section_path: Writings and calligraphy/Literary works
section_name: Literary works
paragraph_text: Literary works
  
  Mao's education began with Chinese classical literature. Mao told Edgar Snow in 1936 that he had started the study of the Confucian Analects and the Four Books at a village school when he was eight, but that the books he most enjoyed reading were Water Margin, Journey to the West, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dream of the Red Chamber. Mao published poems in classical forms starting in his youth and his abilities as a poet contributed to his image in China after he came to power in 1949. His style was influenced by the great Tang dynasty poets Li Bai and Li He.
  
  Some of his best known poems are " Changsha " (1925), " The Double Ninth " (October 1929), "Loushan Pass" (1935), "The Long March" (1935), " Snow " (February 1936), " The PLA Captures Nanjing " (1949), " Reply to Li Shuyi " (11 May 1957), and "Ode to the Plum Blossom" (December 1961).