Tse-tung Mao, along with Yat-sen Sun and Kai-Shek Chiang, was one of the most important figures to modern Chinese history. Born to a peasant family--his father was a farmer--in Shaoshan, China, on December 26, 1893, Mao was raised in the grinding poverty of rural Hunan province, where he developed a hatred of the Imperial Chinese government while ...
First Middle School of Changsha, Hunan First Normal University
Spouse
Jiang Qing, He Zizhen, Yang Kaihui, Luo Yixiu
Children
Mao Anying, Mao Anqing, Li Na, Li Min, Mao Anhong, Mao Anlong
Parents
Mao Yichang, Wen Qimei
Siblings
Mao Zemin, Mao Zetan
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Quote
1
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing and essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery. It cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.
2
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
3
To read too many books is harmful.
4
Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.
5
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.
6
We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.
7
It's always darkest before it becomes totally black.
8
People who are liberals look upon the principles of Marxism as abstract dogma. They approve of Marxism, but they are not prepared to practice it in full; they are not prepared to replace their liberalism by Marxism.
9
I learned to hate my father.
10
Marxism consists of thousands of truths, but they all boil down to one: It's right to rebel against reactionaries.
11
Women hold up half the sky.
12
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
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Fact
1
Cat owners not infrequently name their cats "Chairman Meow" as a joke.
2
Following his death it was disclosed that he had large "pleasure gardens" stocked with hundreds of women.
3
Mao once worked as an assistant to the chief librarian of the University of Peking. He was passed over for advancement, which spurred him to join the Chinese Communist Party, where he hoped to get ahead faster.
4
He launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, which caused widespread chaos throughout China and led to purges of "disloyal elements" at all levels of society.
5
His "great leap forward" campaign of 1959-1962 created what is considered the worst man-made disaster--a mass famine due to the attempt to turn China into a planned agrarian economy, which resulted in the deaths of over 20 million people by starvation.
6
Received Soviet Chairman of the Council of Ministers (i.e. Prime Minister) Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) in his swimming pool to show his defiance for the latter. During the meeting, Mao asked Khrushchev to jump into the pool and swim with him. Khrushchev was extremely embarrassed as he didn't have a swimming suit with him at the time.
7
Still worshipped as a god by some Chinese, especially peasants and taxi drivers, with his photos being used as charms.
8
Contrary to popular belief, Mao did not oppose to the right to bear arms. In fact, during his rule, many adult Chinese joined militia organizations and kept at least one rifle at home. It was after his death the Chinese government started implementing gun restrictions.
9
Henry Kissinger, when he learned of the death of Mao, commented that if Mao were to join God in Heaven, it would be "too powerful a combination".
10
Considered by many to have been the single most powerful leader in the world's history, as absolute ruler of one-fourth of humankind, whose voice was revered as divine revelation and who has successfully brainwashed/convinced most of his dissidents into believing that it was they, not he, who were wrong, during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a period in which his "Little Red Book" outsold the Bible.
11
Inspired countless European film directors, including Jean-Luc Godard (aka "Jean Luc Godard"), a professed Maoist in the late '60s.
12
A personal pal of French Existentialist philosopher and Nobel Laureate Jean-Paul Sartre, who got arrested for distributing inflammatory Maoist newspapers in 1970.
13
As a reaction to the Maoist insurrection in Paris and Lyon in May, 1968, the Charles de Gaulle administration decided to reorganize tertiary education in France. During the reorganization, the prestigious architecture school of Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts was split from the school and divided into several smaller schools.
14
His radical ideology has inspired countless revolutions far beyond China's borders, including guerilla activities in Nepal, Peru, Philippines, and student protests/demonstrations/riots in Europe during the late 60s, the most prominent one in France, between May and August, 1968.
15
Officially hailed "the Great Leader, great mentor, great helmsman and great commander" of the Chinese people during the Cutural Revolution (1966-1976).
16
Attended the Hunan First Normal School (early 1910s).
17
Chairman (chief of state) of the People's Republic of China (1949-1959).
