Selected Works of Mao Zedong 中文

People

Categories of figures

Figures cited in or appearing in this book, grouped by role into six categories.

Symbolic image for the figures feature

Index of figures by category

Fourteen figures · six categories

Author of this collection

Author of the essays gathered in this reading edition

Mao ZedongAuthor of this collection · revolutionary and theoristAuthor 1893–1976

Mao Zedong

AuthorAuthor of the essays gathered in this reading edition1893–1976

Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893 into a peasant family in Shaoshan Chong, Xiangtan, Hunan, and died in Beijing on 9 September 1976. He was one of the principal founders of the Chinese Communist Party, the People's Liberation Army, and the People's Republic of China. The 162 essays in this reading edition are a selection of the treatises, reports, speeches, telegrams, and letters he wrote between 1925 and 1949. Drawing on Marxism-Leninism and adapting it to China's concrete conditions, his writings form a comprehensive body of thought on the Chinese revolution and state-building — class analysis, the encirclement of the cities from the countryside, people's war, New Democracy, and seeking truth from facts — which constitutes the core literature of this site's theme pages and chapters. As a historical-document reading edition, this site records his life and career in neutral, factual chronology only: it does not speak for him, nor does it pass judgement on present-day positions.

  • The 162 essays gathered here are a selection of his treatises, reports, speeches, telegrams, and letters from 1925–1949.
  • In 1921 he took part in the founding National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party as one of its founding members.
  • From 1927 he opened the revolutionary road of 'encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by armed force', and from 1931 served as Chairman of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic.

Family and origins

Mao was born in 1893 in a middle-peasant family in Shaoshan Chong, Xiangtan, Hunan. He attended a village private school as a child and read the classics and histories such as the Zuo Zhuan and the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance. After 1910 he studied at Dongshan Academy and then the First Normal School of Hunan in Changsha, where he read widely in Chinese and foreign history, geography, and philosophy and followed current affairs. The New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement were then sweeping Xiangxiang and Changsha, drawing him from traditional learning toward modern ideas such as evolution, democracy, and science — laying the groundwork for his later worldview shift.

Youth and education

Around the May Fourth period he edited the Xiang River Review and published 'The Great Union of the Popular Masses', beginning to engage public issues through writing. Staying in Beijing before the reforms opened, he worked as a library assistant at Peking University, where he encountered the newly arrived Marxist literature and figures such as Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. In July 1921, as a delegate of the Changsha communist group, he went to Shanghai for the founding National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, becoming one of its founding members and turning from a radical democrat to a communist.

Entering the cause

After the 1927 break in the First United Front, at the August 7 Meeting he advanced the famous dictum that 'political power grows out of the barrel of a gun', then led the Autumn Harvest Uprising on the Hunan-Jiangxi border and marched to Jinggangshan, opening the road of 'encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing power by armed force'. In 1931 the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic was established at Ruijin and he was elected Chairman; essays such as 'A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire' and 'Oppose Book Worship' systematically express this strategic thinking. The practice and writing of this period constitute the main body of Volume I of this book.

Main career

After the Zunyi Conference of 1935 during the Long March, he became one of the principal leaders of the CCP Central Committee. During the War of Resistance he wrote 'On Protracted War', 'On New Democracy', and 'The Role of the Communist Party of China in the National War', advancing the systematic theories of people's war and New Democracy, and launched the Yan'an Rectification to unify Party thinking. After victory he led the Party and the liberated areas through the Third Revolutionary Civil War, proposing the Ten Military Principles and the line of 'carry the revolution through to the end'. In September 1949 he was elected Chairman of the Central People's Government of the PRC; on 1 October the founding of the state was proclaimed. The essays gathered here are representative documents of his theory and strategy in this period.

Legacy

The 162 essays gathered in this reading edition are a selection of his writings from 1925 to 1949 and form the site's core literature. The methodological principles he repeatedly stressed — 'seek truth from facts', 'concrete analysis of concrete problems', and the 'mass line' — run through the military, Party-building, united-front, peasant, and New Democracy themes of this book, and serve as the basis for the site's theme pages and chapter guides. This site records his life and career in neutral, factual chronology; every quotation matches the base text word for word, it does not speak for the documents, and it passes no judgement on present-day positions.

Personal life

In his spare time he liked to read histories and write classical-style poetry; his surviving poems are bold and allusive, often read as a window into his temperament and vision. Known for a plain and frugal lifestyle, he continued to follow the country's construction and development in his later years. Some of his private letters and speeches are also included in this book, providing primary-source material for researchers. He died in Beijing on 9 September 1976, aged 82.

Intellectual sources

Canonical writers cited in this book as theoretical authorities

Karl MarxFounder of communist theoryTier S 1818–1883Friedrich EngelsLifelong collaborator of MarxTier A 1820–1895Vladimir LeninMarxist of the era of imperialism and proletarian revolutionTier S 1870–1924Joseph StalinLeader of the CPSU and the international communist movementTier A 1878–1953

Karl Marx

Tier SForemost of this book's intellectual sources1818–1883

Karl Marx (full name Karl Heinrich Marx) was born on 5 May 1818 in Trier, in the Rhine Province of Prussia, into a Jewish family of lawyers shaped by Enlightenment thought and the French Revolution. Showing an early interest in literature and philosophy, he studied at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin, first law and then philosophy and history, and in 1841 received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Jena for a dissertation on the difference between the natural philosophies of Democritus and Epicurus. He married Jenny von Westphalen in 1843 and later lived long stretches in Paris, Brussels, and London, witnessing firsthand the social changes of post-industrial Europe. His life's work concentrated on the critical analysis of capitalist society and, on that basis, the construction of the theoretical system of scientific socialism, always joined to the actual movement of the working class. Spinning across philosophy, economics, and politics, his writings form what came to be called Marxism. The Selected Works of Mao Zedong takes Marxism as its methodological ground, repeatedly citing the Communist Manifesto, the Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, and Capital as the theoretical point of departure for analysing China's social character, class structure, and revolutionary path; the 'Marxism-Leninism' the book invokes rests on his and Lenin's doctrines as its two pillars.

  • With Engels he co-authored the Communist Manifesto (1848), opening with 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.'
  • Capital exposes the inner contradictions of the capitalist mode of production and lays the foundation of the theory of surplus value.
  • This book uses his paired categories of 'productive forces and relations of production' and 'economic base and superstructure' to analyse China.

