Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung, founder of the People’s Republic of China, strived for a place in history as the “Great Steersman”, who led his country into a new and better future by means of rigorous socialist transformations in economy, culture and society. He was revered like a saint not only in China. But his rule was marked by terror, violence and despotism. Under Mao’s leadership, the “Empire of the Middle” descended into chaos.