Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) (also Mao Tse-tung in Wade-Giles; pronunciation ) was a Chinese Marxist military and political leader and philosopher, who led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao is also recognized as a poet and calligrapher.
Regarded as one of the most important figures in modern world history, Mao is still a controversial figure today, over thirty years after his death. He is held in high regard in China where he is often portrayed as a great revolutionary leader and a military and political genius who led China through the War of Resistance and the Civil War, and transformed the country into a major power through his Maoist social and economic reforms. However, many of Mao's policies and socio-political programmes such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution are blamed by critics from both within and outside China for causing severe damage to the culture, society, economy and foreign relations of China, as well as enormous and unnecessary loss of lives, claiming that the total number of lives lost ranged from 40,000,000 to 78,860,000 people.
Although still officially held in high regard in China, his influence has been largely overshadowed by the political and economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping and other leaders since his death.