Mao Anqing, Mao’s last surviving son

BEIJING – Mao Zedong’s last surviving son, Mao Anqing, who suffered from mental illnesses and worked as a Russian translator, has died in Beijing at the age of 84, the official Xinhua agency reported late on Saturday.

Born in southern Hunan province, he was smuggled to Shanghai by the communist underground in 1930 after Nationalist officials killed his mother Yang Kaihui, Xinhua said. But together with elder brother Mao Anying, he was often left to fend for himself on the city’s streets and was once beaten by a policeman which contributed to later mental problems, Chinese media reported.The brothers were sent abroad in 1936 and spent almost a decade in the Soviet Union, only returning to China in 1947.Mao Anqing is survived by photojournalist wife Shao Hua and son Mao Xinyu – born in 1970 at the height of China’s cultural revolution that Mao Zedong launched to boost his fading power.Shao is a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, which has given Mao’s descendants official positions and salaries.Unlike the children of many other top officials, none have become powerful political or economic figures.Analysts have said the Great Helmsman had planned to name his eldest son heir before he was killed in the Korean war, and Mao Anqing’s mental problems thwarted plans for a dynastic leadership.He had been at an elite military hospital, and had suffered from recurrent kidney problems before his death, sources said.More comfortable reading Russian than Chinese, he translated Marxist-Leninist books and worked in the publicity department of the powerful Central Party Committee, Chinese media reported.Nampa-ReutersBut together with elder brother Mao Anying, he was often left to fend for himself on the city’s streets and was once beaten by a policeman which contributed to later mental problems, Chinese media reported.The brothers were sent abroad in 1936 and spent almost a decade in the Soviet Union, only returning to China in 1947.Mao Anqing is survived by photojournalist wife Shao Hua and son Mao Xinyu – born in 1970 at the height of China’s cultural revolution that Mao Zedong launched to boost his fading power.Shao is a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, which has given Mao’s descendants official positions and salaries.Unlike the children of many other top officials, none have become powerful political or economic figures.Analysts have said the Great Helmsman had planned to name his eldest son heir before he was killed in the Korean war, and Mao Anqing’s mental problems thwarted plans for a dynastic leadership.He had been at an elite military hospital, and had suffered from recurrent kidney problems before his death, sources said.More comfortable reading Russian than Chinese, he translated Marxist-Leninist books and worked in the publicity department of the powerful Central Party Committee, Chinese media reported.Nampa-Reuters