Peng resisted Mao's attempts to develop a personality cult throughout the 1950s ; and, when Mao's economic policies associated with the Great Leap Forward caused a nationwide famine, Peng became critical of Mao's leadership.

Mao's bodyguards foiled several subsequent attempts on Mao's life, and Mao safely returned to Beijing in the evening of September 12.

This effectively marked the end of Gao's attempts to advance his position as he realised that he did not in fact have Mao's support.

After being confirmed as Mao's successor, Lin's supporters focused on the restoration of the position of State Chairman, which had been abolished by Mao after the purge of Liu Shaoqi.

Privately, Lin agreed with Peng's perspective on, and opposition to, Mao's Great Leap Forward, and he was strongly opposed to Peng being purged, but Lin's fear of being purged himself kept Lin from publicly opposing Mao's efforts to purge Peng, and Lin publicly condemned Peng as a " careerist, a conspiricist, and a hypocrite ".

Mao's opponents, among whom the most prominent was Li Wenlin, the founder of the CPC's branch and Red Army in Jiangxi, were against Mao's land policies and proposals to reform the local party branch and army leadership.

Mao's doctrines of guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare were based upon the fact of the poor armament and military training of the Red Army which consisted mainly of impoverished peasants, who, however, were fired by revolutionary passions and the aspiration for a communist utopia.

There were isolated clashes with Chinese troops along the border in 1968, and Red Guards erected loudspeakers on the border facing North Korea where they denounced Kim Il-sung and read quotations from Mao's Little Red Book.

China's youth responded to Mao's appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country.

" Mao's praise for rebellion was effectively an endorsement for the actions of the Red Guards, which grew increasingly violent.

Graffiti with Lin Biao's foreword to Mao's Little Red Book, Lin's name ( lower right ) was later scratched out, presumably after his death

Mao's forces spent the next several months maneuvering to avoid direct confrontation with hostile forces, but still attempting to move north to join Zhang Guotao's Fourth Red Army.

The remnants of Zhang's forces later rejoined elements of the Second Red Army before eventually linking up with Mao's forces in Shaanxi.

Mao's First Red Army traversed several swamps and was attacked by Muslim Hui Ma Clique forces under Generals Ma Bufang and Ma Buqing.

The remnants of Zhang's Fourth Red Army eventually rejoined Mao in Shaanxi, but with his army destroyed, Zhang, even as a founding member of the CPC, was never able to challenge Mao's authority.

The figure of 25, 000 li ( 12, 500 kilometres or about 8, 000 miles ) was Mao's estimate, quoted by his biographer Edgar Snow in Red Star Over China, published not long after the end of the Long March in 1938.

Mao's role was mythologized to the point where ... it seemed he had single-handedly saved the Red Army and defeated Chiang Kai-shek ".

Poster showing Jiang Qing promoting the fine arts during the Cultural Revolution while holding Mao's " The Little Red Book | Little Red Book.

It became so bad by August 1967 that people had to carry two or three copies of Mao's Little Red Book in public to avoid being attacked.

Mao's Little Red Book published over 350 million copies during the era.

And John Adams ' Nixon in China ( 1985-7 ) features a surreal version of Madam Mao's Red Detachment of Women to extraordinary effect, illuminating the ascendence of human values over the disillusionment of high politics in the meeting.

By this time, the Chinese Red Army and the entire nation were clamouring to read Mao's words.

Faint words from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book, painted during the Cultural Revolution, still appear on walls in some Chinese villages ; photo 2005

Mao's Red Guards then imprisoned Deng Pufang.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, he held the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army and in 1940 Zhu devised and organized the Hundred Regiments Offensive without Mao's support.

Nevertheless, only some 8, 000 troops under Mao's command, the First Front Army, ultimately made it to the final destination of Yan ' an in 1935.

In 2003, controversy arose about the distance covered by Mao's First Front Army in the Long March.

Peng was one of the few senior military leaders who supported Mao's suggestions to involve China directly in the 1950 – 1953 Korean War, and he served as the direct commander of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army for the first half of the war ( though Mao and Zhou Enlai were technically more senior ).

In early 1935 Lin responded to widespread discontent within the Red Army over Mao's evasive tactics ( which were perceived inside the Red Army as unnecessarily exhausting ) by publicly proposing that Peng take overall command of the Red Army ; but Mao, who had recently been promoted to the position, attacked Peng and Lin for challenging him and successfully retained his position.

Lin Biao was Mao's first choice to lead the Chinese People's Volunteer Army ( PVA ) into Korea, but Lin refused, citing his bad health.

When Mao's 1st Red Army later united with Zhang Guotao ’ s 4th Red Army, Liu stayed Chief of Staff.

#* Significance: Held at the culmination of the " Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution ," Mao's Party is decimated from infighting ; People's Liberation Army ( PLA ) influence on Party administration pronounced ; few members appointed to power during the previous Party Congress survive the 9th Congress politically ; former State Chairman and second-ranking Liu Shaoqi ( arrested 1966 ) and former CPC General Secretary Deng Xiaoping labelled " traitorous scabs and renegades "; Defence Minister Lin Biao becomes CPC Vice Chairman and Mao's " closest comrade-in-arms ", and is designated constitutionally as Mao's successor ; Mao's " thought " reinserted into CPC Party Constitution.

Of those that remain, Mao's followers regard the Deng Xiaoping reforms to be a betrayal of Mao's legacy.

At this Congress Liu stood together with Deng Xiaoping and Peng Zhen against those who supported Mao's policies, led by Chen Yun and Zhou Enlai.

During the Cultural Revolution, the repression and intimidation led by Mao's fourth wife, Jiang Qing, succeeded in drying up all cultural activity except a few " model " operas and heroic novels, such as those by Hao Ran ( 浩然 ).

He attacked Peng and those who shared his political opinions as " imperialists " " bourgeoisie ", and " rightists ", and associated their positions with other Communist leaders who had led failed oppositions to Mao's leadership, including Li Lisan, Wang Ming, Gao Gang, and Rao Shushi.

After October 1976, those in power also blamed Mao's supporters, the so-called Gang of Four.

Mao's reaction could be seen as a signal of both Mao's lack of tolerance for those who sought to threaten the integrity of the CCP, and a public endorsement of Liu.

The delegates quoted Mao as having said in 1962 that " we not only need a criminal code but also a civil code ," and they invoked Mao's authority against those who viewed regularizing the legal system as counter-revolutionary.

In publicising The Private Life of Chairman Mao, Li Zhisui stated that he was Mao's personal physician for twenty-two years, in which time he became a close confidant of the Chinese leader, although this has since come under criticism from those who do not agree that Li's relationship was as close to Mao as he maintains.

Moreover, Mary Janes are a preferred accessory of many traditional or folk costumes, such as those of the flamenco female dancer and of the typical woman in Mao's China.

Many Chinese learned about Mao and the communist movement from the almost immediate translations of Mao's autobiography, and readers in North America and Europe, especially those with liberal views, were heartened to learn of a movement which they interpreted as being anti-fascist and progressive.