Mao Zedong was a leader in politics.
The Cultural Revolution , formally the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution , was a sociopolitical movement that took place in China from 1966 until 1976 . The Great Leap Forward of the People 's Republic of China ( PRC ) was an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China ( CPC ) from 1958 to 1962 . Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung ( [ ˈmaʊ_dzəˈdʊŋ , _ zə - , _ - dɒŋ ] December 26 , 1893September 9 , 1976 ) , also known as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese communist revolutionary and founding father of the People 's Republic of China , which he governed as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 , until his death in 1976 . Mao adopted Marxism -- Leninism while working at Peking University and became a founding member of the Communist Party of China ( CPC ) , leading the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927 .