Mao Zedong was the leader of the Cultural Revolution in China from 1966 to 1976. He was a Chinese communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People's Republic of China. Mao was the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. He initiated the Cultural Revolution in order to reassert his authority over the Chinese government and to revive the revolutionary spirit of the Chinese people.