Mao Tse Tsung and General Chu Teh touring the proposed communist capital of China. Mao Tse Tsung. Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 - September 9, 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which he ruled as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from the establishment of the PRC in 1949 until his death in 1976. General Chu Teh. Zhu De (1 December 1886 - 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician, revolutionary of the Chinese Communist Party.