Mao Zedong

1
Mao Zedong

• The Early Years
• 1893-1920

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1893-1902

• Born 26 December 1893, Hunan province
• Tse to shine on, Tung the east
• Mao close to mother and carefree childhood
• Distance from father, but benefits wealth
• Education began 1902 in home village Shaoshan

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1902-1907

• Excellent pupil, classical Confucian education
• Passionate reader but clashed with tutor
• Expelled from 3 schools for being headstrong and
  disobedient
• 1907 father stopped paying for education full
  time peasant

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1907-1911

• Mao hated father, keen for marriage
• 1908 marriage to 18 year old girl
• Re-entered formal education at school 25km away
• Early marriage made him fierce opponent arranged
  marriages

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Early political influences

• Current political environment reflected Maos
  behaviour
• Old order being questioned and rejected
• Strong nationalist sentiment runs through later
  thinking
• Country betrayed by leaders and inspired by idea
  restore Chinas past glory

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1911-1920

• 1911 Year of the revolution
• Teacher training college 1913
• College environment very open, allowing
  discussion western ideas
• Expressed views destruction Chinese culture to
  move into modern world

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Writings 1917-18

• Maos ethical views formed during this period
• Morality does not have to be defined in relation
  to othersPeople like me want tosatisfy our
  hearts to the full, and in doing so we
  automatically have the most valuable moral codes.
  Of course there are people and objects in the
  world, but they are all there only for me.
• Rejects any responsibility future generations
• Writings 1917-18 show absolute selfishness and
  irresponsibility at core of his outlook

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Destruction

• Writings also show joy he took in upheaval and
  destruction
• Giant wars will last as long as heaven and earth
  and will never become extinct The ideal of a
  world of Great Equality and Harmony (da tong,
  Confucian ideal society) is mistaken.
• Glorified war
• When we look at history, we adore the times of
  war when dramas happened one after another
  which make reading about them great fun.

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Death

• On death
• Human beings are endowed with the sense of
  curiosity. Why should we treat death
  differently? Dont we want to experience strange
  things? I think death is the most wonderful
  thing where else in this world can we find such
  a fantastic and drastic change?
• Later, when tens of millions of Chinese starving
  under his rule, Mao told his inner circle that it
  did no matter if people died, even that death was
  to be celebrated

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Increasing political interest

• Destruction a part of his ideology
• How do we change China? the country must
  bedestroyed and then re-formed.
• 1918 to Beijing, works for 6 months as junior
  librarian

11
Increasing political interest

• Returns to Changsha 1919
• 4 May demonstration - Mao joins militant student
  union, becomes editor of its magazine
• Articles include support for womens equality and
  free choice in marriage

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The crucial encounter June 1920

• End 1919 Mao went to Beijing
• Delegation fails in its objectives but
• Meets Professor Chen Tu-hsui, Chinas foremost
  Marxist, in Shanghai
• Chen tells Mao to open Marxist bookshop in
  Changsha
• Mao distributes communist publications but not
  yet a committed communist