Mao was born on December 26, 1893 in his familiar home in the rural village of Shaoshanchong in Xiangtan county, Hunan Province, part of south-central China.
Typical of many Hunanese villages, Shaoshanchong was situated in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains.
Both the village and the nearest town, Shaoshan, were named for the local Shaoshan Mountain ("Music Mountain"), a prominent feature in the local landscape with sacred associations for the region's Buddhists.
The village was inhabited by many individuals with the surname of Mao; the Mao clan traced their lineage back to Mao Taihua, a warrior from Jiangxi Province who had moved to Xiangtan county in the mid-fourteenth century after fighting for Zhu Yuanzhang's military campaign to overthrow the Mongol-governed Yuan dynasty.

Mao's father, Mao Yichang, had been born in Shaoshanchong to a family of poverty before undergoing an arranged marriage to Mao's mother, Wen Qimei, when he was fifteen years old.
While Yichang had received two years of schooling and could read and write, conversely Qimei was illiterate.
Serving for several years in the regional Xiang Army, Yichang saved up his wages and on leaving the army used these to pay off his family's debts and purchase the lands that his father had sold.
By the time of Zedong's birth, Yichang owned two-and-a-half acres of rice paddy, which would have been considered a substantial amount by the standards of the region.
Through frugal living and hard work, over the coming years he was able to purchase a further acre and employ two farm laborers, with his farm encompassing a cow shed, a grain storage hut, a pigsty, and a small mill.
Expanding the family's wealth, Yichang purchased mortgages on other peasants' land, thus becoming their landlord, while also purchasing the grain from the poorest farmers in the village before selling it on for a profit at the county seat of Xiangtan.
In doing so, he amassed a fortune of two to three thousand Chinese silver dollars at a time when the majority of China's peasantry continued to live in poverty.
This being the case, Mao biographer Philip Short could assert that the Mao family were "comfortably off" by the standards of the period.

According to the traditional lunar-based Chinese calendar, Mao Zedong's birth fell on the ninth day of the eleventh month of the Year of the Snake.
After the birth, Mao's mother – who had previously birthed two sons who had died in infancy – was worried for his welfare, and consulted a Buddhist nun who lived as a hermit in the mountains for advice.
The nun recommended that prayers be said for the child; doing so, Qimei then prostrated herself at a local temple dedicated to the Buddhist Bodhisattva Guanyin, requesting that the Bodhisattva become Zedong's foster-mother.

Several biographers have suggested it likely that local traditional customs would have been observed after the birth; in this circumstance, a rooster would have been presented to his parents, while Mao would probably not have been bathed until three days after the birth, an event which would have been the first culturally-appropriate opportunity for guests to view the child.
The child's father was expected to add onion and ginger to the bath water, symbolizing mind and health, while also providing sacrifices to the spirits of the ancestors.
A Daoist fortune-teller was then employed to draw up a horoscope for the child, which revealed that he was lacking in the water element; Mao was therefore given the personal name of Zedong because according to Hunanese custom the character of ze ("to anoint") was deemed to correct this deficiency.
The character of ze however had a dual meaning; as well as referring to moisture, it also implied kindness and beneficence.
 Yichang chose the latter part of his son's name, dong ("east"), so that the child's name would mean "benefactor of the east".

According to traditional custom, the child was also given a second, unofficial name to be used on specific ceremonial occasions; this was Runzhi ("Dewy Orchard").
His mother gave him a third name, shisanyazi ("the Th
Mao was born on December 26, 1893 in his familiar home in the rural village of Shaoshanchong in Xiangtan county, Hunan Province, part of south-central China. Typical of many Hunanese villages, Shaoshanchong was situated in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains. Both the village and the nearest town, Shaoshan, were named for the local Shaoshan Mountain ("Music Mountain"), a prominent feature in the local landscape with sacred associations for the region's Buddhists. The village was inhabited by many individuals with the surname of Mao; the Mao clan traced their lineage back to Mao Taihua, a warrior from Jiangxi Province who had moved to Xiangtan county in the mid-fourteenth century after fighting for Zhu Yuanzhang's military campaign to overthrow the Mongol-governed Yuan dynasty.
Mao's father, Mao Yichang, had been born in Shaoshanchong to a family of poverty before undergoing an arranged marriage to Mao's mother, Wen Qimei, when he was fifteen years old. While Yichang had received two years of schooling and could read and write, conversely Qimei was illiterate. Serving for several years in the regional Xiang Army, Yichang saved up his wages and on leaving the army used these to pay off his family's debts and purchase the lands that his father had sold. By the time of Zedong's birth, Yichang owned two-and-a-half acres of rice paddy, which would have been considered a substantial amount by the standards of the region. Through frugal living and hard work, over the coming years he was able to purchase a further acre and employ two farm laborers, with his farm encompassing a cow shed, a grain storage hut, a pigsty, and a small mill. Expanding the family's wealth, Yichang purchased mortgages on other peasants' land, thus becoming their landlord, while also purchasing the grain from the poorest farmers in the village before selling it on for a profit at the county seat of Xiangtan. In doing so, he amassed a fortune of two to three thousand Chinese silver dollars at a time when the majority of China's peasantry continued to live in poverty. This being the case, Mao biographer Philip Short could assert that the Mao family were "comfortably off" by the standards of the period.
According to the traditional lunar-based Chinese calendar, Mao Zedong's birth fell on the ninth day of the eleventh month of the Year of the Snake. After the birth, Mao's mother – who had previously birthed two sons who had died in infancy – was worried for his welfare, and consulted a Buddhist nun who lived as a hermit in the mountains for advice. The nun recommended that prayers be said for the child; doing so, Qimei then prostrated herself at a local temple dedicated to the Buddhist Bodhisattva Guanyin, requesting that the Bodhisattva become Zedong's foster-mother.
Several biographers have suggested it likely that local traditional customs would have been observed after the birth; in this circumstance, a rooster would have been presented to his parents, while Mao would probably not have been bathed until three days after the birth, an event which would have been the first culturally-appropriate opportunity for guests to view the child. The child's father was expected to add onion and ginger to the bath water, symbolizing mind and health, while also providing sacrifices to the spirits of the ancestors. A Daoist fortune-teller was then employed to draw up a horoscope for the child, which revealed that he was lacking in the water element; Mao was therefore given the personal name of Zedong because according to Hunanese custom the character of ze ("to anoint") was deemed to correct this deficiency. The character of ze however had a dual meaning; as well as referring to moisture, it also implied kindness and beneficence.  Yichang chose the latter part of his son's name, dong ("east"), so that the child's name would mean "benefactor of the east".
According to traditional custom, the child was also given a second, unofficial name to be used on specific ceremonial occasions; this was Runzhi ("Dewy Orchard"). His mother gave him a third name, shisanyazi ("the Th
Early life of Mao Zedong