Family and origins

Marx was born in May 1818 in Trier, Rhine Province, Prussia, into a Jewish family of lawyers shaped by Enlightenment thought; his father was a local lawyer and his mother came from a Dutch-Jewish family. The strongly enlightened, humanistic atmosphere at home gave him the habit of independent thought from childhood. He attended the Trier Gymnasium and then the Universities of Bonn and Berlin, studying law and philosophy and gradually drawn to Hegel's dialectics. At Berlin he joined the Young Hegelian 'Doctors' Club', coming under the influence of Bauer and others and beginning to intervene in reality through philosophical criticism. In 1841 he received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Jena for a dissertation on the difference between the natural philosophies of Democritus and Epicurus — a work marking his turn from pure philosophy toward concern for actual society and the start of his scholarly and public writing. Trier's position at the crossroads of Germany and France, where Enlightenment and revolutionary currents met, deeply shaped his worldview; his Jewish background left him somewhat marginal in Prussian society of the time.

Youth and education

In 1842 he edited the Rheinische Zeitung, confronting Prussian social contradictions and press censorship and first showing a tendency to engage reality through the pen. In Paris he encountered French socialism and English political economy and, in the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, published 'On the Jewish Question' and 'Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction', completing his worldview shift from idealism to materialism and from revolutionary democracy to communism. In 1844 he met Engels in Paris and the two became lifelong collaborators, jointly laying the theoretical and organizational foundation. During this period he also studied British classical political economy and French utopian socialism, accumulating material for his later theoretical synthesis; this worldview shift became the cornerstone of all his subsequent theoretical work, and his passage 'from the study to the square' gave his theory an enduringly practical orientation.

Entering the cause

Expelled from France by the Prussian government in 1845, he moved to Brussels, where with Engels he co-wrote The Holy Family and The German Ideology, systematically expounding the basic propositions of historical materialism and marking it off from various idealist conceptions of history. In 1847 he joined the League of the Just and reorganized it into the Communist League, commissioned to draft its programme. In February 1848 the Communist Manifesto was published in London, opening with 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles' and marking the public arrival of scientific socialism, rapidly becoming the programmatic document of the workers' movement and turning socialism from utopia into science. After its publication the Manifesto was quickly translated into many languages, becoming the most rousing programmatic text of the nineteenth-century workers' movement. That year he returned to Germany to throw himself into revolutionary practice, joining theory and real politics directly for the first time.

Main career

When the 1848 European revolutions erupted, he returned to Germany to found the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, taking direct part in revolutionary propaganda and organization; after its failure he went into exile in London, where he settled for the rest of his life. For decades thereafter he devoted his main energies to writing Capital, exposing the inner contradictions of the capitalist mode of production and the theory of surplus value to provide the workers' movement with a theoretical basis. He also helped found the International Workingmen's Association, promoting the unity of proletarian organizations across countries, and defended the organization's unity in debates against Proudhon, Bakunin, and others, maintaining close contact with workers' organizations abroad even in exile. The three-volume plan of Capital was so vast that it remained unfinished at his death, a measure of the enormity of the system. The 'Marxism-Leninism' this book speaks of rests on his and Lenin's theories as its two pillars, and its categories of 'productive forces and relations of production' and 'economic base and superstructure' are used throughout to analyse China.

Legacy

Marx's doctrine spread across continental Europe and Russia in the late nineteenth century and in the twentieth became the guiding ideology and basis of state-building for many communist parties, spawning different interpretive schools. This book repeatedly calls his doctrine 'universally applicable', while stressing that it must be combined with each country's concrete practice and opposing its dogmatic application. His writings on class struggle, the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the theory of the state are an important theoretical resource for this book's observation and analysis of the Chinese revolution. After his death his theoretical legacy was carried forward and practiced by Engels and later Marxists; its influence reached far beyond academia into twentieth-century world politics, and within the international communist movement multiple lines and schools formed around how to interpret and practice his doctrine.

Personal life

Marx lived long in London, reading and writing daily in the British Museum reading room. Repeatedly straitened for money, he was able to sustain his research only thanks to Engels's long-term support. He wrote prodigiously despite frail health, kept following the actual development of the international workers' movement in his later years, and left a large body of unsorted manuscripts. His marriage to Jenny weathered decades of hardship; though the family was poor, their bond was deep, and his attention to his children's education shows in his later letters home. Wide-ranging in interests — literature, history, mathematics — the breadth of his thought surfaces throughout his letters and notes. He died in London in March 1883 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery; his manuscripts and unfinished work were continued and completed by Engels.

Friedrich Engels

Tier AOne of this book's intellectual sources1820–1895

Friedrich Engels was born on 28 November 1820 in Barmen (today Wuppertal), Rhine Province, Prussia, into a textile-manufacturer's family. Forced into commerce young, he nevertheless kept his attention on workers' conditions and philosophical currents, and ultimately co-founded scientific socialism with Marx. His Anti-Dühring and Dialectics of Nature, and the Communist Manifesto co-authored with Marx, are all sources for this book; the Selected Works of Mao Zedong often follows his materialist-dialectical framework when discussing philosophy and methodology. Combining the roles of industrialist and theorist, he long supported Marx with the proceeds of business and, after Marx's death, saw the later volumes of Capital through the press; his popular expositions also made Marxism more accessible to the general public.

  • With Marx he co-authored the Communist Manifesto, establishing the basic propositions of class struggle and the historical mission of the proletariat.
  • Anti-Dühring systematically expounds philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism and is regarded as an encyclopedia of Marxism.
  • After Marx's death he edited and published Volumes II and III of Capital, preserving the theoretical system.

Family and origins

Engels was born in 1820 in Barmen, Germany, into a wealthy textile-manufacturer's family. As a youth he was sent into commerce and worked in factories in Bremen and Manchester. During his Manchester years in business he came into close contact with British industrial workers and observed firsthand the operation of the factory system and workers' poverty. This experience became the empirical basis of his later The Condition of the Working Class in England; his early commercial experience also gave him a close-up view of capitalist production, unlike a purely book-bound scholar.

Youth and education

In 1844 he met Marx again in Paris — the two had already exchanged letters via the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher — and thereafter converged in philosophical and political stance, laying the foundation of a lifelong collaboration. He moved from Young Hegelianism to communism and began a systematic study of English political economy and French socialist thought. His early writings already showed a tendency to join philosophical criticism with the workers' movement; he also translated Marx's early writings, helping disseminate them in the German-speaking world.

Entering the cause

In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, bringing empirical study of the industrial proletariat into theory-building and laying a foundation for early workers'-movement research. Thereafter, with Marx, he co-wrote The Holy Family and The German Ideology, systematically expounding historical materialism. He also took part in reorganizing the Communist League and assisted in drafting the Communist Manifesto; his empirical orientation complemented Marx's more theory-bound approach.

Main career

Engels's scholarly contribution lay in extending historical materialism to nature, military affairs, and the family, and in serving throughout as Marx's supporter in both theory and material sustenance. His independently written Anti-Dühring, regarded as an encyclopedia of Marxism, systematically expounds philosophy, political economy, and scientific socialism. After Marx's death he spent years editing and publishing Volumes II and III of Capital, preserving the theoretical system from dispersal; he also studied military history and strategy and left related writings.