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
All Eyes and Ears
2015
Documentary post-production
Himself
Biography
2000
TV Series documentary
Himself
The People Between
1947
Documentary
Himself
China Strikes Back
1937
Documentary short
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The 20th Century: A Moving Visual History
1999
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
The Century: America's Time
1999
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself - Chinese Leader
Dynasty: The Nehru-Gandhi Story
1998
TV Movie documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Biography
1995-1998
TV Series documentary
Himself
Cold War
1998
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Human Remains
1998
Documentary short
Himself
Our Time in Hell: The Korean War
1997
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Ernesto Che Guevara
1995
Documentary
Himself
Xie rou chang cheng
1995
TV Series
Himself (uncredited)
Nixon
1995
Himself - in the 1940s (uncredited)
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
1995
Video documentary
Himself
The Century of Warfare
1994
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Terra X - Rätsel alter Weltkulturen
1994
TV Series documentary
Himself
China Rising: The Epic History of 20th Century China
1992
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Peter Ustinov in China
1990
TV Movie documentary
Himself (in the 1930's) (uncredited)
Slaying the Dragon
1988
TV Movie documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Vietnam: A Television History
1983
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Comoedia
1981
Himself
Has Anybody Here Seen Canada? A History of Canadian Movies 1939-1953
1979
TV Movie documentary
Himself - with Canadian Visitors, 1948 (uncredited)
Grin Without a Cat
1977
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
The Life of Mao
1976
TV Movie documentary
Himself
I vsyo-taki ya veryu...
1974
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
The Society of the Spectacle
1974
Documentary
Himself
The World at War
1973
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself (unconfirmed, uncredited)
WR: Mysteries of the Organism
1971
Himself
No Substitute for Victory
1970
Documentary
Himself
Mao Tse-Tung and the Cultural Revolution
1969
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The Hour of the Furnaces
1968
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Bethune
1964
Documentary
Himself - with Canadian Visitors (uncredited)
Das Lied der Ströme
1954
Documentary
Himself (with labourers) (uncredited)
Battle for China
1953
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Mid Century: Half Way to Where?
1950
Short documentary
Himself - Chinese leader
Conspiracy
2015
TV Series documentary
Himself - President of the People's Republic of China
New World Order Bible Versions
2014
Documentary
Himself - Chairman of the Communist Party of China (uncredited)
Our Nixon
2013
Documentary
Himself
The Untold History of the United States
2012
TV Series documentary
Himself - Chinese Communist Leader
Bokassa 1er, empereur de Françafrique
2011
Documentary
Himself
Mulberry Child
2011
Documentary
Himself
World War II in Color
2010-2011
TV Series documentary
Himself
Imagine
2010
TV Series documentary
Himself
Marijuana: A Chronic History
2010
TV Movie
Himself
War of the Gods
2010
Documentary
Himself
Io sono Tony Scott, ovvero come l'Italia fece fuori il più grande clarinettista del jazz
2010
Documentary
Himself
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
2010
Documentary
Himself
The Flying Scissors
2009
Himself
Mao's Last Dancer
2009
Himself (uncredited)
Capitalism: A Love Story
2009
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Hype: The Obama Effect
2008
Video documentary
Himself
Henry Kissinger: Secrets of a Superpower
2008
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution
2008
Documentary
Himself
Zwischen den Fronten - Die neuen Achsen der Macht
2008
TV Series documentary
Himself
Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement
2007
Video documentary
Himself
The Long March
2007
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Mao, une histoire chinoise
2006
TV Series documentary
Himself
American Eats
2006
TV Series
Himself
Declassified
2006
TV Series documentary
Himself
Legendary Sin Cities
2005
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself - Chinese Leader
Unsere Besten
2004
TV Series
Himself
Imelda
2003
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Glauber o Filme, Labirinto do Brasil
2003
Documentary
Himself
Morning Sun
2003
TV Movie documentary
Himself
Bola de Nieve
2003
Video documentary
Himself (uncredited)
A Secret War Story: Who Is John Birch?
2003
Video documentary
The Weather Underground
2002
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Naqoyqatsi
2002
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
The Trials of Henry Kissinger
2002
Documentary
Himself (uncredited)
The Yogis of Tibet
2002
Video documentary
Himself
In the Shadow of Hollywood
2000
Documentary
Himself (handshake with Kissinger) (uncredited)
Hendrix
2000
TV Movie
Himself (with Deng Xiao-ping) (uncredited)
The Worlds of Mei Lanfang
2000
Documentary
Himself
The Korean War: Fire and Ice
1999
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Biography of the Millennium: 100 People - 1000 Years
$9 Million