Mao Zedong, Chairman Mao, 1893-1976, was the leader of the Communist Party of China, and rose to power in 1949. Mao was the driving force behind “The Great Leap Forward” and the Cultural Revolution, political mass movements and political purges in which millions of Chinese people were killed. From the book “We are all equal”, by Finn Nygaard. Author Elsebeth Aasted Schanz, PhD, Manager and curator of the Danish Poster Museum.