Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong (correctly transliterated as Mao Tse-Tung) lived from December 26, 1893 to Semptember 9, 1976. He was a Marxist and Trotskyist, and a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921.

Mao was the author of Quotations from Chairman Mao, published in 1966, informally known as "the little red book." During his lifetime, almost everyone in the People's Republic of China was expected to have a copy.

Although his family name Mao is the Chinese word for cat, Mao Zedong did not like pets of any kind. However, his wife Jiang Qing -- who was generally considered responsible for the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1969 and the Right Economist Wind movement of 1970 -- insisted on keeping cats in their state residence in Beijing, perhaps for superstitious reasons.