Mao Tse-Tung's Selected Writings was a book of inspirational reading originally printed for the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army. It was created by General Lin Biao (1907-1971), head of National Defence, who felt that the Chinese should study Chairman Mao's thoughts. In a campaign to promote Mao’s ideas, The People’s Liberation Army newspaper printed daily extracts from Mao's selected writings and speeches. These brief extracts made it easier for the lay person to study Mao's philosophy. The earlier versions, however, contained many errors and text written by other writers was wrongly attributed to Mao. In 1949, the Chinese government formed a committee to produce an authoritative version of Mao Tse-Tung's Selected Writings. It was arranged in chronological sections to coincide with periods of modern Chinese history. The first volume of the set covers the periods of the First Revolutionary Civil Wars (1924-27) and of the Second Revolutionary War (1927-1937); the second and third volumes cover the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45), and the fourth volume, the Third Revolutionary Civil War (1945-49). This became the source for selecting texts used in creating the ‘Little Red Book’. The Little Red Book in English was published by the government's Foreign Languages Press. The English translations allowed foreigners living in China to learn about Mao’s ideas. It also heightened Mao’s profile among the international community.
