean War

• Mao Anqing (毛岸青): son to Yang, married to Shao Hua (邵华), son Mao Xinyu (毛新宇)

• Li Min (李敏): daughter to He, married to Kong Linghua (孔令华), son Kong Ji'ning (孔继宁), daughter Kong Dongmei (孔冬梅)

• Li Na (李讷): daughter to Jiang (whose birth given name was Li), married to Wang Jingqing (王景清), son Wang Xiaozhi (王效芝)

Sources suggest that Mao did have other children during his revolutionary days; in most of these cases the children were left with peasant families because it was difficult to take care of the children while focusing on revolution. Two English researchers who retraced the entire Long March route in 2002-2003 located a woman who they believe might well be a missing child abandoned by Mao to peasants in 1935. Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen hope a member of the Mao family will respond to requests for a DNA test.

Relationships

Having lost children, a brother and a wife to war and revolution, Mao rarely seemed moved by the suffering of others. Neither the misery of millions of dying Chinese during the Great Leap Forward, nor private tragedies among his lovers and political companions showed any visible impact on him. Mao's retainers remained on permanent probation, whatever their backgrounds. Old comrades were sent into internal exile, in several cases to their deaths, although Mao's role in these tragedies was indirect.^{[citation needed]} In politics and personal life alike, he discarded those for whom he had no present use, just as coolly calling them back when he wanted them, if they were still alive.

Mao lived a life without friends, so Party and army political departments competed in recruiting young women of sterling proletarian background and excellent physical appearance, supposedly to engage in a weekly ballroom dancing with the leader, actually for possible service in bed.

Mao at first tried to spare his wives the knowledge of his love affairs. But when he needed his fourth and (in)famous wife Jiang Qing as a political proxy, he brought her into the inner circle, where she finally even made friends with Mao's then favorite female companion (Zhang Yufeng) to get better access to the source of power.

Lifestyle

True to his publicly modest appearance, Mao enjoyed few luxuries available: Living in a swimming-pool equipped villa in the forbidden city (Zhongnanhai), due to Party Regulation, he rarely has the opportunities in touch with the hardships of common people's lives, which he attempted to compensate by sending body guards and trusted staffs on field investigation. After losing many commadries in airplane accidents, the officialy party policy meant that he could only traveled the country by train, manufactured with luxurious details in the DDR. When he was on a public trip, his entourage usually cleared all railway stations along the way for security reasons, letting advance detail stage a busy, happy railway station for Mao.

Before famines, local governments went as far as displacing entire rice fields, replanting them along the train tracks to confirm the Leader's wise agricultural policies when he came by. China's state governors competed in building opulent private villas for the Great Leader, many never even visited or known by Mao. He exclusively slept on a huge wooden bed that was a fixture in rural families.

It is also believed he often held Table Tennis tournaments for his enjoyment in the palace. His favorite foods were fried pork (红烧肉） and a classic bowl of steamed rice.

Health

Mao's health was a secret but major concern during most of his reign. Suffering from depressions and anxiety, as well as sleeplessness, he constantly lived on high doses of antipsychotic drugs. Exercising sovereignty over clock and calendar Mao got used to an almost daylight-independent 30h day rhythm, forcing China's political elite to be at his disposal at any time, day or night. He followed no schedule except on May Day, National Day and the rare occasion of receiving foreign visitors.

Mao did not bathe, preferring a rubdown with hot towels from his rural background. His badly decayed teeth (Mao refused to brush teeth all his life, and preferred to rinse with green tea which also come from his rural background) further nurtured infections.

Death

Mao Zedong died at the age of 82, on September 6, 1976 at 10 minutes past midnight in Beijing. Mao had been in poor health for several years and had declined visibly for some months prior to his death. His body lay in state at the Great Hall of the People. A memorial service was held in Tiananmen Square on September 18, 1976. There was a three minute silence observed during this service. His body was later placed into the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, although he wished to be cremated; and was one of the first high-ranking officials to sign the "Proposal that all Central Leaders be Cremated after Death" in November 1956.

As anticipated after Mao’s death, there was a power struggle for control of China. On one side were the leftists led by the Gang of Four, who wanted to continue the policy of revolutionary mass mobilization. On the other side were the rightists, which consisted of two groups. One was the restorationists led by Hua Guofeng who advocated a return to central planning along the Soviet model. The other was the reformers, led by Deng Xiaoping, who wanted to overhaul the Chinese economy based on market-oriented policies and to de-emphasize the role of Maoist ideology in determining economic and political policy.

Eventually, the moderates won control of the government. Deng Xiaoping defeated Hua Guofeng in a bloodless power struggle shortly afterwards.

Cult of Mao

One of the reasons Mao is most remembered is the Cult of Mao, the personality cult that was created around him. Mao presented himself as an enemy of landowners, businessmen, and Western and American imperialism, as well as an ally of impoverished peasants, farmers and workers. Some argue that personality cults go against the basic ideas of Marxism. Stalin, however, circumvented this and began cultivating a cult of personality around himself and Lenin, even though Lenin expressly wished that no monuments be created after his death.

Mao said the following about cults at the 1958 Party congress in Chengdu, where he expressed support for the idea of personality cults—even ones like Stalin's:

"There are two kinds of personality cults. One is a healthy personality cult, that is, to worship men like Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin. Because they hold the truth in their hands. The other is a false personality cult, i.e. not analysed and blind worship."

In 1962, Mao proposed the Socialist Education Movement (SEM) in an attempt to "protect" the peasants against the temptations of feudalism and the sprouts of capitalism that he saw re-emerging in the countryside (thanks to Liu's economic reforms). Large quantities of politicised art were produced and circulated—with Mao at the centre. Numerous posters and musical compositions referred to Mao as "A red sun in the centre of our hearts" (我们心中的红太阳) and a "Savior of the people" (人民的大救星).

