Mao Zedong died in 1956.
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 himself admitting 800,000 deaths in the classicide and 712,000 in the suppression of Counterrevolutionaries ) In 1957 , he launched the Great Leap Forward campaign that aimed to rapidly transform China 's economy from an agrarian economy to an industrial one . In 1966 , he initiated the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution , a program to remove `` counter-revolutionary '' elements of Chinese society that lasted 10 years and which was marked by violent class struggle that killed 400,000 to 10,000,000 people , widespread destruction of cultural artifacts and unprecedented elevation of Mao 's personality cult . In 1972 , Mao welcomed American President Richard Nixon in Beijing , signalling a policy of opening China , which was furthered under the rule of Deng Xiaoping ( 1978 -- 1992 ) .