Legacy

Of the dialectical and historical materialism this book follows, Engels is an important expositor; his discussions of 'necessity and freedom', 'quantitative change into qualitative change', and 'negation of the negation' recur in the book's philosophical chapters. The Marx manuscripts he edited allowed the Capital system to be transmitted intact. The Communist Manifesto the two co-authored is itself one of the basic documents this book cites, and his popular expositions made Marxism more accessible to the public.

Personal life

He combined the roles of industrialist and theorist, long supporting Marx with the proceeds of business so that Marx could devote himself to writing. In later life he left commerce, settled in London, and concentrated on editing his late friend's manuscripts and writing his own late works. He died in London in August 1895; his manuscripts and scholarly enterprise were carried forward by later Marxists. He consistently and modestly attributed the credit to Marx.

Vladimir Lenin

Tier SForemost of this book's intellectual sources (with Marx)1870–1924

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (birth surname Ulyanov) was born on 22 April 1870 in Simbirsk, Russia, into a progressive intelligentsia family. He developed Marxism into the theory and strategy of the era of imperialism, founded the Bolshevik Party, and led the October Revolution of 1917, establishing the world's first socialist state and inaugurating a new revolutionary model centred on Party-building, seizure of power, and construction. The Selected Works of Mao Zedong draws directly on Lenin for its discussions of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat', 'Party-building', 'theory of imperialism', and the 'national and colonial question', repeatedly calling his doctrine 'a universally applicable truth'. Lenin's writings on the new type of proletarian party, democratic centralism, and the vanguard deeply influenced this book's 'Party-building' theme; his judgements on imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism and on colonial and semi-colonial revolution provide this book's 'New Democracy' discourse with an international horizon. The 'Marxism-Leninism' this book names sets Marx's and Lenin's doctrines side by side as its two pillars, running through multiple themes.

  • Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism analyses monopoly capitalism and is one of this book's methods for reading the international situation.
  • His writings on the new type of proletarian party (democratic centralism, vanguard) deeply influenced this book's 'Party-building' theme.
  • His ideas of 'national self-determination' and 'colonial and semi-colonial revolution' give this book's 'New Democracy' discourse an international horizon.

Family and origins

Lenin was born in 1870 in Simbirsk, Russia, into a progressive intelligentsia family; his father was a provincial education inspector, and the family valued education and public service and held a rich library that gave him a good early learning environment. As a youth he attended the local gymnasium with excellent results; stimulated by his elder brother Alexander's execution for revolutionary activity, he gradually turned toward Marxism and the revolutionary road. In 1887 he entered Kazan University's law faculty, but was soon arrested and exiled for student activism, interrupting his regular studies and setting him on the path of professional revolution; during exile he completed his university work by self-study. His brother's fate was a major spur to his radical politics and tinged the family with anti-autocratic colour. Simbirsk, on the Volga, blended provincial atmosphere with imperial bureaucracy, giving him both exposure to Russian official culture and some sense of the common people's plight; the orderly, studious home atmosphere laid the foundation for his later rigorous habits of thought.

Youth and education

In the 1890s he worked in Samara and St Petersburg on worker enlightenment and Party-building, translating and explaining Marx's Capital for Russian workers. Several times arrested and exiled to Siberia, during and after exile he systematically studied Marx and Engels and wrote The Development of Capitalism in Russia. He founded Iskra to unify the scattered Marxist circles and prepare a centralized, unified party; the paper became an important link among revolutionaries everywhere. This passage from provincial youth to professional revolutionary gave him both theoretical grounding and mastery of the art of underground organization; he excelled at turning abstract doctrine into concrete, workable programmes of action — a trait that ran through his later political career.

Entering the cause

At the 1903 Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, the faction he led won a majority on the question of organization and was called the Bolsheviks, advocating a tight vanguard-party line. He then waged a long polemic with the Mensheviks, clarifying the idea of proletarian leadership in the bourgeois revolution. After the February Revolution of 1917 he returned to Russia and issued the April Theses, proposing the turn from the bourgeois-democratic revolution to the socialist revolution and laying the theoretical and political foundation for the October uprising. The Bolshevik-Menshevik split, on the surface a dispute over organizational principles, was in essence about who led the revolution and how; the vanguard line Lenin insisted on later became the blueprint for communist parties everywhere, and the line's divergence recurred repeatedly in the Party-building practice of many countries, a measure of its far-reaching influence.

Main career

In November 1917 (October by the Russian calendar) he led the armed uprising in Petrograd and established Soviet power; thereafter, amid civil war and construction, he practiced the idea of 'continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat' and founded the Communist International to advance world revolution. His writings were voluminous, spanning philosophy, economics, and the theory of party and state; in his later years he also dictated texts on cooperatives and on reform of state organs. In the grim circumstances of civil war and foreign intervention he presided over War Communism and then the New Economic Policy to restore the economy; his writings on the state and revolution and on imperialism form an important part of twentieth-century revolutionary theory. This book cites at length his arguments on the Party, on imperialism, and on the state and revolution as a basis for analysing China and the world; his writings are an important source of this book's theoretical citations. He also set about rectifying the state apparatus, stressing the purity and discipline of the cadre corps — arguments later cited by this book as reference for Party-building and governance.

Legacy

Leninism is positioned by this book as 'Marxism of the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution'. His judgements on 'party', 'united front', and 'imperialism is a paper tiger' run through multiple themes. The revolutionary model he pioneered — centred on Party-building, seizure of power, and construction — profoundly influenced communist parties in the twentieth century and is an important reference for this book's revolutionary discourse. After his death his doctrine was summed up as Leninism, set alongside Marxism as the theoretical banner of communist parties everywhere; within the Soviet Union and the international communist movement it underwent continual reinterpretation and practice, and around the authority to interpret his legacy the Soviet and international movements repeatedly contended. The intra-Party struggle in the Soviet Union after his death also reflects the tensions Leninism met in practice.

Personal life

Equally a theorist and a practitioner, he wrote and organized prolifically even in exile and underground, known for rigorous logic and a sharp polemical style. In later life, as his health declined, he gradually withdrew from day-to-day leadership; the writings of that period — on cooperatives, on dialectics notes, and the like — are still cited by this book. He worked at a fierce pace, used to writing and reading late at night, and was known for a terse, forceful style; his speeches and articles are tightly logical and highly aggressive, often striking opponents at their weak point in debate. He died in January 1924 in Gorki, near Moscow, and was buried in Red Square; his death marked the Soviet Union's entry into a new leadership configuration, and Lenin's image has since been enshrined as the symbol of the revolutionary teacher. His habit of working late and his high self-discipline made him seem unusually energetic and resolute among his peers.

