Summary

NOTES: COL PRINT LOCATION: CHINA TITLE: MAO OBITUARY SERVICED DATE: 09/09/76 NO: LNC 75826 DATE SHOT: 00/00/00 LENGTH: SECONDS: SOUND: PART NATSOF DATE OF ARRIVAL: FILM SHOWS: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LIFE OF CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG WHO DIED EARLY ON THURSDAY. LEAD IN: CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG DIED ON THURSDAY (SEPTEMBER NINTH) AT THE AGE OF EIGHTY TWO. IT WAS THE END OF A LIFETIME OF TUMULT AND REVOLUTION THAT MADE HIM THE RULER OF MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE -- A QUARTER OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION. HIS DEATH WAS EXPECTED TO SPARK ANOTHER POWER STRUGGLE IN THE NATION HE HAD LED FOR ITS TWENTY-SEVEN-YEAR HISTORY. THE CHINESE HAD BEEN EXPECTING HIS DEATH FOR A LONG TIME. MAO HAD SUFFERED SEVERAL STROKES AND WAS REPORTED TO HAVE PARKINSON'S DISEASE. THE STREETS OF PEKING WERE REPORTED QUIET BUT SOME REPORTS FROM THE CITY SAID PEOPLE WERE IN TEARS. THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF MAO'S DEATH, BROADCAST BY THE NEW CHINA NEW AGENCY, SAID HIS BODY WOULD LIE IN STATE IN PEKING'S GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE FOR A WEEK BEGINNING ON SATURDAY (SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH). THE ANNOUNCEMENT DID NOT MENTION A SUCCESSOR, BUT HUA KUO-FENG, WHO EMERGED FROM OBSCURITY LAST APRIL TO BECOME PREMIER AND FIRST VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY, WAS THE OBVIOUS FAVOURITE. FEET R/SECS 10 16 MS MAO WITH LEE KUAN YEW (2 SHOTS) 19 30 MS PEOPLE ON LONG MARCH (3 SHOTS) 22 35 MS PEOPLE BOARD LORRY (2 SHOTS) 26 42 MS PEOPLE MARCH 32 51 MS MAO AT YENAN IN 1935 (2 SHOTS) 40 1:04 MS MAO AT YENAN IN 1947 (2 SHOTS) 47 1:15 MS CIVIL WAS SCENES (5 SHOTS) 56 1:30 MS MAO REVIEWS TROOPS IN 1950 (6 SHOTS) 69 1:50 GV MAO IN MOSCOW (7 SHOTS) 85 2:10 MS KHRUSCHEV AND MAO (8 SHOTS) 96 2:34 MS MAO SWIMS (2 SHOTS) 100 2:40 MS MEN WITH RED BOOKS (2 SHOTS) 108 2:53 MS MAO WITH NORTH VIETNAMESE (3 SHOTS) 115 3:04 MCU KISSINGER AND MAO 125 3:20 MS MAO AND NIXON(3 SHOTS) 134 3:34 MS MAO AND FORD (2 SHOTS) 140 3:44 MS MAO AND FENG 147 3:55 MCU MAO IN CHAIR COMMENTARY: THIS MEETING WITH SINGAPORE PRIME MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW IN MAY THIS YEAR WAS ONE OF MAO'S LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCES. SINCE THEN, THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY HAD ANNOUNCED HE WOULD NO LONGER MEET VISITING HEADS OF STATE. BORN THE SON OF A PROSPEROUS PEASANT FARMER IN HUNAN PROVINCE, MAO WAS AN ACTIVE COMMUNIST FROM AN EARLY AGE AND SOON BECAME THE PARTY'S LEADER IN CHINA. IN NINETEEN THIRTY FOUR, IN ORDER TO ESCAPE FROM NATIONALIST FORCES, HE LED THE SIX THOUSAND-MILE (9,600- KM) LONG MARCH TO THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AROUND