Mao Zedong's Life Trivia Quiz

Answer: Changsha Teachers School

Mao was born in 1893 in Shaoshan, Hunan Province. In 1913, at the age of 20 Mao left his hometown and went to Changsha to study at the Changsha Teacher's School. There, he met some leftist thinkers, such as a certain Professor Yang, and began to study Marxist theory. Mao finished studies in 1918 and went to Beijing.

Answer: Yang Kaihui

Mao married first with Yang Kaihui, daughter of Professor Yang, the person who introduced Mao to socialist theory in the Changsha Teacher's School. Yang was killed in 1927 by the Nationalists in a Shanghai massacre against the Communists. The other two wives were He Zhizhe, a guerilla woman, and Jiang Qing, an actress who joined the Communists in Yan'an in the 30s. Jiang was the last of Mao's wives and became a powerful leader in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Answer: Edgar Snow

Edgar Snow traveled to China in the 30s to interview Mao for 'Life' magazine, and lived in Chin, becoming a national hero. Other Americans joined Mao at the same time, as did Canadian doctor Norman Bethune. Edgar Snow became not only the best source for the Yan'an period, but also one of the closest friends of Mao for the rest of the Great Helmsman's life.

Answer: Snake

For Chinese astrologers it is interesting that Mao was born on the year of snake in 1893 and died in the year of the Dragon in 1976. A snake is considered to be a "little dragon".

Answer: 4.

The early marriage, Yang Kaihui, He Zhizhe and Jiang Qing, as explained in question 2.

Answer: Zhu De and Zhou Enlai

Marshall Zhu De and Premier Zhou Enlai died the same year, 1976. People believe 1976 was an very significant year of the dragon as an entire dynasty passed away. This does not imply, however, that every year of the dragon implies a big change in political power.

In astrology and mythology it is required also that great natural disasters occur during a significant dragon year, and in 1976 the Tangshan earthquake that killed 300,000 people was clearly such an event. It was a real year of the dragon!

Answer: Li Shuyi

Mao wrote the poem in 1957 to Li Shuyi. The poem began with a word play featuring the names of two women. The name of the first legitimate wife of Mao, Yang Kaihui, who was killed in 1927, can be translated as "Willow". The name of Li's wife can be translated as "Cypress".

The poem (despite political connotations) is renowed as one of the best love poems in modern Chinese poetry and has been included in the recent anthologies both in China and abroad. Apart from poetry, Mao is considered also as one of the best modern Chinese calligraphers.

Answer: Tangshan earthquake

The Tangshan earthquake devastated the city and killed almost 300,000. Foreign data suggests that the devastation took the lives of at least 600,000.

Answer: China has stood up

Mao wanted to deliver the speech beginning with a phrase that summarizes the feelings of the Chinese people after a hundred years of political tormoil, beginning with the Opium Wars in the 19th century. Some set the beginning of China's modern decline at the time of the Opium Wars.

Answer: Actress

Jiang Qing was a film actress in Shanghai before joining the Communist guerillas in Yan'an. Jiang did not make any important films, but in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) became the leader of the Gang of Four and tried to take power after Mao's death in 1976. Shortly following Mao's death, the Gang of Four was arrested and tried for political crimes during the Cultural Revolution. Jiang was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment.

In the late 80s she was given house arrest. A victim of throat cancer, she committed suicide by hanging herself in Beijing in 1991.