Joseph Stalin

Tier AIntellectual source and international reference1878–1953

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was born on 21 December 1878 in Gori, Georgia, an important leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the international communist movement. In discussing 'opposing dogmatism', 'criticism and self-criticism', and 'the historical experience of the CPSU(B)', this book repeatedly refers to the practice of the Soviet Union and the CPSU(B) as a reference for socialist construction. Some of his arguments on linguistics and on economic base and superstructure are also cited by this book, which both draws on Soviet experience and insists on independent judgement suited to China's concrete conditions. The History of the CPSU(B): Short Course, compiled by the CPSU(B) Central Committee, was also among the reference readings for this book's rectification study.

  • Essays such as 'Reform Our Study' and 'Rectify the Party's Style of Work' use the history of the CPSU(B) as a mirror to oppose dogmatism within the Party.
  • In discussing 'criticism and self-criticism', Soviet experience is cited to show this is the inner mechanism by which the Party stays vital.
  • Some of his arguments on 'linguistics' and 'economic base and superstructure' are also cited by this book.

Family and origins

Stalin was born in 1878 in Gori, Georgia, into a poor artisan family and attended the Tiflis Theological Seminary, where he encountered underground Marxist publications. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party's underground activities early, organizing workers' groups and printing revolutionary leaflets. The seminary's strict training gave him diligent reading habits, while the ethnic and class contradictions of the Caucasus deepened his awareness of social injustice and shaped his later austere manner.

Youth and education

He came to prominence in the workers' movements of the Caucasus and Baku, was several times arrested and exiled to Siberia, yet repeatedly escaped and returned to revolutionary activity. Step by step he entered the Bolshevik central leadership, known for organizational and propaganda work and for writing for Party papers such as Pravda. By the time of the October Revolution he was already an important member handling nationality and organizational affairs; his underground experience built his standing.

Entering the cause

After the October Revolution he held posts such as People's Commissar for Nationalities and Central Secretary, coordinating grain, organization, and nationality affairs in the early civil war and state-building period. Thereafter his position in the Party's power structure kept rising, and he gradually became the principal leader of the CPSU(B) and the Soviet Union. The process was accompanied by repeated intra-Party line and personnel struggles; he ultimately prevailed in the succession after Lenin's death.

Main career

In power he pushed socialist industrialization and agricultural collectivization, led the Soviet Union through resisting and defeating fascist Germany's invasion, and made the USSR a great power in the postwar international order. This book views the Soviet Union as the pillar of the international proletariat and uses CPSU(B) experience as a mirror for its own construction and struggle. The History of the CPSU(B): Short Course, compiled by the CPSU(B) Central Committee, was also among the reference readings for this book's rectification study and widely influenced cadre education in communist parties everywhere.

Legacy

This book both draws on Soviet experience and maintains independent judgement, stressing 'taking the Soviet Union as a mirror' without blind imitation; its historical narrative of 'the struggle of two lines' influenced the book's political discourse. Stalin's writings and speeches were translated and introduced to China as material for cadres' theoretical study. His historical evaluation has long been contested within the international communist movement, and after the 20th Congress of the CPSU some of his policies were re-examined. Both the industrializing achievements of his rule and the harshness of its methods have been repeatedly scrutinized and debated by later historians.

Personal life

He long presided over the CPSU Central Secretariat, stressing organization, discipline, and propaganda, known for an austere manner, and liked to express policy in concise, programmatic language. Some of his articles on linguistics and philosophical questions were cited by this book as theoretical grounds. He died in Moscow in March 1953; his death triggered a recomposition of the Soviet leadership.

Contemporaries and comrades

Comrades named in the text and who fought side by side

Zhu DeOne of the principal founders of the people's armyTier A 1886–1976Zhou EnlaiImportant leader of Party and government workTier A 1898–1976Liu ShaoqiImportant leader of Party-building and the workers' movementTier B 1898–1969

Zhu De

Tier AMilitary leader who fought side by side, named in the text1886–1976

Zhu De (courtesy name Yujie) was born on 1 December 1886 in Yilong, Sichuan, into a poor-peasant family, and was one of the principal founders of the people's army. This book discusses the building and operational principles of the people's army in many places, and Zhu was one of the principal leaders of that army, closely bound up with the principles this book argues — 'the Party commands the gun', 'army and people as one', 'people's war'. He long served as its commander-in-chief, taking part in directing the counter-'encirclement' campaigns, the Long March, the War of Resistance, and the Liberation War; his military practice is an important real-world basis for this book's discourse on people's war.

  • In early life threw himself into the 1911 Revolution, then went to study in Europe and turned to Marxism.
  • Took part in the Nanchang Uprising, making an important contribution to the founding of the people's army.
  • Held principal army leadership posts in the Long March and the War of Resistance, practicing this book's people's-war line.

Family and origins

Zhu De was born in 1886 in a poor-peasant family in Yilong, Sichuan; as a child he farmed and later, with relatives' help, attended school. He studied at the Sichuan Higher School and the Yunnan Military Academy, and after graduation threw himself into the anti-Qing, Protect-the-Republic, and Protect-the-Constitution wars, moving from old-army officer to a progressive-minded soldier. The academy's military training and combat experience laid the basis for his later command and made him aware of the old army's many ills, stirring the idea of reforming the military.

Youth and education

Through the ups and downs of the old army and observation of the warlord melee, he grew disillusioned with the old-style army's corruption. Seeking a way out, in 1922 he went to study in Europe, in Germany and the Soviet Union, and there turned to Marxism and joined the Chinese Communist Party. This turn transformed him from a patriotic soldier into a proletarian revolutionary and brought him together with comrades he would work with for decades, setting the direction of striving for the toiling masses.

Entering the cause

In 1927 he took part in the Nanchang Uprising, holding a command post and leading troops in battle; later his unit joined forces and opened the armed-struggle road of rural base areas. In the Jinggangshan and Central Soviet areas he and Mao Zedong and others groped out the line of worker-peasant armed secession and accumulated experience in large-scale mobile warfare during the counter-encirclement campaigns. This stage established his position as one of the principal founders of the people's army and built his reputation as commander-in-chief.

Main career

He long served as commander-in-chief of the people's army, taking part in directing the counter-encirclement campaigns, the Long March, the War of Resistance, and the Liberation War. He corroborates this book's arguments on 'people's war', 'guerrilla warfare', and 'army and people as one', and was an important practitioner of the armed-struggle line. His leadership stressed discipline, training, and the mass line, internally consistent with this book's military thought, and he played a key role in opening enemy-rear base areas, moving frequently between base areas and the front to coordinate the operations and supply of various units; his experience provided a practical model for building the people's army.

