Mao Anqing, the last surviving son of Mao Zedong, died in Beijing on Friday at the age of 84, the Xinhua News Agency reported late on Saturday.

A mourning hall has been set up at Beijing Western Hill service center.

The second son of Mao Zedong - one of the principal founders of the People's Republic of China Mao Anqing was born in 1923 in Central China's Hunan Province. In 1930, after their mother was killed by a rival warlord, Mao Anqing was sent with his elder brother Mao Anying and younger brother Mao Anlong to live in Shanghai.

Often left to fend for themselves on the city's streets, Mao Anqing was once beaten by a policeman, which it is thought to have contributed to his later mental problems, the China News Service said.

In 1936, the eldest boys were sent to study in Moscow.

Mao Anqing returned to China in 1947 and joined the Communist Party of China, where he worked as a Russian translator in the Publicity Department from 1949. Despite his mental illness, he translated a dozen masterpieces of Marxism and Leninism as well as books on political science.

Mao Anqing is survived by his wife Shao Hua, a major-general in the People's Liberation Army, and 37-year-old son Mao Xinyu.

China Daily

(China Daily 03/26/2007 page3)