What happens
Mao Tse-tung, a young Chinese student, answers a newspaper advertisement seeking companionship among young men interested in patriotic work. He meets a group of fellow students in Changsha, who discuss books and history and meet on long walks. Their friendship grows into a study society, and Mao begins to think seriously about China's future. Over the years he moves from teaching to organizing workers and peasants, and he becomes deeply involved in the political struggles that follow. The Pacific Story presents this account of Mao's early life and rise as a Chinese Communist leader, as heard in the program's opening portion.
Changsha, Hunan Province, China, in the 1910s and 1920s, with later scenes in Peking, Shanghai, Canton and the mountains of northwest China
Characters: Mao Tse-tung, Chin, Ho Chiang
Listen for: The advertisement in the classified column that begins Mao's friendships and the study society that follows from it
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.