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NSWModern History

Section III (Personalities): Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China

14 dot points across 14 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What was Mao Zedong's background, and how did he rise to political prominence within the Chinese Communist Party?

How did the cult of personality around Mao Zedong develop, and what role did it play in his exercise of power?

Why did Mao Zedong launch the Cultural Revolution, and what role did he play in its conduct from 1966 to 1976?

What was the legacy of Mao Zedong's leadership of China, in his death and after?

How did Mao Zedong establish and consolidate the People's Republic of China between 1949 and 1953?

How did Mao Zedong conduct PRC foreign policy, and what was his role in the Sino-Soviet split and the opening to the United States?

Why did Mao Zedong launch the Great Leap Forward, and what were its consequences?

How have historians interpreted Mao Zedong, and how have those interpretations changed?

Why did Mao Zedong launch the Hundred Flowers Campaign, and what was the relationship between it and the Anti-Rightist Campaign?

What role did Mao Zedong play in the Korean War, and what were its consequences for his leadership and the PRC?

What role did Mao Zedong play in the Long March, and how did the experience consolidate his position in the Chinese Communist Party?

What was the succession crisis under Mao Zedong, and how did it culminate in his death and the post-1976 settlement?

How and why did Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party defeat the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War of 1946 to 1949?

How did the Yan'an period shape Mao Zedong's leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and his political doctrine?