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On this day in 1976, Chairman of the Communist Party of China🇨🇳 Mao Zedong passed away. While neoliberal economists say China’s rise only started after Mao’s death, the statistics show that Mao’s rule laid the foundations for China to become the superpower it is today. Out of the ashes of the Chinese civil war and brutal occupation by Imperial Japan, Mao transformed China: Life expectancy increased from just 35 in 1949 to 63.8 years in 1975: an improvement of almost 30 years in one generation, one of the most rapid increases in life expectancy ever documented. In 1949, more than 80% of China’s population was illiterate. Primary school enrolment was only around 20%, and middle school enrolment stood at just 6%. Primary-school enrolment reached roughly 97% by 1975, secondary enrolment reached roughly 46% by 1977. In 1949, China’s infant mortality was extremely high. By 1978, thanks to the expansion of education and public health, infant mortality fell to 52 per 1000 live births.  Under Mao, China’s government massively expanded healthcare and took basic healthcare to the countryside through rural clinics, vaccine rollouts, sanitation campaigns, maternal/child healthcare, epidemic control, and basic medical training. The number of hospitals increased from approximately 2,600 in 1949 to 7,850 by 1976.  China’s industrial capacity also boomed and the foundations were laid for China to become the ‘factory of the world’:  Steel production:  1949: 158,000 tonnes 1977: 16.33 million tonnes Electricity generation:  1949: 4.31 billion kWh 1977: 223.4 billion kWh Coal production:  1949: 32.4 million tonnes 1977: 550 million tonnes Agricultural grain production: 1949: 108 million tonnes 1977: 282.8 million tonnes Under Mao, China overcame the extreme hardships left behind by the ‘century of humiliation’ of colonialism, Japanese occupation, and the ruins of civil war. Without the drastic improvements under Mao, the foundations would not have existed for Deng Xiaoping’s reforms.