Mao Zedong

American

[mou zuh-doong, dzuh-, mou zuh-dawng] / ˈmaʊ zəˈdʊŋ, dzə-, ˈmaʊ ˈzʌˈdɔŋ /

Wade-Giles, Mao Tse-tung

noun

1893–1976, Chinese Communist leader: chairman of the People's Republic of China 1949–59; chairman of the Chinese Communist Party 1943–76.

Mao Zedong Cultural

A Chinese revolutionary leader of the twentieth century. He led an army of workers and peasants on the Long March in the 1920s and used guerrilla warfare techniques successfully on both the Japanese invaders and the forces of the Chinese government under Chiang Kai-shek. In 1949, his armies took over the country and established the People's Republic of China. Mao continued as chairman of China's Communist party and as premier. His “Little Red Book,” Quotations from Chairman Mao, was standard reading for schoolchildren of the country. Toward the end of his life, he brought about the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, in which all capitalist or elitist culture was to be purged. Mao died in 1976.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The historical parallels to the era of Mao Zedong are unmistakable, Chinese historians say.

From The Wall Street Journal

But that hasn’t stopped foreign academics, officials and business executives from trying to find out—and some are turning to arcane tea leaf-reading techniques dating back to the era of Mao Zedong.

From The Wall Street Journal

In 1973, wrestlers travelled to Beijing to celebrate the previous year's establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Mao Zedong's China.

From Barron's

Some analysts say Xi’s latest crackdown on corruption and disloyalty in the armed forces marks the most aggressive dismantling of China’s military leadership since the Mao Zedong era.

From The Wall Street Journal

Chairman Mao Zedong championed technological independence in the 1950s and 1960s as relations deteriorated with the Soviet Union.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023