Legacy

When this book discusses military affairs it mostly argues in the collective name, but what it rests on is precisely the people's-army tradition pioneered by military leaders such as Zhu De. The style he represented — officers and men as one, army and people as one — became an enduring fine tradition of the people's army. His place in military history is universally acknowledged, and he is ranked alongside Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai as a core figure of army-building; his composure in the Long March and the War of Resistance won him great prestige in the army, and he became an important representative of the people's army's image. His experience is repeatedly summed up and cited by this book. His plain, unadorned general's image remains part of the people's army's traditional narrative.

Personal life

Plain in manner and sharing hardships with the soldiers, he was affectionately called 'the commander-in-chief' by subordinates and the people. His leadership stressed discipline and the mass line; he was magnanimous to others and strict with himself, and his habit of gardening and manual labour, with no taste for special privilege, was widely known. He died in Beijing in July 1976, aged 90, one of the longest-serving commanders-in-chief in the people's army's history.

Zhou Enlai

Tier AComrade who fought side by side, named in the text1898–1976

Zhou Enlai (courtesy name Xiangyu) was born on 5 March 1898 in Huai'an, Jiangsu, into a declining official-family, an important leader of Party and government work. In discussing the 'united front', 'united-front policy', and 'government work', the abundant united-front and foreign-affairs practice this book touches on corresponds to the duties Zhou bore. He long presided over the united front, foreign affairs, and the day-to-day work of government, many times representing the Party in negotiations and manoeuvring among various forces; his pragmatic, thorough style became an important practical embodiment of this book's united-front line.

  • In early life studied in Japan and Europe, and took part in Party-building and the European-branch activities.
  • Held important Party and army posts through the Long March, the War of Resistance, and the Liberation War.
  • Long presided over the united front, foreign affairs, and day-to-day government work, practicing this book's united-front line.

Family and origins

Zhou Enlai was born in 1898 in a declining official-family in Huai'an, Jiangsu, and was raised and schooled by an uncle after being adopted in childhood. As a youth he resolved to 'study for the rise of China', later attended Nankai Middle School and Nankai University, and joined student patriotic movements. Solid learning and an early sense of national peril shaped his calm, meticulous manner and won him a reputation for ability and popularity even in school, laying the foundation for his later leadership work.

Youth and education

He studied in Japan in early life, encountering socialist currents, then went to work-study in Europe, taking part in the activities of the European Branch of the Chinese Youth Communist Party in France, Germany, and elsewhere, becoming a backbone of Party-building. In this period he turned from a patriotic youth into a professional revolutionary and accumulated international vision and organizational experience. After returning he threw himself into the rising domestic revolutionary tide, undertaking military and organizational work, and gradually displayed his ability to coordinate all sides.

Entering the cause

After returning he held important posts in the Party and in military and united-front affairs, taking part in the Northern Expedition, the Nanchang Uprising, and the Central Soviet area's work. During the Long March and the War of Resistance he was known for coordinating all sides and handling complex workloads, gradually becoming an indispensable hinge in Party and government work. This experience later enabled him to preside over the united front and foreign affairs, and he was known in the Party for a reputation of 'bearing both toil and blame', becoming an acceptable interlocutor for all sides.

Main career

His life's work centred on the united front, government, and foreign affairs, resonating with this book's call to 'unite all forces that can be united'. He many times represented the Party in negotiations and manoeuvring among various forces and long shouldered the day-to-day operation of government and external relations. Much of the united-front policy and government work this book discusses rests on the practice he presided over; his negotiations in Chongqing, Nanjing, and elsewhere were especially critical, contributing to the maintenance of the united front.

Legacy

The rich practice this book draws on when discussing the united front and policy largely comes from the work Zhou presided over; his 'seek common ground while reserving differences' style became the very picture of united-front work. The pragmatism and flexibility he showed in KMT-CCP cooperation and international intercourse provide this book's united-front discourse with concrete real-world examples. His coordinating and organizational talent is widely evaluated in Party history and influenced the diplomatic configuration and government operation of early new China; his record of manoeuvring among all sides is also important material for studying modern Chinese diplomacy. His efforts to maintain the united front amid complex politics provide the most concrete historical footnote to this book's united-front discourse and won him the reputation of coordinator within the Party.

Personal life

Gentle with others and diligent in service, he long occupied the central position of coordinating all sides, known for selfless work; he once said 'live to old age, learn to old age, transform to old age'. Plain-living but attentive to others, he excelled at finding consensus in complex situations and won respect from all sides with an excellent memory and eloquence. He died in Beijing in January 1976; at home and abroad people mourned together. He was an important organizational and diplomatic practitioner of this book's era.

Liu Shaoqi

Tier BComrade who fought side by side, named in the text1898–1969

Liu Shaoqi, from Ningxiang, Hunan, born in 1898, was an important leader of the Communist Party's building and the workers' movement. When this book discusses 'Party-building', 'white-area work', and the 'mass line', the white-area struggle and Party-building experience involved are closely tied to his long work. The thought on Party-member cultivation and the mass line he expounded resonates with this book's 'ideological Party-building' and 'rectification' themes.

  • Went to study in the Soviet Union in early life, then returned to work in the workers' movement and white-area work.
  • His writings on Party-building relate to this book's 'rectification' and 'ideological Party-building' themes.
  • Long held important Party and government posts, taking part in base-area and liberated-area construction.

Family and origins

Liu Shaoqi was born in 1898 in a peasant family in Ningxiang, Hunan. He studied in his hometown and Changsha in early life, and under the impact of the new currents after the May Fourth Movement gradually accepted Marxism. In youth he went far to study in Russia, laying the foundation of his theoretical and political work.

Youth and education

He went to the Soviet Union to study at the Eastern University and the Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, then returned to throw himself into the workers' movement and Party-building, becoming one of the early organizers of the workers' movement. He led strikes and workers' organizations in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and elsewhere, accumulating experience in urban struggle.

Entering the cause

In white-area work he accumulated rich experience, successively leading labour and Party affairs in many places and forming a method for conducting underground struggle in Guomindang-held areas. His summation of white-area work was later regarded by this book as part of the Party's building experience; his shuttling between white areas and base areas reflects the complexity of the struggle then.

Main career

His writings on Party-building stress Party-member cultivation and the mass line, resonating with this book's 'ideological Party-building' and 'rectification' themes. He long held important Party and government posts, taking part in the political-power construction and economic work of base and liberated areas; when this book discusses Party-building, the experience it rests on includes his practice in white areas and base areas.

Legacy

When this book discusses Party-building, the Party-building experience it rests on includes his practice in white areas and base areas. The question of Party-member cultivation he systematically expounded became one of the references for the Party's ideological building; his emphasis on the mass line and investigation and research accords with this book's direction.

Personal life

Deep in his work and valuing investigation and research, he was among the Party's leaders to systematically expound Party-member cultivation relatively early. His plain, argumentative style and Party-building writings were widely influential; he died in Henan in 1969, and his life and merits underwent complex reevaluation in later Party-history narratives.

