On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong (1893-1976) stood on the rostrum of Tian’anmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) and announced the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in his strong Hunanese accent. This momentous announcement marked the end of China’s chaotic era of foreign domination since the mid-18th century and of frequent governmental upheavals after 1911.
Written by Cruz Guan. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.
Learn More:
Chen, Jian, Mao’s China and the Cold War. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001
Dikötter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962. New York: Walker and Company, 2010.
Gao, Hua. Translated by Stacy Mosher and Guo Jian. How the Red Sun Rose: The Origins and Development of the Yan’an Rectification Movement, 1930–1945. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2018.
Li, Zhisui, The Private Life of Chairman Mao. New York: Random House, 1994.
Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1991
Vogel, Ezra F. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.
Wang, Zheng. Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations. Columbia University Press, 2012.
