Mao
Tse-Tung turned a weak and semi-feudal backward country into one of the
most
powerful and largest communist states in the world. He was a visionary,
a
philosopher and a guerrilla leader who attempted to build a socialist
society
based on farming.
Mao was
born in a peasant family in 1893. Since his childhood, he loved to read
books.
China's history fascinated young Mao. His childhood exposed him to the
hard
life of the peasants and he became aware of the dormant strength of the
peasant
population. He stressed the need for rural China rather than urban
China. When
he grew up, he read a number of history books and became aware of the
great
Taiping rebellion, where the peasants had tried to form communist
community.
But they were suppressed by the Manchus.
Mao
also read the legendary San-yat Sen, who
tried to overthrow the Manchu dynasty to find the Republic of China.
These
readings were the inspiring and turning point, which made him in his
life,
determined to do something for the peasants of China.