Chairman of the Communist Party of China
Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the first Chairman of the Communist Party of China and leader of the People's Republic of China for nearly 30 years, wrote poetry, starting in the 1920s, during the Red Army's epic retreat during the Long March of 1934-1936, and after coming to power in 1949. In spite of Mao's political radicalism he was artistically conservative, opting to use traditional Chinese forms.