Mao Zedong 1 (1893-1976) Mao Zedong led China's Communist revolution in the 1920s and 1930s and became chairman(chief of state) of the People's Republic of China in 1949, an office he held until 1959. From Mao Zedong.. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001.ao Zedong was the foremost Chinese Communist leader of the 20th century and theprincipal founder of the People's Republic of China.Mao was born December 26, 1893, into a peasant family in the village of Shaoshan, Hunanprovince. His father was a strict disciplinarian and Mao frequently rebelled against hisauthority.