A Glimpse into Mao: The Beginning of a Communist

Mao Ze Dong is a very controversial and intriguing figure from China's history. There is way too much to say about him all at once, so here is just a beginning summary of what I have learned about his early life, and the path that led him to become the communist leader of China.

Mao Ze Dong was born December 26, 1893 to mother Wen Chi-mei, a devout Buddhist, and to father Mao Yi-Chang, in the city of Shaoshan found in the Hunan provence of China. His double name, ze dong breaks down into ze, meaning “to shine on” and “dong” meaning the east. His name together meaning, “to shine on the east”. His parents intentionally giving him this name, demonstrates their desire for their son to rise above their peasant standing.
Although a poor peasant, Mao Yi-Chang joined the army to provide money for his family, while also paying off his debts. He eventually worked his way up to being a land owner, by beginning his own rice trading business. Although coming from a working class family, Mao Zedong began his formal education at the age of eight. This is when he was taught Confucian classics, as well as foundations in the Chinese language and history, reading, and how to write prose, calligraphy and poetry. Mao was known for being head strong and argumentative with his tutors. After having his fourth tutor quit, Yi-Chang refused to pay for Mao schooling any longer. For the first time Mao became a full time peasant, having to do manual labor to provide for himself. Mao’s father, hoping he could tame his son, arranged for Mao to marry his niece who was 18 years old, making her 4 years older than the then 14 year old Mao. Later on in life, Mao refused to call this woman his wife, insisting he never even lived with her, and that he didn’t even realize she had died only one year into the marriage. Because of this situation, Mao grew up opposing arranged marriages, inciting that it was “indirect rape” being done by the parents.
Mao went on to be educated at modern schools that had been rising in popularity throughout China. Eastern Hill was the first modern school Mao went to, though it was only for a few months, it opened Mao’s eyes up to many new things. Eastern Hill is where he began to learn English, Physical training, music, and readings from Napolean, Wellington, Lincoln, and others with the same prestige and fame. Mao then found a position at a school in his provence’s capital Changsha, where he at the age of 17 vowed never to be a peasant again.
Arriving in Changsha in 1911, Mao was exposed to a plethora of ideas on politics and social reform. This was a time when the Republican Revolution was imminent, ending the imperial rule which had lasted for over two-thousand years. At this time, the Manchus were in charge, which upset many Han Chinese, who made up about 94 percent of the population. They considered the rule of the Manchus as, “foreign rule”. Mao quickly became political, writing his first political essay, which expressed Republican views when he was only seventeen years old. He also cut off his pigtail, which was significant as a symbol of imperial rule. Mao and Rupublicans alike were pleased when in October of 1911, the Republican Revolution had an uprising in the Hubei Province ending the 260 year Manchu rule, and declaring a republic on January 1st, 1912.
As Mao’s education progressed, he began to further think about the circumstances surrounding China. He questioned why so many Chinese were narrow-minded, content with being slaves, and living in hypocrisy. With this thinking, Mao developed his own views on morality, which focused all on the self. Mao was uninterested in the world he would one day leave behind, but primarily focused on exactly what would benefit himself. Mao wrote in response to a book titled A System of Ethics, “People like me only have a duty to ourselves, we have no duty to other people. I am responsible only for the reality that I know, and absolutely not responsible for anything else. I don’t know about the past, I don’t know about the future. They have nothing to do with the reality of my own self. Some say one has a responsibility for history. I don’t believe it. I am only concerned about developing myself...I have my desire and act on it. I am responsible to no one.” Along with his emphasis on his own well being, Mao’s opinions and ideas began to revolve around “upheaval and destruction.” This theme is exactly what came to mind when Mao began to think of how China’s issues were to be resolved. He wanted to see China destroyed, so that it could then be rebuilt.
In 1919 China was becoming more chaotic, and Mao was becoming more involved in politics, being defined as a Hunan radical. He petitioned and wrote pamphlets when he went to the delegation lobby in Peking. But, it was in Shanghai that Mao met Chen Tu-shao, who was China’s lead Marxist. This encounter would shape the leader he would eventually become. Although Mao was not a founding member of the CCP, Chinese Communist Party, he played an intricate part in its development. His job was to distribute communist literature, trying to gain new followers. It was not until Mao was almost 27 that he finally declared his views saying that he “deeply agreed with using the Russian model to reform China and the world.” Mao was officially a communist.