On July 20, 1951 (the 17th day of the sixth lunar month), Mao Zedong expressed "Mao Zedong Thought".

On July 20, 1951, when Mao Zedong reviewed the report "Struggle to Strengthen the Propaganda of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought" by Xi Zhongxun, the first secretary of the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the Northwest Bureau cadre meeting, he rewrote the expression of "Mao Zedong Thought" in it. After being revised by Mao Zedong himself, the expression was: "Mao Zedong Thought is the thought that combines Marxism-Leninism and the Chinese Revolution. This thought is the guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China and the guide of the Chinese people's revolutionary movement."