Exemplary figures

Figures held up by this book as models to emulate

Zhang SideSoldier of the Central Guard RegimentTier B 1915–1944Norman BethuneMember of the Communist Party of Canada, medical-team leaderTier A 1890–1939The Foolish Old ManThe mountain-mover of the ancient fableTier B Fable figure

Zhang Side

Tier BHeld up by this book as the model of 'serving the people'1915–1944

Zhang Side, from Yilong, Sichuan, born in 1915, was a soldier of the Central Guard Regiment who died in a charcoal-burning accident in 1944. This book's famous essay 'Serve the People' was written for his memorial meeting, establishing him as the model of an ordinary soldier who 'died for the interests of the people, heavier than Mount Tai'. He took part in the Long March and later did logistic-support work such as charcoal-burning in northern Shaanxi; his story became widely known through the essay 'Serve the People'.

  • Took part in the Long March, then did logistic-support work such as charcoal-burning in northern Shaanxi.
  • Died in September 1944; Mao delivered 'Serve the People' at his memorial meeting.
  • This book fixes his historical place with 'Comrade Zhang Side died for the interests of the people.'

Family and origins

Zhang Side was born in 1915 in a poor-peasant family in Yilong, Sichuan; orphaned young, he was raised by relatives. The family's hardship meant he joined farm labour from childhood, developing a hardworking, enduring disposition; this background fits the plain image of him as an ordinary rank-and-file soldier.

Youth and education

He joined the Red Army in early life and endured the hard marching of the Long March, growing from an ordinary soldier into a member of the guard units. The Long March's tempering gave him a strong will and a sense of subordinating himself to the collective; later he stayed in northern Shaanxi, taking concrete posts in guard and logistic work.

Entering the cause

In arduous rear-area support posts he worked without complaint, often treating himself as an ordinary rank-and-file soldier and never calculating personal gain or loss. He did not shun tedious or dangerous tasks, taking the initiative in logistic duties such as charcoal-burning to secure the troops' heating and supplies — exactly the selfless spirit this book commends.

Main career

His brief life was given to logistics and guard duty; this book's 'Serve the People' takes him as a type to expound the value judgement that 'though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather'. He had no illustrious battle exploits or posts, yet was recorded in history for diligence in an ordinary post; this book uses his example to call on the whole Party and army to adopt the purpose of working for the people's interests.

Legacy

He became the most concrete symbol of the 'serve the people' spirit; this book positions him as an ordinary Communist 'with no selfishness or private aims'. His image has been repeatedly cited in later propaganda and education as a model of collectivism and the service spirit; the dissemination of his story rests mainly on the famous essay 'Serve the People'.

Personal life

Plain-living and always putting others first, he got on well with his comrades and was known for honesty and willingness to work. In September 1944, while burning charcoal at Ansai in northern Shaanxi, he was killed when the charcoal kiln collapsed, only 29 years old; his death occasioned a memorial meeting that gave rise to this book's essay 'Serve the People'.

Norman Bethune

Tier AHeld up by this book as the model of internationalism1890–1939

Norman Bethune was born on 4 March 1890 in Gravenhurst, Canada, into a missionary family, a member of the Communist Party of Canada and a renowned thoracic surgeon. In 1938 he led a medical team to China to support the War of Resistance and died the next year of an infection contracted in surgery. This book's famous essay 'In Memory of Norman Bethune' hails him as 'a man of noble character, a pure man, a man of moral integrity, a man who is free from vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people', holding him up as the model of internationalism and calling on all to learn his spirit of extreme responsibility in work and extreme warmth toward comrades and the people.

  • Member of the Communist Party of Canada and renowned thoracic surgeon.
  • In 1938 led the Canadian–American Medical Aid Unit to the Jin-Cha-Ji base area.
  • Died in 1939 of an infection contracted in surgery; this book's 'In Memory of Norman Bethune' fixed his status as model of internationalism.

Family and origins

Bethune was born in 1890 in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada, into a missionary family, trained in medicine in early life, and became a noted thoracic-surgery specialist. Well regarded in North American medicine, he was known for superb technique and for ideas reforming medical service, and devoted himself to promoting public medicine and its accessibility; this comfortable professional background later enabled him to devote himself to international affairs through medical aid abroad.

Youth and education

Early on he was rich in social concern, went to the Spanish Civil War front to organize blood-transfusion rescue, and accumulated practical experience in battlefield medicine. Thereafter he joined the Communist Party of Canada, his worldview moving from humanitarian physician further toward internationalist fighter — a shift that led him to decide to go far to war-time China to provide medical support, for which he resigned his comfortable post; his choice of aid abroad was then quite rare in Western medicine.

Entering the cause

In 1938 he led the Canadian–American Medical Aid Unit to the Chinese anti-Japanese front, going deep into base areas such as Jin-Cha-Ji to give care. He brought modern surgery and battlefield organization to an extremely harsh environment and personally designed and improved mobile surgical units, striving to save more wounded under fire — a stage that established his status as the symbol of international medical aid to China and first acquainted the base-area troops and civilians with systematic battlefield surgery.

Main career

In just over a year in China he formed surgical teams, trained medical personnel, and toured the front, putting internationalism into practice by concrete action. This book's 'In Memory of Norman Bethune' holds him up as a model who 'had no interest save for the welfare of others', calling on all to learn his spirit of extreme responsibility in work and extreme warmth toward comrades and the people. The medical-organization experience he left behind benefited base-area health work and influenced later battlefield-rescue systems; the local medical personnel he trained continued his methods after his death. The organization and training system of his medical team laid a preliminary foundation for the regularization of base-area health work.

Legacy

He became a symbol of internationalism and the physician's benevolence; this book calls on Party members to learn his 'extreme responsibility in work and extreme warmth toward comrades and the people'. His image crossed borders and became a repeatedly memorialized figure in China-Canada history; many base-area medical institutions and memorial sites are named after him in remembrance, his story entered textbooks and is widely told, and he became a cross-cultural symbol of humanitarianism. His cross-cultural humanitarian image was repeatedly shaped, in war and after, as a symbol of international solidarity.

Personal life

Strict with himself and selfless in work, he often disregarded his own safety to rescue the wounded and ultimately died of infection contracted in treatment. He died in Tangxian, Hebei, in November 1939, aged 49; his story, amplified by this book, spread widely and became one of the most moving Chinese narratives of the internationalist spirit, and long after the war remained a model of medical-aid-abroad spirit, inspiring later international medical volunteers. His spirit endures beyond the era.

