2016-12-26 Mon

“War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun” -Mao Zedong. Mao Tse Tung or popularly known as Mao Zedong was a communist leader and founder of People’s Republic of China (PRC). Born on 26th December, in Shaoshan to a peasant family, he is also responsible for the disastrous policies of the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the ‘Cultural Revolution’ of China.

He became a founder member of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921 and later allied with Kuomintang Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1923 to defeat the warlords controlling northern China. After KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek launched an anti-communist purge, Mao, and other communists retreated to north China. However, with KMT surrounding them by 1934, Mao led his followers on the ‘Long March’, a 6,000-mile journey to northwest China to establish a new base. This journey earned him many followers as the terrain was rugged and cold and his determination cemented his status as the dominant figure in the party.

CCP and KMT were allied again for eight years during the war against Japan (1937-45) but shortly after the end of World War II, a civil war was fought and the communists won. Mao proclaimed the founding of PRC on 1st October 1949; Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island of Taiwan.

His health started deteriorating and he died on 9th September 1976. In his later years, he tried to build bridges with the United States, Japan and Europe. In 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited China and met Mao.

This special political stamp of Mao Zedong was designed by Gerhard Martens and released on 10th July 1951 by the German Republic valuing 50 fenning. This stamp was published to establish German-Chinese friendship and has the words DEUTSCH-CHINESISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT (GERMAN-CHINESE FRIENDSHIP).