Editing Mao Zedong (section)

=== New Culture and political protests: 1919–1920 ===
[[File:Mao Zedong in 1919 (02).jpg|thumb|Mao Zedong in 1919]]
On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing gathered at [[Tiananmen]] to protest the Chinese government's weak resistance to Japanese expansion in China. Patriots were outraged at the influence given to Japan in the [[Twenty-One Demands]] in 1915, the complicity of [[Duan Qirui]]'s [[Beiyang government]], and the betrayal of China in the [[Treaty of Versailles]], wherein Japan was allowed to [[Shandong Problem|receive territories in Shandong]] which had been surrendered by [[German Empire|Germany]]. These demonstrations ignited the nationwide [[May Fourth Movement]] and fuelled the [[New Culture Movement]] which blamed China's diplomatic defeats on social and cultural backwardness.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=51–52}}; {{harvnb|Feigon|2002|pp=21–22}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=69–70}}.</ref>

In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=68}} and organising protests against the pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, [[Zhang Jingyao]], popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=76}} In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with [[He Shuheng]] and [[Deng Zhongxia]], organising a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, ''[[The Shian Kian Weekly Review|Xiang River Review]]''. Using vernacular language that would be understandable to the majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", and strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution.{{clarify|date=May 2016}} His ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of [[Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution|mutual aid]].<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=53–54}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=71–76}}.</ref>

[[File:Beijing students protesting the Treaty of Versailles (May 4, 1919).jpg|thumb|Students in Beijing rallying during the May Fourth Movement]]
Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of the liberal magazine ''New Hunan'' (''Xin Hunan'') and authored articles in popular local newspaper ''[[Ta Kung Pao]]''. Several of these advocated [[Feminism in China|feminist]] views, calling for the liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|p=55}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=76–77}}.</ref> In fall 1919, Mao organized a seminar in Changsha studying economic and political issues, as well as ways to unite the people, the feasibility of socialism, and issues regarding Confucianism.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Huang |first=Yibing |url= |title=An ideological history of the Communist Party of China |date=2020 |others=Qian Zheng, Guoyou Wu, Xuemei Ding, Li Sun, Shelly Bryant |isbn=978-1-4878-0425-1 |edition= |volume=1 |publisher=Royal Collins Publishing Group |location=Montreal, Quebec |pages=16 |oclc=1165409653}}</ref> During this period, Mao involved himself in political work with manual laborers, setting up night schools and trade unions.<ref name=":9" /> In December 1919, Mao helped organise a general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji.<ref>{{harvnb|Schram|1966|pp=55–56}}; {{harvnb|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=79}}.</ref> Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=80}} Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, [[Karl Kautsky]], and Marx and Engels—notably ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]''—he came under their increasing influence, but was still eclectic in his views.{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|pp=81–83}}

Mao visited Tianjin, [[Jinan]], and [[Qufu]],{{sfn|Pantsov|Levine|2012|p=84}} before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met [[Chen Duxiu]], noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, [[Yi Peiji]], a revolutionary and member of the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General [[Tan Yankai]], a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organising the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganisation of the provincial administration, Mao was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui, daughter of Yang Changji, in the winter of 1920.{{sfn|Schram|1966|pp=56–57}}<ref name="Mair_2013_p211">{{cite book |last1=Mair |first1=Victor H. |last2=Sanping |first2=Sanping |last3=Wood |first3=Frances |title=Chinese Lives: The people who made a civilization |date=2013 |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |location=London |isbn=978-0500251928 |page=211}}</ref>