2026-10-29
As the controversy over Kylian Mbappé's remarks intensifies in China, French netizens have shared a TV interview from April 2023 featuring Lu Shaye, the Chinese Ambassador to France, in which he denied the historical disasters caused by Mao Zedong's rule and deflected the topic to Western human rights issues.
2026-10-27
On October 27, Mbappé's remarks calling Mao Zedong "China's dictator" sparked controversy. Milkground took down his endorsement promotional content, and Swiss sportswear brand On's official Weibo account in China also deleted related content, but On's overseas official website still retains the collaboration feature.
2026-10-26
After the interview sparked controversy, the program The Bridge pulled the video of Mbappé's face-swap meme about Mao Zedong from its social media accounts without explanation. elDiario said the video can still be seen in reposts on Reddit and other media; ABC said the original clip can no longer be found on its YouTube channel.
2026-10-14
At around 8:55 a.m. Beijing time on October 14, X user Hong Kong Lao Lei (@btcmos) asked Grok: Who are the three biggest dictators of the 20th and 21st centuries respectively? He requested that only names be given directly. Grok replied that for the 20th century they were Mao Zedong, Stalin, and Hitler; for the 21st century they were Kim Jong-un, Putin, and Xi Jinping.
2026-09-16
On September 16, a netizen posted a promotional video praising the worship of Mao Zedong and passing on the red gene, which was subsequently mocked by numerous netizens using image comments, attracting widespread public attention.
2026-09-09
On the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong's death, a freshman in Hubei laid flowers and wept before a statue, expressing gratitude, which triggered a large number of netizens netizens in the comments section to engage in irony.
2026-09-08
In a special feature on the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong's death, Deutsche Welle quoted commentary stating that Xi Jinping learned lessons of power from the Cultural Revolution and used this as a political consideration for maintaining Mao Zedong's historical status.
2026-09-08
On the evening of September 8, a large number of people gathered at Mao Zedong Square in Shaoshan, Hunan, singing red songs, dancing loyalty dances, and displaying slogans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mao Zedong's death.
2026-09-08
On September 8, a large crowd gathered to commemorate Mao Zedong, with footage showing the crowd waving flags and shouting slogans. The reported gathering size was said to have increased compared to the previous year and the year before that, but the material did not specify the exact location, organizers, number of participants, or whether the event had official approval. The specific demands of the on‑site activity and any subsequent handling were also not described.
2026-04
In an interview on the French web show The Bridge (hosted by his Real Madrid teammate Tchouaméni), Mbappé was asked about the funniest meme of himself. He said it was the one where someone put his face onto a photo of “a Chinese dictator,” adding that he often sends it to friends while playing video games. The show later edited in a composite image of him and Mao Zedong. Multiple media outlets report that the interview was recorded in April this year, and clips spread on platforms such as Reddit and X starting October 26.
2024-11-17
According to Know Your Meme, Reddit user TheSefi76 posted an edited image of Mbappé turned into Mao Zedong in the r/soccercirclejerk subreddit, and the site identifies it as the earliest known "Dictator Mbappé" image. Since then, the practice of face-swapping Mbappé with figures such as Mao Zedong, Kim Jong-un, Stalin, and Mobutu has gradually become a staple gag among football fans.
2023-08-18
On August 18, 2023, France's 20 Minutes reported on a parody video that face-swapped Mbappé with Mao Zedong and set it to the red song "The Sun in the Sky Is Red"; the meme originated as fans' satire of his outsized influence within the team.
2000
Hu Liren said that during a dinner with leaders of Shanghai Qingpu Prison, he asked whether a large number of Falun Gong practitioners had been arrested and had their organs harvested while in prison, and the other party retorted, "How do you know?" before admitting that this had happened.
1976-10-06
After Mao Zedong died in September 1976, Hua Guofeng, together with Ye Jianying and others, smashed the Gang of Four on October 6, and was elected Chairman of the CCP Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission that same night; earlier, on April 30, Mao Zedong had written for him: "You handle it, I'm at ease."
1976-09-09
On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong passed away. Newspapers across the country reported his death with black borders and large-scale memorial activities were held. The grassroots society was plunged into an extreme political atmosphere, with the public required to participate in collective mourning. Those with problematic family backgrounds faced severe political suppression during this period.
1976-09-09
The author turned 10 years old on September 9, 1976, the same day Mao Zedong passed away. He recalls that after Mao's death, he could no longer celebrate his birthday. He describes the societal reaction to Mao's passing, including official media's mourning and some citizens' expressions of grief.
1976-09-09
Mao Zedong passed away on September 9, 1976.
1976-09-09
Mao Zedong died in Beijing on September 9, 1976, after which China ended the period of Mao Zedong's personal rule.
1976-09
After the death of Mao Zedong, memorial services and commemorative gatherings were held across China, with schools and community organizations mobilizing the public to take part in mourning activities.
1972-08-03
Deng Xiaoping again wrote to Mao Zedong, engaging in sycophantic praise and reiterating his guarantee never to reverse verdicts.
1972-02-21
US President Nixon visited China, met with Chinese leaders including Zhou Enlai, and issued the Sino-US Joint Communiqué, marking the breaking of ice in relations between the two countries.
1971
Lin Biao, the successor handpicked by Mao Zedong, was accused of staging a coup and died in 1971 in a plane crash shrouded in mystery while flying to Moscow.
1969
During the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong denounced Liu Shaoqi as a traitor, spy, and labor scab, calling him a Khrushchev lurking at his side. Liu Shaoqi was ultimately tortured to death during the Cultural Revolution.
