Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), courtesy name Runzhi (originally Yongzhi, later changed to Runzhi), pen name Ziren. Hunan Xiangtan native. Leader of the Chinese people, great Marxist, proletarian revolutionary, strategist, and theorist; principal founder and leader of the Communist Party of China, the People's Liberation Army, and the People's Republic of China; poet and calligrapher. From 1949 to 1976, Mao Zedong served as the supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China. His developments in Marxism-Leninism, contributions to military theory, and theoretical contributions to the Communist Party are collectively known as Mao Zedong Thought. Because Mao held nearly all his major positions with the title “Chairman,” he is respectfully referred to as “Chairman Mao.” Mao Zedong is regarded as one of the most important figures in modern world history, and Time magazine also ranked him among the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. On March 5, 1963, Mao Zedong’s handwritten inscription “Learn from Comrade Lei Feng” was publicly released. This inscription shocked China’s calligraphy circle and elicited immense admiration from countless people. As a result, his unique style of calligraphy—described as “neither fully cursive nor fully regular”—was once again widely recognized by the public and subsequently acclaimed as “Mao-style.” This event marked a groundbreaking moment in the history of Chinese calligraphy, with profound and far-reaching influence.
 

Mao Zedong and Calligraphy

As a historical giant of extraordinary vision and talent, we are more familiar with Mao Zedong as a revolutionary, thinker, politician, and military strategist. Precisely because his political reputation overshadowed other domains, his remarkable achievements in poetry and calligraphy have been largely overlooked. In fact, Mao’s accomplishments in calligraphy remain exceptionally high. Compared with any master in history, Mao’s calligraphic art—vigorously bold, majestic, and uniquely distinctive—along with his monumental contributions to the revitalization and renaissance of Chinese calligraphy and the outstanding achievements he attained, can, at least in the current stage of Chinese calligraphy history, be described as “unprecedented and unsurpassed.” This assessment is neither excessive nor exaggerated, for Mao achieved the lofty realm of “true calligraphers naturally exude elegance.”   The recognition of Mao’s calligraphy as “Mao-style” is unquestionable. However, for a long time, some have misclassified Mao’s calligraphy as “wild cursive,” a deeply entrenched misconception that, to some extent, blurs the boundaries between Chinese calligraphic scripts. Script classification is primarily determined by fundamental structure, not by brushwork or momentum. When regular script serves as the foundation and cursive as the expressive form, it is called “semi-regular”; when cursive script serves as the foundation and regular script as the expressive form, it is called “semi-cursive.” Overall, the accurate classification of Mao’s calligraphy should be “semi-cursive,” not “wild cursive.” Two works represent the pinnacle of Mao’s calligraphic art: one is his semi-cursive masterpiece “Yiqin’e · Lou Mountain Pass,” which embodies the grandeur of wild cursive and rivals Zhang Xu and Huaisu; the other is his semi-cursive masterpiece “Qinyuanchun · Changsha,” which exhibits the subtlety of small cursive and stands shoulder to shoulder with Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing. These two works, where poetry and calligraphy are perfectly fused into an unparalleled harmony, stand as monumental masterpieces exemplifying the perfect unity of artistic form and content. They rank among the supreme and peak achievements in the history of calligraphy, representing the highest level of Chinese calligraphic development and standing as milestones in the annals of Chinese calligraphy.   Among all written systems in the world—including those of the four ancient civilizations—only Chinese characters, due to their unique structure and aesthetic beauty, are termed “art.” Chinese calligraphy is thus the world’s sole visual and造型 art, a precious national cultural heritage. Mao Zedong’s calligraphy remained faithful to the roots of Chinese culture and calligraphy, inheriting and developing while preserving the perfect form of Chinese characters. Through his distinctive brush techniques, stroke methods, and compositional structures, he pioneered innovations in calligraphy, correcting and eliminating the negative effects caused by excessive romanticism in cursive script (including arbitrary alteration of character forms), thereby charting the correct course for innovation in Chinese calligraphy—a contribution of immeasurable value. The immense impact and allure of Mao’s calligraphy also stem from its “populist” character: its adherence to popular aesthetic preferences and practical needs. Although his characters are works of calligraphic art, they are beloved by the masses, universally recognizable as authentic Chinese characters—neither obscure nor bizarre, neither artificial nor pretentious, never so esoteric that even Chinese people themselves cannot recognize them. Fully serving society and the people, this aspect deserves serious reflection and promotion. Therefore, Mao’s contribution to the development of Chinese calligraphy is enormous. He stands as a colossus who inherited, expanded, and carried forward the legacy of cursive script after masters such as Wang Xizhi and Huaisu, erecting a towering peak in the history of Chinese calligraphy.   