Mao And Deng

6 Pages 1555 Words

Definition of Leadership

Leadership is a term used for defining the characteristics, qualities, skills, and objectives of an individual who successfully leads his or her particular group or organization in the attainment of the desired goal or objective.












Background of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping
Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
Mao Zedong was born Hunan Province in the rocky upland village of Shaoshan, Xiangtan Country. Mao began attending the village school in Shaoshan when he was eight years old. After only five years of school, however, his father had him return to the farm to work in the fields by day and manage the account books at night. Mao was six years older than the other students, and his ragged clothes and country manners were a source of great embarrassment to him. By early 1911, versed in the traditional classics and alert to the crisis of his country, the seventeen-year-old Mao was ready for larger things. He took a steamer to Changsha, where he was admitted to middle school and began reading newspaper. He rapidly became one of the most avid readers in his age group and later stated that his entire education had been through newspapers.
Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997)
Deng Xiaoping was born Deng Xixian in Paifang Village in Xiexing township, Guang'an County, Sichuan Province. He was educated in France, participating in a work-study program for Chinese students, where many notable Asian revolutionaries, such as Ho Chi Minh and Zhou Enlai, discovered Marxism-Leninism.

Analysis of their background
From their background, we can see that both leaders were born in rural areas and educated there, which convince us that both leaders knew what exactly the farmers wanted and needed. However, Deng also had spent part of his life in France studying, to which it showed that Deng had already known the western ideas in his young and that can be part of the reason why Deng had not supported some of Mao’s pol...