Final answer:
Mao Zedong was the communist leader who defeated the Nationalist Party in 1949 and declared China a communist state.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mao Zedong was the leader of the Communist Party who defeated the Nationalist Party in 1949 and declared China a communist state. Mao Zedong was a charismatic leader of peasant origin who rose to prominence in the Chinese Communist Party by the early 1930s. He gradually emerged as a leader alongside Red Army leader Zhou Enlai and became the Chairman of the CCP.