The Cult of Mao proved vital in starting the Cultural Revolution. China's youth had mostly been brought up during the Communist era, and they had been told to love Mao. Thus they were his greatest supporters. Their feelings for him were so strong that many followed his urge to challenge all established authority.

In October 1966, Mao's Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, which was known as the Little Red Book was published. Party members were encouraged to carry a copy with them and possession was almost mandatory as a criterion for membership. Over the years, Mao's image became displayed almost everywhere, present in homes, offices and shops. His quotations were typographically emphasised by putting them in boldface or red type in even the most obscure writings.

Legacy

Mao's legacy has produced a large amount of controversy. Some Chinese mainlanders continue to regard Mao Zedong as a great revolutionary leader, although they also recognize that he made serious mistakes in his later life. According to Deng Xiaoping, Mao was "seventy-percent right and thirty-percent wrong", and his "contributions are primary and his mistakes secondary." Some, including members of the Communist Party of China, hold Mao responsible for pulling China away from its biggest ally, the USSR, in the Sino-Soviet Split. The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were also considered to be major disasters in his policy. If the figure of seventy million dead as a result of his policies is true, it would be an unprecedented number of victims of state violence in peace time. Other critics of Mao fault him for not encouraging birth control and for creating a demographic bump which later Chinese leaders responded to with the one child policy.

Supporters of Mao point out that before 1949, for instance, the illiteracy rate in Mainland China was 80 percent, and life expectancy was a meager 35 years. At his death, they claim illiteracy had declined to less than seven percent, and average life expectancy had increased to more than 70 years (alternative statistics also quote improvements, though not nearly as dramatic). In addition to these increases, the total population of China increased 57% to 700 million, from the constant 400 million mark during the span between the Opium War and the Chinese Civil War. Supporters also state that, under Mao's regime, China ended its "Century of Humiliation" from Western imperialism and regained its status as a major world power. They also state their belief that Mao also industrialized China to a considerable extent and ensured China's sovereignty during his rule. Some of Mao's supporters view the Kuomintang as having been corrupt and credit Mao with driving them off the Chinese mainland to Taiwan.

They also argue that the Maoist era improved women's rights by abolishing prostitution, a phenomenon that was to return after Deng Xiaoping and post-Maoist CCP leaders increased liberalization of the economy. Indeed, Mao once famously remarked that "Women hold up half the heavens".

Skeptics observe that similar gains in literacy and life expectancy occurred after 1949 in neighboring countries such as Taiwan, which was ruled by Mao's opponents, namely Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang, even though they themselves were forced to substantial repression in their own right. Some of the gains may have simply been the result of a country no longer at war, so perhaps any regime could achieve such improvements. The regime that took over in Taiwan was composed of the same people ruling the Mainland for over 20 years when life expectancy was so low, yet life expectancy there also increased.

Mao believed that "socialism is the only way out for China," because the United States and other Western countries would not allow China to join the ranks of advanced capitalism. As if to support this theory, the United States placed a trade embargo on China that lasted until Richard Nixon decided Mao had made himself a force to be reckoned with in dealing with the Soviet Union. Some people claim that while the Tigers obtained favorable trade terms from the United States, most Third World capitalist countries did not, and they saw nothing like the economic growth of the Tigers. The other side of this debate would argue that the disparity in per capita income between Taiwan and the mainland today demonstrates that Mao's statement may have been a self-fullfilling proposition.

There is more consensus on Mao's role as a military strategist and tactician during the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. Even among those who find Mao's ideology to be either unworkable or abhorrent, many acknowledge that Mao was a brilliant political and military strategist - Mao's military writings continue to have a large amount of influence both among those who seek to create an insurgency and those who seek to crush one.

The ideology of Maoism has influenced many communists around the world, including third world revolutionary movements such as Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, Peru's Shining Path, the revolutionary movement in Nepal, and also claims influence of the Revolutionary Communist Party in the United States. China has moved sharply away from Maoism since Mao's death, and most people outside of China who describe themselves as Maoist regard the Deng Xiaoping reforms to be a betrayal of Mao's legacy.

In mainland China, there are those people that still consider Mao a hero in the first half of his life, but hold that he was too corrupt after gaining power. However, most Chinese liberals eschew Mao's totalitarian tactics.

Contemporary views about him in the PRC are affected by bans on some works that harshly criticise Mao. The controversial Mao: the Unknown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, provides a far less flattering picture of Mao than previous historical works do. Chang's book notes that Mao fabricated many myths about his background and youth, to enhance his image as a true "people's hero". It likewise points out that details relevant to key events in the Long March, in particular the 1935 Battle of Luding Bridge, were falsified. Open academic discussion of Mao's life is restricted by the official "70% good, 30% bad" verdict.

The Chinese government has put less emphasis on studying Mao in recent years. For example, there was hardly any state recognition of the recent 25th anniversary of Mao's death. This is a clear contrast to 1993, when the state organized numerous events and seminars commemorating Mao's 100th birthday. Nevertheless, unlike the denunciations of Stalin and 'Stalanism' by Kruschev during the Soviet era in Russia, the Chinese government has never officially repudiated the deadly tactics of Mao.

In the mid-1990s, Mao Zedong's picture began to appear on all new renminbi currency from the People’s Republic of China. This is intended primarily as an anti-counterfeiting measure as Mao's face is widely recognized in contrast to the generic figures that appear in older currency. On March 13, 2006, a story in the People's Daily reported that a proposal has been made to replace Mao's portrait on currency with that of Sun Yat-sen and Deng Xiaoping.