The Foolish Old Man

Tier BSymbol of perseverance cited in the textFable figure

The Foolish Old Man is the protagonist of the mountain-moving fable in the 'Tang Wen' chapter of the Liezi; he is not a real historical figure. This book's famous essay 'The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains' uses the fable to illustrate the truths of 'man must conquer nature' and 'perseverance', calling on people to overthrow with unswerving will the 'two mountains' pressing on the Chinese people's heads. The fable's generational relay — 'my sons will beget grandsons, and grandsons will beget sons' — is used by this book to liken the long-term nature and continuity of the revolution.

  • From the Liezi's 'Tang Wen', it likens moving the Taihang and Wangwu mountains away across generations.
  • This book's 'The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains' uses the fable to mobilize the long-term struggle of the whole Party, army, and people.
  • The 'two mountains' are likened by this book to the two oppressions of imperialism and feudalism.

Family and origins

The Foolish Old Man is an ancient fable character, not a real historical figure; his story is in the 'Tang Wen' chapter of the Liezi. The fable sets him as nearly ninety, living south of Jizhou and north of Henei, his home blocked by the Taihang and Wangwu mountains — a fictional background intended, in extreme circumstances, to highlight the power of will and time.

Youth and education

In the fable, old yet unshaken in purpose, he resolves to lead his sons and grandsons to dig away the mountains before his door and laughs off the 'Wise Old Man's' mockery and doubt. He answers with 'my sons will beget grandsons, and grandsons will beget sons; generations without end' — a stance that does not reckon merit by a single lifetime — and this episode raises the Foolish Old Man from an ordinary elder to the embodiment of perseverance.

Entering the cause

His will ultimately moved the God of Heaven, who 'commanded the two sons of Ku'e to carry the two mountains, one to the east of Shu, one to the north of Yong', symbolizing that the persevering achieve their ends. The fable's mythic close affirms the belief that human effort can prevail over nature; this turn became the image most often cited when later generations invoke the Foolish Old Man.

Main career

This book's 'The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains' uses this figure to show that the revolution must have the generational, 'sons begetting grandsons' spirit and cannot expect success overnight. The Foolish Old Man's action is likened to the long-term struggle of the whole Party, army, and people; this book uses it to mobilize a protracted, firm struggle against the 'two mountains'.

Legacy

The Foolish Old Man became a classic symbol of perseverance in Chinese culture; this book links him to modern revolutionary mobilization, giving the ancient fable a real political meaning. His connotation of 'fear no difficulty, persist to the end' was widely continued in later propaganda and education, showing that traditional fables can be transformed into modern mobilizing resources.

Personal life

As a fable character, his line 'after I die there will be my sons, and sons beget grandsons, generations without end' is repeatedly cited by this book to illustrate the relay nature of the revolutionary cause. His contrast with the 'Wise Old Man' forms the fable's core tension, symbolizing the difference between far-sightedness and shortsightedness; the Foolish Old Man himself has no historical biography, his meaning residing entirely in the symbolic value he carries.

Opponents and others

Figures positioned as adversaries or contrasts in the text

Chiang Kai-shekPrincipal leader of the Kuomintang regimeTier A 1887–1975

Chiang Kai-shek

Tier AMain opponent in confrontation and negotiation named in the text1887–1975

Chiang Kai-shek (original name Ruiyuan, courtesy name Zhongzheng) was born on 31 October 1887 in Fenghua, Zhejiang, the principal leader of the Kuomintang regime. In discussing the 'united front', the 'anti-Japanese national united front', and the 'Liberation War', this book many times takes him as the main object of negotiation and confrontation, recording both the phase of cooperating to resist Japan and analysing the class character and policy direction of his regime. His regime is one side of the 'two Chinese destinies' this book describes; after victory the civil war resumed, and this book's discussion of the 'Liberation War' takes his regime as the main opponent.

  • Led the Nationalist government; the early War of Resistance formed the Second KMT-CCP Cooperation.
  • This book many times negotiated and contended with him over 'ceasefire', 'peace', and 'coalition government'.
  • After victory the civil war resumed; this book's discussion of the 'Liberation War' takes his regime as the main opponent.

Family and origins

Chiang Kai-shek was born in 1887 in a salt-merchant family in Fenghua, Zhejiang. He attended the Baoding Military Academy and the Japanese Shinbu Gakko, receiving military education. In Japan he met revolutionary Party members and later returned to take part in the 1911 Revolution and the anti-Yuan struggle; this early military and revolutionary experience provided capital for his later rise within the Kuomintang and bound him closely to military circles.

Youth and education

Through the Eastern Expeditions and the Northern Expedition he gradually became the principal military and political leader of the Kuomintang and the Nationalist government, and secured a core position in intra-Party power struggles. After 1927 he successively presided over the Nanjing Nationalist government, carrying out measures in tutelage and national unification; this process made him the most powerful figure in the ruling bloc of the time and established a party-government-military ruling structure.

Entering the cause

After the 1936 Xi'an Incident he accepted the policy of stopping the civil war and resisting Japan unanimously, forming the Second KMT-CCP Cooperation to resist Japanese aggression. During the War of Resistance he led the front under the title of Supreme Commander and, within the united-front framework, both cooperated and frictioned with the CCP — a turn that placed his regime in the internationally recognized ruling position of the war and made his relationship with the CCP a complex mix of cooperation and contestation.

Main career

His regime is one side of the 'two Chinese destinies' this book describes; this book both affirms the KMT-CCP cooperation during the War of Resistance and analyses his regime's postwar policy direction and class character. After victory the civil war resumed, and this book's discussion of the 'Liberation War' takes his regime as the main opponent, many times negotiating and manoeuvring with him over ceasefire, peace, and coalition government. The economic and political conditions of his rule form an important basis for this book's analysis of the opposing side; this book also records his regime's postwar-receipt and hyperinflation difficulties.

Legacy

This book locates the character of his regime through class analysis and, in multiple essays, records the historical process of negotiating and struggling with him. The Kuomintang regime he led was defeated in the civil war after victory and withdrew to Taiwan. His historical evaluation remains highly contested across the strait under different political frameworks to this day; different narratives emphasize or downplay his merits and faults, and the military and political contest between the KMT and the CCP forms one of the main threads of twentieth-century Chinese history. The end of his regime's rule on the mainland marked the defeat of one side in the contest of the 'two Chinese destinies' this book describes; the personal prestige and centralized model he built through long rule have also been analysed by later historians.

Personal life

He long held party-government-military power, known for an austere, centralized style, and left a large body of diaries and speeches that provide rich material for later study of his era. This book's account of him always places him within a concrete historical and class framework, without abstract praise or blame. He died in Taipei in April 1975; his rule in Taiwan was continued by his successors, and he himself became one of the most contested political figures of twentieth-century China.