YENAN. OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND MEN WHO SET OUT WITH HIM, FEWER THAN THIRTY THOUSAND SURVIVED SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BATTLES WITH THE NATIONALISTS. MAO THEN MADE HIS HEADQUARTERS AT YENAN; THIS IS HIM THERE IN NINETEEN THIRTY FIVE. BEFORE HE COULD CONTINUE THE CIVIL WAR, THE JAPANESE INVADED CHINA IN NINETEEN THIRTY SEVEN. COMMUNISTS AND NATIONALISTS UNITED TO FIGHT THE COMMON FOE. AND WITH THE JAPANESE DEFEAT IN NINETEEN FORTY FIVE THE INTERNAL STRUGGLE CONTINUED. MAO MARSHALLED HIS FORCES AT YENAN AND LAUNCHED THEM AGAINST THE NATIONALIST ARMY OF CHIANG KAI- SHEK. (NATSOF) THE COMMUNIST VICTORY WAS COMPLETE BY APRIL, NINETEEN FORTY NINE AND MAO PROCLAIMED THE CHINESE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC IN PEKING. THE COMMUNIST VICTORY HAD SPRUNG FROM THE PEASANTS AND LANDLORDS WERE NOW DISPOSSESSED. THEIR LAND WAS REORGANISED INTO COLLECTIVE FARMS. MAO MADE ONLY TWO FOREIGN JOURNEYS IN HIS LIFE -- BOTH TO MOSCOW. THIS ONE WAS IN NINETEEN FIFTY WHEN HE WENT TO SIGN A TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND COOPERATION. (NATSOF) FEET R/SECS COMMENTARY: SOVIET COMMUNIST PARTY CHIEF NIKITA KHRUSCHEV WENT TO PEKING IN NINETEEN FIFTY NINE TO TAKE PART IN CELEBRATIONS MARKING THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORY OVER THE NATIONALISTS. BUT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COMMUNIST SUPERPOWERS WORSENED IN THE NINETEEN SIXTIES. THEIR WAR OF WORDS ESCALATED INTO VIOLENT BORDER CLASHES. (NATSOF) ALSO IN THE NINETEEN SIXTIES, HE SUBJECTED CHINA TO THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION. HE HAD HIMSELF FILMED SWIMMING IN THE RIVER YANGTSE. (NATSOF) YOUNG FANATICS CALLED RED GUARDS PURGED THE COUNTRY, WHICH MAO THOUGHT HAD BECOME TOO LAX DURING THE YEARS. THEIR BIBLE WAS THE LITTLE RED BOOK OF THE THOUGHTS OF CHAIRMAN MAO. ALTHOUGH DELEGATIONS FROM NORTH VIETNAM WERE FREQUENT VISITORS TO PEKING DURING THE INDOCHINA CONFLICT, MAO CAREFULLY REFRAINED FROM INTERFERING. NORTH VIETNAM REMAINED MORE CLOSELY TIED TO THE SOVIETS. UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE HENRY KISSINGER VISITED MAO IN NINETEEN SEVENTY ONE AND PAVED THE WAY FOR THE HISTORIC OFFICIAL VISIT BY PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON THE FOLLOWING YEAR (NATSOF) BY THE TIME AMERICAN PRESIDENT GERALD FORD WENT TO PEKING IN NINETEEN SEVENTY FIVE, MAO WAS OBVIOUSLY IN FRAIL HEALTH. HIS EIGHTY ONE YEARS HAD TAKEN THEIR TOLL ON HIS FORMERLY ROBUST CONSTITUTION. THIS IS HUA KUO-FENG, HIS HEIR APPARENT. (NATSOF) ALL HIS LIFE MAO BELIEVED NOTHING COULD STAND AGAINST THE WILL OF A UNITED PEOPLE. HIS VISION AND DETERMINATION TRANSFORMED CHINA AND MADE HER A WORLD POWER. HE MUST BE RECKONED AMONG THE MOST FORMATIVE LEADERS OF HISTORY.