Chinese Communists and Gung-ho

According to Lynn Pan (pictured) in Mao Memorabilia The Man and the Myth, Mao Zedong, or at least the Chinese Communists, were said to have coined the English term "gung-ho."

As most of us know, the famed Long March in the 1930s culminated in Yan'an (延安), one of the poorest and harshest places in China.

It was in Yan'an that the Communists carried out various policies relating to land reform, education, youth corps, cooperatives, women's affairs, as well as Party recruitment and organization.

As Pan wrote: "A motto popularized by the Communists there, gonghe (共和), "working together," would be adopted by the U.S. Marines and passed on to the English language as "gung-ho."