From Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping

Despite having devised modern China&s;s first ideology of developmental nationalism, neither Sun Yat-sen nor the party he founded would see his ideology realized on the Chinese mainland. If nationalism means a people&s;s sentiments of love and fellowship for each other, then Mao Zedong&s;s "continuous revolution" of unceasing class struggle was the very antithesis of nationalism. On the mainland the victorious Communists installed a new government of the People&s;s Republic of China on October 1, 1950. After a century of foreign predation and internal turmoil, mainland China was finally unified under a strong government and the charismatic leadership of Mao. Born to a landowning peasant family in 1893, Mao was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was Deng Xiaoping who provided that ideological rationale. In putting together his ideas, Deng used as his springboard classical Marxism&s;s emphasis on the productive forces.