Have you printed the article as a handbook? Mao asks.
I have, but the bookstores in Beijing are uninterested. Only three thousand copies have been reluctantly stocked-compared to Vice Chairman Liu's On a Communist's Self-Cultivation, which has sold six million.
Did you relay the situation to the head of the Cultural Bureau, Lu Din-yi?
I did. His comment was "It is an academic issue."
Mao gets up and spits tea leaves from his mouth. Down with the Cultural Bureau and the Beijing City Committee! Let's stir the country. Tell the masses to shake the enemy's boats. The revolution must be renewed.
Your order has been placed.
The first couple of China utilize their power to its full capacity. Through the media Mao launches the movement. Let the Cultural Revolution he a soul-purifying process, the papers quote Mao. The old order has to he abandoned. A foot worker should be able to enter an opera hall free of charge; a sick son of a peasant should receive the same medical care as his provincial governor; an orphan should be able to obtain the highest education; and elders, the handicapped and the disabled should receive free public health care.
In a few months, creating chaos becomes a way of life. Looting is not only encouraged, but called an act to "help one depart from evil seduction." To follow Mao's teaching becomes a ritual practice, a new religion. In Madame Mao's twenty-four-hour propaganda there is nothing left of Mao but Buddha himself.
Behind the thick walls of the Forbidden City, Mao designs slogans to inspire the masses. Like an emperor he issues edicts. Today, "Everyone is equal in front of the truth," and tomorrow, "Welcome the soldiers to take over the leadership of the schools." The governors and mayors-especially the mayor of Beijing, Peng Zhen, and the head of the Cultural Bureau, Lu Din-yi, are disoriented. Yet Mao forces them to lead in the name of the Politburo. In the meantime, Kang Sheng is assigned by Mao to monitor the mayor's performance.
Jiang Ching is sent to "go around and light fires."
You can afford to make messes, Kang Sheng tells her. If something goes wrong, Mao will always back you up. My situation is different. I have no one to back me up. I must be careful.
There is resistance. It comes from Vice Chairman Liu and his friend Vice Premier Deng Xiao-ping. If Mao has always considered Liu a rival, he considers Deng a valuable talent. Mao once said that Deng's "little bottle" is filled with amazing things. Educated in France Deng tasted capitalism and loved it. The man talks little but acts big. He stands by Vice Chairman Liu in supporting the capitalistic programs. On February 5, a cold day, he and Liu decide to hold a Politburo meeting to discuss the mayor of Beijing Peng Zhen's urgent paper "The Report."
The point of the paper is to clarify the confusion that Madame Mao's "On the Play Hairui Dismissed from Office" has caused. The goal is to narrow the criticism into an academic zone, says Peng. By the end of the meeting Peng asks Liu and Deng Xiaoping to cosign a letter in support of "The Report." The next day both the letter and the paper are submitted to Mao.
My husband expresses no objection to "The Report." In fact, he never allows himself to get into a position where he must give a black or white answer. Mao understands that a rejection would mean rejecting ninety percent of his cabinet members. Mao lives to play the savior, not the executioner.
In the future Mao will always be remembered for his good deeds. For example, the widespread story of his attendance at Marshal Chen Yi's funeral in 1975. That he arrived in his pajamas demonstrated how he hurried to get there. The viewers were led to believe in the sincerity of Mao's sorrow. Nevertheless, the truth is that Mao could have saved the marshal's life by uttering a simple "no" to stop the Red Guards from torturing him to death.
This is not to say that I have reservations about my husband's tactics. I am with him. He is a great man, a visionary, who dreams a great dream for his nation. The goal of revolution is paradise. I have always understood that "Revolution is one class overthrowing the other by violent action"-we have all put our lives on the line.
The game continues. Mao is set to sweep his opposition. At the Party gatherings, Mao smiles and chats with Liu and Deng. He asks about their families and jokes about Deng's habit of playing poker. Mao has the ability to verbally disarm, to charm and to make his victims abandon their suspicions until they become an open door. Then he strikes.
The mayor of Beijing, Peng Zhen, is thrilled that Chairman Mao has no comments on "The Report." He assumes that he has Mao's support. The news puts Vice Chairman Liu and Deng Xiao-ping at ease.
I know my husband. He might pretend to be ill and withdrawn, but he'll come back and take his enemy by storm. It is what he is doing now. Planning the battle, rearranging his chessboard. He believes that the future of China is at stake. He believes that he is dealing with a coup d'état, that his army is rebelling. He believes that he has the allegiance of only one force from the northern provinces, led by the sickly Marshal Lin.
For years Lin has played all kinds of tricks in order to win Mao's favor. About his behavior, his colleague Marshal Luo Reiqing is not only disgusted but criticizes him as a hypocrite.
I have come to know Lin through Kang Sheng. Kang Sheng says that Lin Biao is a bride who has been waiting for her wedding day all her life, and now she has gotten the ring.
I visit the Lin family. I mention Marshal Luo. I say Luo is now our shared enemy.
What's your story? asks Lin.
I'd like to have an official position in the Party. I thought Marshal Luo was my husband's close friend and might be willing to lend me a hand. I'd like to get the army to participate in the Cultural Revolution.
What happened?
Marshal Luo turned me down. I am too embarrassed to describe the details-he wouldn't even let me take a uniform!
You don't have to go on, Madame Mao. I know what to do about it. Why don't you come to my headquarters and open a seminar?
February 20, 1966. In a brand-new uniform, Madame Mao Jiang Ching delivers a speech against "The Report." It is the first time in her life she holds a meeting attended by the heads of state and men of the armed forces. She experiences stage fright. But she is confident. Afterwards she informs Mao of what she has done. He congratulates her.
From then on Lin Biao and Madame Mao Jiang Ching visit each other frequently. They form an alliance to help get rid of each other's enemies.
After my speech Lin's headquarters produces a booklet. It is entitled The Summary of Discussions Held by Comrade Jiang Ching and Sponsored by Comrade Lin Biao. It is the text of my speech. The subtitle is On the Role of the Arts in the Army. In short, The Summary.
Comrade Jiang Ching is the model member of our Party, Marshal Lin's hand printing reads on the cover page. She has made tremendous contributions and sacrifices for our country. The Cultural Revolution has provided an opportunity for her to demonstrate leadership. She shines as a political talent.
Mao is pleased with The Summary. I have claimed Maoism to be the greatest and only theory of the Chinese Communist Party.
In the next four weeks Mao calls me four times to personally revise The Summary. In April Mao issues an order to make The Summary the handbook of every member of the Communist Party.
I touch you with these hands, I put them on your burning cheeks so they will be cool.
I look in the mirror and embrace myself for what I have gone through. Taking off my glasses I see a pair of swollen eyes.