Mao Zedong's last living son dies

BEIJING - THE only known surviving son of Mao Zedong, the late founder of China's communist government, has died.

Mr Mao Anqing, 84, died on Friday, the China News Service said, without giving a cause of death.

Mr Mao, who played no role in government, had psychiatric problems and is believed to have spent much of his adult life in mental hospitals.

He was born in 1923 to Mao and his first wife Yang Kaihui while they were activists. He was their second son.

Yang was executed in 1930 by the then ruling Kuomintang (KMT) government.

In 1936, Mr Mao Anqing and his older brother Anying were sent to Paris, then later to Moscow.

They returned in 1947 before the communists' 1949 victory in a civil war that overthrew the KMT.

Mao Zedong also had two daughters, Li Na and Li Min.

Some say he might have had other children while on the run from KMT forces in the 1930s and left them with peasant families.

But no such children have been found.

Mr Mao Anying was killed while fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. Mao Zedong died in 1976.

Mr Mao Anqing's son, Mao Xinyu, is the father of Mao Zedong's only great-grandchild.

Xinhua news agency reported yesterday that a mourning hall had been set up for him in Beijing.