MAO TSE-TUNG

CHINA, 1893-1976

After seizing power following a protracted civil war with his nationalist opponents, Mao Tse-tung led communist China from 1949 until his death in 1976. With the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, Mao’s regime was only a year old. In October 1950, as United Nations forces drove deep into North Korea and reached the banks of the Yalu River, Mao authorised the introduction of Chinese troops in support of the North to further communist ideology and as a matter of national security.