Mao Ze·dong

(mou′ dzŭ′dŏng′) also Mao Tse-tung (tsŭ′to͝ong′) 1893-1976.

Chinese Communist leader and theorist. A founder of the Chinese Communist Party (1921), he commanded troops in the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) and proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949. As party chairman and the country's first head of state (1949-1959), he initiated sweeping but misguided economic, agricultural, and industrial reforms that resulted in widespread starvation. He continued as party chairman after 1959 and was a leading figure in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1969). In the 1970s he consolidated his political power and established ties with the West.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Mao Ze•dong

(ˈmaʊ zəˈdʊŋ, dzə-)

also Mao Tse-tung

(ˈmaʊ tsəˈtʊŋ, dzəˈdʊŋ)
n.

1893–1976, chairman of the People's Republic of China 1949–59 and of the Chinese Communist party 1943–76.

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Mao Zedong - Chinese communist leader (1893-1976)

Mao Tsetung, Mao

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References in periodicals archive

In late September 1953, Mao Zedong announced the "general line for socialist transition." By 1956, according to Li (political science, Oregon State U.) a Stalinist economic system of industrialization and collectivization had been established in China.

Mao and the economic Stalinization of China, 1948-1953

Communist survivors, led by Mao Zedong, escape to the mountains.

Modern China time line

In 1949, China fell to Communist forces led by Mao Zedong. The next year, Communist North Korea attacked South Korea, starting the Korean War.

Fighting the 'Red Menace': fearing Communism's spread from overseas, the U.S. government waged a decades-long battle at home

The Tibetan Youth Congress organised the Guthor festival where they burnt effigies of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Mao Zedong, who invaded Tibet in 1949.

Tibetan exiles burn effigies of Chinese leaders

In addition to discussing such obvious topics as the origins of Chinese socialist thinking and the contributions of Mao Zedong, he considers such topics as modernism and anti-modernism in Mao's thought, the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the perspective of global capitalism, and the historical antecedents of the politics of the Cultural Revolution.

Marxism in the Chinese revolution

The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, are fighting to abolish Nepal's constitutional monarchy and set up a communist republic.

5 killed in land-mine blasts in Nepal

Mao Zedong started the Cultural Revolution to make foreigners leave China.

Quick quiz

Chairman Mao Zedong's 1949 revolution introduced Communism, a system that promised equal distribution of wealth, achieved through a rigid, government-controlled economy.

CHINA'S SECOND REVOLUTION

In 1966, Mao Zedong (MAOW dzuh-DOHNG), the leader of the Communist Party, launched a movement he called the Cultural Revolution.

China: changes in the wind; as China continues its shift toward capitalism, young people are preparing for tomorrow's challenges. (World)

The rebels, drawing inspiration from Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, took up arms against the government in 1996 vowing to topple the constitutional monarchy in the kingdom.

At least 50 Maoist rebels killed in Nepal clashes: media

In 1949, under the new leadership of Mao Zedong, China invaded Tibet again, in force, this time crushing its small army and forcing the Dalai Lama, then 15 years old, to sign an agreement accepting Chinese rule.

Can the Internet Free China?

In October 1949, the Communist Party, led by Chairman Mao Zedong (mow dzuh-dung), took power, forming the People's Republic of China.

China: Eyeing the U.S. with suspicion. (World)