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Head of the First Generation of CPC Leaders: Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong (1893 - 1976) was born in the village of Shao Shan,
Hunan province in China on December 26, 1893.
He was still a student when the revolution of 1911-1912 overthrew
the Manchu Royal government and made China a republic.
While he was employed briefly as a library worker at the National Peking University in 1918, Mao Zedong became attracted to the ideas of Communism.
In 1921, Mao and 11 other people founded the Chinese Communist Party
in Shanghai at age 27. He attended the First Congress of the Chinese
Communist Party in Shanghai in July the same year. Two years later he
was elected to the Central Committee of the party at the Third Congress.
From 1931 to 1934, Mao Zedong helped established the Chinese Soviet
Republic in southeast China, and was elected as the chairman.
Starting in October 1934, "The Long March" began ― a retreat from
the southeast to northwest China.
In 1937, Japan opened a full war of aggression against China, which
made the Chinese Communist Party unite with the nationalist forces
of the Kuomintang. After defeating the Japanese, the Kuomintang
initiated a civil war against the Communists, during which the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Kuomintang, and established the People's Republic of China, in October 1949.
Mao Zedong served as the first Chairman of the People's Republic of
China.
In 1966, he initiated Cultural Revolution, which lasted for 10 years and caused social and economic chaos in China.
Chairman Mao Zedong decided to establish diplomatic relations with the United States during his late years. On October 1, 1970, Chairman Mao Zedong invited American writer Edgar Snow to the National Day
celebration on the Tian'anmen rostrum, sending a signal to the United
States that China was willing to improve her relations with the United
States.
On December 18, Mao Zedong asked Snow to pass the message to
Washington that Nixon would be welcome to Beijing for talks.
In 1970, China and the United States resumed talks on the ambassador
level. In July and October, 1971, Dr. Henry Kissinger, national security advisor to the president of the United States, twice visited China in secret to pave the way for the visit by President Richard Nixon.
President Nixon visited China on February 21, 1972, and Chairman Mao
Zedong met him at the Zhongnanhai, Beijing. On February 27, the two
countries issued the Sino-US Joint Communiqué, marking the opening
of the gate for bilateral relations.
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