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Mao Zedong 26 December 1893 9 September 1976
Mao Zedong was the chief architect of the communist revolution in China. Working as a young man in the Beijing University library, he became entrenched in communist literature and soon became a founder of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1949 he proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with himself as chairman. Following the disastrous effects of the ‘Great Leap Forward’, Mao experienced a loss of authority and was forced to withdraw from making key decisions. Seeking to regain his lost power, he launched the Cultural Revolution, sowing the seeds of anarchy