Back in Hunan, Mao was one of the first of the first reformers to focus on the political energy locked up in China’s peasants. In 1919, he penned an essay, “The Present State of China’s Great Union of the Popular Masses,” expressing early stirrings of Mao’s irrepressible iconoclasm.
Upon graduating from school in Changsha in 1918, Mao moved to the capital and became a librarian at Beijing University, where he worked for Li Dazhao. There Mao finally met many of his intellectual idols, but as a bystander, checking out books for them from the library. Mao perhaps developed some resentment towards the intellectuals… Read more »
Mao was an avid reader of Chen Duxiu’s journal, New Youth. In 1917, Mao made his first contribution to the magazine, an essay on physical education. Mao’s essay spoke to a lifelong obsession with physical and mental strength. He did extensive work to strengthen his mind and body, swimming in icy rivers and taking pride…