1968-06-20
Deng Xiaoping wrote an extremely humble self-statement, admitting he was a capitalist roader and pledging never to reverse verdicts.
1967
During the Cultural Revolution in 1967, with Mao Zedong's approval, Red Guards posted two slogans on both sides of Xinhua Gate at Zhongnanhai — “Long live the great Chinese Communist Party” and “Long live the invincible Mao Zedong Thought” — and they remain in place as of 2025.
1966-08-05
Mao Zedong posted the big-character poster 'Bombard the Headquarters' at the plenary session, pointing the spearhead directly at Liu Shaoqi. Liu Shaoqi's ranking within the party plummeted, marking his loss of power.
1966-07-08
On July 8, 1966, Mao Zedong wrote to Jiang Qing from Wuhan, saying that "great chaos under heaven leads to great order under heaven," and said that such great chaos would come again after seven or eight years.
1964
After Khrushchev was overthrown in 1964, Zhou Enlai and He Long went to Moscow to explore reconciliation. Soviet Defense Minister Malinovsky told He Long that the Soviets had gotten rid of Khrushchev, and the Chinese should also get rid of Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong was deeply shocked upon hearing this, and this incident had a profound impact on the history of the Chinese Communist Party.
1962-01-11
Because the Three Years of Great Famine exposed numerous problems, the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference was convened. Officials expressed dissatisfaction with the Great Leap Forward at the conference, forcing Mao Zedong to make self-criticism and step back to the second line of leadership, while Liu Shaoqi took over frontline economic management authority.
1959-07-02
During the 1959 Lushan Conference, Peng Dehuai wrote to Mao Zedong criticizing the Great Leap Forward; after Mao's speech on July 23, the conference's theme shifted from correcting the "Left" to opposing rightist opportunism.
1959-07-02
At the Lushan Conference, Liu Shaoqi brought up old accounts against Peng Dehuai, supported the resolution to overthrow the Peng Dehuai anti-party clique, and subsequently signed the dismissal order in his capacity as Chairman of the State.
1959
Around 1959, Mao Zedong publicly advocated a Cao Cao-style power scheme; the relevant remarks are regarded as a historical footnote to his views on political maneuvering.
1959
In 1959, Peng Dehuai was labeled anti-party by Mao Zedong for echoing Khrushchev's criticism of the Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes, ending his political life on the spot.
1957-07-09
During the Anti-Rightist Campaign, Mao Zedong quoted the Zuo Zhuan idiom "If the skin is gone, what can the hair attach to," comparing intellectuals to hair clinging to the skin of the proletariat, and declared that intellectuals had lost the qualifications for independent survival.
1957-06-08
Beginning in 1957, the Anti-Rightist Campaign was launched, resulting in the purge of numerous members of democratic parties and intra-party dissidents.
1956-01
In January 1956, Beijing and large and medium-sized cities across the country rapidly completed the state-private joint ownership of entire industries. Through a fixed-interest system, the state peacefully bought out private industry and commerce, marking the basic completion of the socialist transformation of the ownership of the means of production.
1953
After Stalin's death, Mao Zedong felt the restraints on him loosen, began to develop an illusion of self-reliance, and looked down on Khrushchev.
1950-06-30
In June 1950, the Agrarian Reform Law of the People's Republic of China was promulgated, and land reform rolled out across rural areas nationwide. Although the original intent was to distribute landlords' land to poor peasants, in actual implementation it evolved into a bloody and violent plundering feast, with numerous landlords stripped of their land and killed. Death tolls estimated by various scholars range between 200,000 and 2 million.
1949
Before the CCP came to power, Mao Zedong specifically consulted Stalin, and ultimately decided to set the capital in Beijing.
1945-04-23
At the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Liu Shaoqi delivered a report on revising the Party Constitution, writing Mao Zedong Thought into the constitution. Following the congress, he officially became the number two leader within the party.
1945
In "On Coalition Government," Mao Zedong proposed that a one-party government should not be implemented during the New Democracy stage, and that this stage would last a considerable length of time.
1945
Under Stalin's heavy pressure, Mao Zedong was forced to go to Chongqing to negotiate with the Kuomintang.
1943
During the Yan'an Rectification Movement, Liu Shaoqi catered to Mao Zedong by publishing articles and beginning to use the term 'Mao Zedong Thought,' thereby establishing his political position within the party.
1938
In 1938, Dimitrov, General Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, met with Wang Jiaxiang and Ren Bishi, stating that Mao Zedong should be supported as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. After returning to China the same year, Wang Jiaxiang relayed this message around the time of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee.
1938
When Stalin compiled the textbook Materialist Dialectics, he deleted the dialectical principle of "negation of the negation," and Mao Zedong subsequently followed this treatment when compiling the definitive version.
1936
In the winter of 1936 and the spring of 1937, Mao Zedong concentrated on studying the Soviet philosophy textbook A Course in Dialectics, edited by Shirokov and Eisenberg.
1934
The Soviet Union specifically published a Russian-language collection of Mao Zedong’s works and wrote a short biography for him, showing that he was under special protection and political packaging by Stalin.
1926
In 1926 Mao Zedong wrote an article arguing that determining who are our friends and who are our enemies is the key question of the Chinese revolution, but the article's definitions of friend and foe have continued to shift ever since, with the scope of class enemies steadily expanding.
1919
During the May Fourth Movement in 1919, some people in Hunan advocated for Hunan's autonomy. Young Mao Zedong was the most vocal proponent of Hunan's autonomy, and Hunan proposed the establishment of the Hunan Republic, which was seen as an example of popular sovereignty. John Dewey also attached importance to Hunan's autonomy, believing that China might form a federal system similar to that of the United States at the time.