Mao’s success in calligraphy still adheres to the fundamental trajectory and objective law of inheriting tradition — exploring innovation — forming a personal style. His foundational grounding remains in regular script: initially studying Ouyang Xun, absorbing influences from Yan Zhenqing and Wei stele inscriptions, he underwent the inevitable progression from regular to running script, and then to cursive, rigorously inheriting the traditions of Chinese calligraphy and achieving the realm of “from method to non-method.” Particularly through extensive study of calligraphic models across dynasties, especially repeatedly copying and contemplating the works of the “Two Wangs,” Sun Guoting, and Huaisu, he internalized the essence of calligraphy, achieving extraordinary mastery in running and cursive scripts.   Calligraphy may appear on the surface to be merely writing characters, but in reality, it expresses the calligrapher’s life experience, scholarly knowledge, cultivation, and insights into life, country, the world, and the cosmos. Such “traces of the Dao” profoundly influence the formation of a calligrapher’s style and determine whether one can become a true master. During his youth, Mao primarily studied, lived, and engaged in revolution in southern China; the regional cultural foundations of the south shaped his refined, meticulous, and insightful nature. In middle age, Mao fought in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia, particularly during his rugged years of “concealing brilliance and nurturing strength” in the northwest, which forged his bold, unrestrained, and open-minded character. The fusion of these two dimensions profoundly influenced both his personal conduct and intellectual pursuits. Especially, his experiences in the northwest coincided precisely with the critical phase of his overall maturation, instilling in him deep affection for the land. This experience not only significantly impacted his revolutionary career but also profoundly shaped his calligraphic style. While in Yan’an, though burdened with overwhelming responsibilities and directing battles from afar, he frequently studied calligraphic models and always carried with him a set of Jin-Tang small regular script. It was precisely these unique experiences and enduring emotional ties to the northwest that imbued Mao’s later works—such as “Qingpingyue · Liupan Mountain” and “Liangzhou Ci”—as well as his inscriptions for “Gansu Daily,” Qinghai Daily, and Ningxia Daily—with exceptional vitality and spiritual depth, revealing in every stroke his special bond and sentiment toward the northwest.   Beyond calligraphy itself, Mao’s unique personality, profound scholarship, profound thought, legendary life experiences, and especially his psychological disposition as a national leader and his aura as a great man—all factors external to calligraphy—contributed to making him a once-in-a-millennium genius and a master of calligraphy, qualities no previous calligrapher in history fully possessed and which make it impossible for others to surpass him in calligraphic art. Thus, becoming a true calligrapher is no simple matter. Calligraphy is not merely a question of superficial resemblance or technical skill; it requires us to learn many things… Applied to the art of calligraphy, this principle holds equally true: the indispensable “extra-calligraphic skills.”   Mao Zedong was not a military man by training, yet he commanded hundreds of thousands of troops to victory in over a hundred campaigns and battles, earning him a place among the world’s renowned military strategists. This achievement is closely related to his calligraphy. For writing calligraphy—especially running, cursive, and semi-cursive scripts—involves the movement of brush, composition of characters, and layout of the entire piece, which parallels the strategic deployment of troops, mobilization of forces, and command of battle. To some extent, this offers one explanation for how Mao, despite lacking formal military training, came to understand the art of warfare and led vast armies to triumph.   Chinese calligraphy is one of our national treasures, requiring relentless efforts by countless patriots and scholars to inherit, promote, explore, innovate, and strive for its advancement. Mao Zedong stands as one of its outstanding representatives, leaving behind the sublime, sacred, and peerless art of Chinese calligraphy to China and the world, becoming a rare calligraphic titan in Chinese history.