Review Of The Biography Of Mao Zedong By Jonathan Spence

The biography of Mao Zedong, written by Jonathan Spence centers around Mao Zedong, a chinese man who came from a rather poor family, but grew up to be a powerful communist leader in China. In the book Mao Zedong: a life, Spence argues that although Zedong came from a poor background in a small rural village where he was meant to become a farmer, he managed to take his life into his own hands and continue his education after the death of his first wife. Through furthering his education, Zedong was able to obtain knowledge of not only the changes happening in China, but also what was happening in the Western world. This essentially allowed Zedong to rise to power, becoming one of the most influential people in China and Chinese history.

Mao Zedong was born in a farm village called Shaoshan in December of 1893. Though during the earlier years of his life, he stayed with his grandparents as his father served in the army and then came back to the farm life. From a young age, it was conditioned in Zedong that he would live his life to become a rice farmer, just like his father. At the age of fourteen, Zedong married his first wife and they were together for three years, as she passed away in their third year of marriage. As the unprecedented death took to Zedong, he decided to go back to education, though his father disapproved of the idea. (Spence, 5) From 1910 to around 1918, Zedong continued to study, whether that be through schooling, tutors or educating himself through books, and in 1919 he started writing for various journals, keeping people up to date with the news. By 1920 a small communist group was established, a first in China, which later had more and more small communist groups coming together. (Spence, 48)

In 1921, he was considered to be a political amateur, but by 1945, the revolution of the second Sino-Japanese War took place. At this time, Zedong was able to negotiate and generate orders about what the Communist party could do for a reformed China, and by 1949 he became a proper chairman for the Communist party. Zedong revolutionized China by putting it through a communist political change to transform China into a more powerful and strong country. (Spence) Spence convinces the audience that although Zedong came from a poor background, through education and self determination, he was able to accomplish a change in not only the Chinese, but everywhere through communist ideals by also leading the Communist Party. This text relates to our learning in class because we have been learning about how the Chinese have started to come to more modernist ideas in order to strengthen the country more.

In all, Jonathan Spence traces Mao Zedong’s life from his birth, up to his death, calculating the success of his reign as an influential and successful ruler of China. The goal of Zedong was to get rid of the more traditionalist ideals of China, which he believed was what was weakening China, and pushed communist ideals instead, with the purpose of strengthening China. Spence, however, does a great job of convincing the intended audience, or any audience in general, that Zedong came from a poor lifestyle, but later became a powerful leader through determination and education.