death_date death_place children birth_place parents birth_date spouse image article_title name occupation
23 january 1920 shaoshan mao zedong shaoshan , hunan province mao enpu october 15 , 1870 wen qimei mao yichang.jpg mao yichang
 mao yichang farmer , grain merchant
mao yichang

mao yichang -lrb- october 15 , 1870 -- january 23 , 1920 -rrb- was a chinese farmer and grain merchant who achieved notability as the father of revolutionary political theorist mao zedong .
the nineteenth generation of the mao clan , he was born and lived his life in the rural village of shaoshanchong in shaoshan , hunan province .
the son of mao enpu , he was raised into a poverty-stricken family of farmers .
marrying wen qimei when he was ten , he subsequently served for two years in the chinese army .
returning to agriculture , he became a moneylender and grain merchant , buying up local grain and selling it in the city for a higher price , becoming one of the wealthiest farmers in shaoshan , with 20 acres of land .
he and wen had four surviving children , zedong , zemin , zetan , and zejian , the latter of whom was adopted .