Quoted figures

Historical and cultural figures cited in the text

Sun Yat-senLeader of the 1911 Revolution, advocate of the Three People's PrinciplesTier A 1866–1925Lu XunGiant of modern literature, thought, and cultureTier B 1881–1936

Sun Yat-sen

Tier AEarly modern revolutionary precursor cited in the text1866–1925

Sun Yat-sen (courtesy name Wen, art name Yixian) was born on 12 November 1866 in Xiangshan (today Zhongshan), Guangdong, into a peasant family. Leader of the 1911 Revolution and advocate of the Three People's Principles, in discussing 'New Democracy', the 'People's Political Consultative Conference', and the 'united front' this book repeatedly cites his three major policies — alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communists, and assistance to the peasants and workers — and the New Three People's Principles, as the prelude to the modern democratic revolution. This book positions him as the 'precursor of the Chinese revolution' while holding that his doctrine belongs to the old-democratic category; after the May Fourth Movement the Chinese revolution entered its New Democratic stage, and his policies of alliance with Russia, the Communists, and the workers and peasants are seen as consonant with this book's line.

  • Led the 1911 Revolution, overthrew the monarchy, and founded the Republic.
  • In later life reorganized the Kuomintang and established the three major policies — alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communists, assistance to the peasants and workers — reinterpreting the Three People's Principles.
  • This book treats his doctrine as a link in the transition from 'old democracy' to 'New Democracy' and gives it a historical place.

Family and origins

Sun Yat-sen was born in 1866 in a poor peasant family in Xiangshan, Guangdong. In his youth he followed an elder brother to Honolulu to study and later trained in medicine at the Hong Kong College of Medicine, qualifying to practice. Witnessing early on the Qing court's weakness and incessant foreign threats, he turned from healing individuals to healing the nation, harbouring the ambition to transform China. His Western-style education in Hong Kong and his overseas experience exposed him relatively early to Western political thought and republican ideas and nurtured his world-facing vision, providing early nourishment for the formation of his revolutionary thought.

Youth and education

In 1894, in Honolulu, he founded the Revive China Society, raising the call to 'revitalize China'. He later joined the Hua Xing Hui, Guang Fu Hui, and other groups into the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui), and was elected its director-general. He systematically advanced the programme of 'expel the Tartars, restore China, establish the Republic, equalize land rights', later distilled into the three principles of nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood. During this period he launched several anti-Qing uprisings; though mostly unsuccessful, his prestige grew, and he gradually became the acknowledged leader of the revolutionaries, building a broad fundraising and propaganda network among overseas Chinese.

Entering the cause

The 1911 Revolution succeeded; province after province responded, the Xuantong emperor abdicated, and the following year he was elected provisional president of the Republic of China and promulged the Provisional Constitution. Thereafter, to defend the republican achievement, he launched several struggles — defending the constitution, the Northern Expedition — contending with the Beiyang warlords. Though he several times yielded power and met setbacks in this stage, he held the republican banner and constantly reflected on why the revolution kept faltering, sowing the seeds for his later policy turn.

Main career

He devoted decades to the national revolution, continually revising his political programme. In later life, under the influence of Soviet Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, he reorganized the Kuomintang, established the three major policies — alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communists, assistance to the peasants and workers — and reinterpreted the Three People's Principles. In essays such as 'On the People's Democratic Dictatorship' this book positions him as the 'precursor of the Chinese revolution', affirms his later policy turn, and sees it as a link in the transition from old to New Democracy, acknowledging his historical role in promoting KMT-CCP cooperation.

Legacy

This book holds that Sun's doctrine belongs to the old-democratic category, while the Chinese revolution entered its New Democratic stage after the May Fourth Movement; his policies of alliance with Russia, the Communists, and the workers and peasants are seen as consonant with this book's line. The republican revolutionary cause he inaugurated was the key turning point by which modern China moved from monarchy to republic. His historical standing is widely acknowledged across the strait and by different political forces, making him one of modern China's most representative revolutionary symbols.

Personal life

He travelled the world propagating the revolution, wrote and spoke voluminously, and was known for fortitude and open-mindedness, respected by comrades and followers as the 'Father of the Nation'. In later life, ill, he went north to negotiate state affairs and died in Beijing in March 1925; his testament contains the words 'the revolution is not yet accomplished, comrades must still strive'. He was buried at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, an important modern Chinese memorial symbol, and his thought is transmitted under the name 'Sun Wen's doctrine'.

Lu Xun

Tier BRepresentative of the cultural world cited in the text1881–1936

Lu Xun (original name Zhou Shuren, courtesy name Yucai) was born on 25 September 1881 in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, into a fallen gentry family. A giant of modern literature, thought, and culture, in discussing 'culture' and 'literature and art serving the broad masses' this book cites his lines such as 'Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers; head bowed, I willingly be an ox for the children' and his metaphor of the 'backbone of the nation', as a representative of the progressive cultural world. His thought of criticizing national character and the old system resonates with the mass-serving direction of literature and art this book advocates.

  • Representative works such as 'A Madman's Diary' and 'The True Story of Ah Q' criticize national character and the old system.
  • This book cites his 'head bowed, I willingly be an ox for the children' to show that literary workers should serve the people.
  • Praised by this book as the 'backbone of the nation', symbolizing the integrity of the progressive cultural world.

Family and origins

Lu Xun, original name Zhou Shuren, was born in 1881 in a fallen gentry family in Shaoxing, Zhejiang; the successive misfortunes of his grandfather and father impoverished the household. He early attended the Jiangnan Naval Academy and the School of Railways and Mining, then studied medicine in Japan on a government scholarship, intending to heal the sick and save the people.

Youth and education

In 1918, under the pen name 'Lu Xun', he published 'A Madman's Diary', opening the literary practice of the New Culture Movement in vernacular fiction and exposing the 'cannibalistic' nature of Confucian rites. Thereafter he wrote 'The True Story of Ah Q' and other stories, depicting national failings with cold precision.

Entering the cause

From the 1920s he joined the left-wing cultural movement, editing such journals as Yusi and Mangyuan and translating a great deal of foreign literature and theory. In debates with various conservative and compromising cultural tendencies he became a banner of progressive culture; his essays matured in this period into a sharp instrument for criticizing the times.

Main career

His essays were as piercing as javelins, criticizing the times, while his fiction deeply portrayed social life; in discussing culture and literary direction this book takes his stance as a model of standing on the side of the broad masses. His view that literature and art should awaken and serve the people resonates with this book's literary policy; his works, widely translated, influenced generations of Chinese intellectuals.

Legacy

He died in 1936 and is praised by this book as the 'backbone of the nation'; his couplet 'Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers; head bowed, I willingly be an ox for the children' is often cited to illustrate stance and character. The realist literary tradition he inaugurated became one of the mainstreams of modern Chinese literature; his critical spirit and enlightening ambition are still regarded as an important resource of progressive culture.

Personal life

He wrote unceasingly throughout his life. In later years he lived in Shanghai, in close touch with the progressive cultural world, and died there in October 1936; the cultural world at home and abroad mourned him together.