Mao Yichang
Chinese farmer and grain merchant
Died when: 49 years 100 days (591 months)Star Sign: Libra
Mao Yichang or Mao Rensheng (15 October 1870 – 23 January 1920) was a Chinese farmer and grain merchant who achieved notability as the father of Mao Zedong.
The nineteenth generation of the Mao clan, he was born and lived his life in the rural village of Shaoshanchong in Shaoshan, Hunan Province.
The son of Mao Enpu, he was raised into a poverty-stricken family of peasants.Marrying Wen Qimei when he was ten, he subsequently served for two years in the Xiang Army.
Returning to agriculture, he became a moneylender and grain merchant, buying up local grain and selling it in the city for a higher price, becoming one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan, with 20 acres of land.
He and Wen had four surviving children, Zedong, Zemin, Zetan, and Zejian, the latter of whom was adopted.