The Private Life of Chairman Mao
I just finished The Private Life of Chairman Mao by Dr. Li Zhisui, all 92 chapters of it. While I consider myself thoroughly educated, sometimes getting through dense books is as much an achievement as comprehending them. I felt a similar way in 8th grade when I read Roots by Alex Haley.
The book itself was definitely good for me to read. It feels like all knowledge of world history I possess has all been acquired on my own initiative. Cumberland County High school's sophomore World History class, taught by football coach Doug Inman, covered a checklist of points to align us with a few standardized test questions, then spent the rest of the time focused on America's military accomplishments (but never making it to the Korean War). Humanities at Sewanee was very Euro-centric as it sought to teach us over two millennium of art history and english lit over four classes. Beyond any perceived failings of past curricula, I have an obsession of ridding myself of ignorance. Someone could claim that its from me wanting to rid myself of the instant associations with certain groups I experience when one tells a citizen of somewhere else in the world where I am from, or perhaps from a frustration of being comparatively under-traveled and inexperienced. I might just enjoy learning.
I have had limited knowledge of even an outline of the history of China since 1950, since I had not anchor point to understand why certain things were done, as well as had no point of reference to Chinese culture. The book provided basic knowledge as well as the motivations behind the movements, the purges, and the vacillations that occurred, and as I mentioned before the author's "outsider" perspective made it a lot easier for me to relate. While told through the lens of a western styled physician from a bourgeois family, I found most of the bias in the book was in Li's depiction of himself in the events. His depicts himself as principled and apolitical, but his actions seem a bit pliable and politically-aware. While I believe he started the way he described, he eventually lost all such innocence. The pictures in the center of the book are the most telling, depicting a goofy grinning young man next to Mao, but as the dates under the pictures progress, the more bothered Dr. Li looks. I believe he convinced himself he was principled and apolitical to get through some of those rough times, and perhaps such bias was placed in humility, or in nostalgia as he wrote the book at the end of his life. The book is banned in China, and is refuted by many back there of being false as Dr. Li did not have any documented proof and relied on memory when writing the book. The fact that he had to burn his diaries in journals during the Cultural Revolution to avoid the Red Guards was not lost on me, but I don't doubt that my having read the book precludes me of ever being welcomed by parade into that country.
As far as its depictions of Chairman Mao Zedong as an emperor, complete with his hedonism, philandering, encouragement of the factioning of his supporters to play them off one another, nonchalance about tens of millions of people dying under his rule, or unwillingness to tolerate criticism towards himself... what can I say? You can see the same thing happen the world over countless times whenever one person has that much power, such a cult of personality, no matter the form of government. Communism played a direct role in those plights (the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) becoming so terrible. I could go on about how primitive I think it is, but I think that's almost beside the point of the book, and therefore this post.
The book itself was definitely good for me to read. It feels like all knowledge of world history I possess has all been acquired on my own initiative. Cumberland County High school's sophomore World History class, taught by football coach Doug Inman, covered a checklist of points to align us with a few standardized test questions, then spent the rest of the time focused on America's military accomplishments (but never making it to the Korean War). Humanities at Sewanee was very Euro-centric as it sought to teach us over two millennium of art history and english lit over four classes. Beyond any perceived failings of past curricula, I have an obsession of ridding myself of ignorance. Someone could claim that its from me wanting to rid myself of the instant associations with certain groups I experience when one tells a citizen of somewhere else in the world where I am from, or perhaps from a frustration of being comparatively under-traveled and inexperienced. I might just enjoy learning.
I have had limited knowledge of even an outline of the history of China since 1950, since I had not anchor point to understand why certain things were done, as well as had no point of reference to Chinese culture. The book provided basic knowledge as well as the motivations behind the movements, the purges, and the vacillations that occurred, and as I mentioned before the author's "outsider" perspective made it a lot easier for me to relate. While told through the lens of a western styled physician from a bourgeois family, I found most of the bias in the book was in Li's depiction of himself in the events. His depicts himself as principled and apolitical, but his actions seem a bit pliable and politically-aware. While I believe he started the way he described, he eventually lost all such innocence. The pictures in the center of the book are the most telling, depicting a goofy grinning young man next to Mao, but as the dates under the pictures progress, the more bothered Dr. Li looks. I believe he convinced himself he was principled and apolitical to get through some of those rough times, and perhaps such bias was placed in humility, or in nostalgia as he wrote the book at the end of his life. The book is banned in China, and is refuted by many back there of being false as Dr. Li did not have any documented proof and relied on memory when writing the book. The fact that he had to burn his diaries in journals during the Cultural Revolution to avoid the Red Guards was not lost on me, but I don't doubt that my having read the book precludes me of ever being welcomed by parade into that country.
As far as its depictions of Chairman Mao Zedong as an emperor, complete with his hedonism, philandering, encouragement of the factioning of his supporters to play them off one another, nonchalance about tens of millions of people dying under his rule, or unwillingness to tolerate criticism towards himself... what can I say? You can see the same thing happen the world over countless times whenever one person has that much power, such a cult of personality, no matter the form of government. Communism played a direct role in those plights (the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) becoming so terrible. I could go on about how primitive I think it is, but I think that's almost beside the point of the book, and therefore this post.