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43rd out of 319 books
—
221 voters
The Private Life of Chairman Mao
by
Li Zhisui
From 1954 until Mao Zedong's death 22 years later. Dr. Li Zhisui was the Chinese ruler's personal physician. For most of these years, Mao was in excellent health; thus he and the doctor had time to discuss political and personal matters. Dr. Li recorded many of these conversations in his diaries, as well as in his memory. In this book, Dr. Li vividly reconstructs his extra...more
Paperback, 736 pages
Published
April 2nd 1996
by Random House
(first published January 1st 1994)
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Dec 17, 2012
Erik Graff
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
modern China fans
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
biography
This book is flawed in many respects. First, its author is an admitted naif as re politics, history, psychology etc. Although he delves into such perspectives, he doesn't get much beyond the surface. Second, as he also admits, his class background was bourgeois, his exposure to the lives of ordinary Chinese only coming late in his career. Third, he only entered the scene late, after the revolution. Fourth, having burned his original notes, his memoir is based on memory.
All of those consideration...more
All of those consideration...more
This is one of the best China books I've read and I've read about 50 of them. It's long and very involved, but written in a clear and fluid style. It is, quite simply, fascinating; brimful with interesting episodes and tidbits impossible to find anywhere else. Details about Mao's illnesses, drug addictions, sex life, and death are particularly salient, while figures and topics you can find in nearly any China book (Jiang Qing, Lin Biao, the Cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, etc.) are...more
Jan 18, 2011
Paul
marked it as to-read-nonfiction
If I was a dictator
Yadda badda biddy biddy bom
All day long I'd hydroelectrify everything
Eeedle deedle didle deedle dum
Yeah. What else? Hey, open the window, i can hear somebody singing.
A-breakin' rocks in the - hot sun
I fought the Chairman and the - Chairman won
Cool. You know, China, you deserve me.
The rest of the world... you'll just have to wait.
Yadda badda biddy biddy bom
All day long I'd hydroelectrify everything
Eeedle deedle didle deedle dum
Yeah. What else? Hey, open the window, i can hear somebody singing.
A-breakin' rocks in the - hot sun
I fought the Chairman and the - Chairman won
Cool. You know, China, you deserve me.
The rest of the world... you'll just have to wait.
This was a great biography of Chairman Mao, but I gave it 4 *s as opposed to 5 because I was expecting a little more. The book was written by Mao's personal physician, who treated him for 22 or 23 years. It mostly covers Mao's character and his relationships to the people in his inner circle, such as Jiang Qing, who was a part of the so-called "Gang of Four", and who was purged by the party right after Mao died. It covers the major events and revolutions in China during the Mao regime, e.g. The...more
I have read this book now for the 4th time. As I read this book, I can feel this man's goodness be challenged over and over by the circumstances thrust upon him. I really feel for his position and thought it was quite an eye opener into the behind the scene look into China's politics. Think for a moment if you gave the presidency of the United States over to some farm hick who knew little if any world politics and you have this story an ocean away. It made me think and realize what honest people...more
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The most memorable part of this biography which I remember to this day are the salacious details of the ballroom dances organized for Mao's benefit with poor innocent country girls, whose parents were only too happy to make whatever contribution they could for the benefit of Chairman Mao. Refusing treatment for his VDs, Li (his personal doctor) would have to prescribe antibiotics to all the girls that he slept with. Who would have thought even someone like Chairman Mao? Pretty sure this one wasn...more
This book was written by Dr. Li Zhisui, Mao's personal physician from 1955 to Mao's death in 1976. Mao spent much of his time enjoying his harem of young girls and politically scheming to hold onto power. Mao often spoke to Dr. Li about things on his mind, so Dr. Li learned much about what was going on in China. When the Soviet Union left Manchuria at the end of World War II, the Chinese Communist Party seized much of the weaponry they left behind. Li also wrote that Stalin had been opposed to C...more
Wow. This man is insane. Forget the failed economic policies. Forget 30 million people killed (some say 60 million and I've even heard 90 million) as a result of his tyranny. Forget the underground city he built. This man's private life is more insane. His insanity seemed quite contagious as the book starts out with the author in charge of preserving the man's corpse with pressure from other high officials. This was immediately hilarious as you read about Mao's face falling off and his body beco...more
I read many books on China, as I'm fascinated by the country and have visited four times to date. Mao is an interesting character, and his doctor's account is absolutely riveting. I found it so easy to read the 700+ pages, it is THAT good.
Li made his choices under a lot of duress - I think that is why the book is so good. It all feels very real...and I have to say I enjoyed this more than the Wild Swans book by Jung Chang (although that was still great).
Unputdownable.
Li made his choices under a lot of duress - I think that is why the book is so good. It all feels very real...and I have to say I enjoyed this more than the Wild Swans book by Jung Chang (although that was still great).
Unputdownable.
Mao was a superstitious dirty old man who suffered from veneral disease and thought nothing of seducing young women of the groupie persuasion. How does this type of man become so powerful? Unfortunately Mao was only one in a very long line of such tyrants. He did have very high Chinese EQ, the people were his instrument, he played so well. Even Stalin was appalled by his complete disregard for human life.
A fascinating memoir of Mao's personal physician- Dr. Li Zhisui. I just finished reading this book for the second time and liked it even more than I did the first time.
This is a truly amazing story of power, corruption and how intrigues, infighting and Byzantine court politics affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people during the 'Great Leap Forward' and 'The Cultural Revolution'.
Anyone interested in understanding how one man gained so much influence and power and held such sway with h...more
This is a truly amazing story of power, corruption and how intrigues, infighting and Byzantine court politics affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people during the 'Great Leap Forward' and 'The Cultural Revolution'.
Anyone interested in understanding how one man gained so much influence and power and held such sway with h...more
Very honest and straight forward narration of the constant stream of history the flowed around Mao. Only a fifth generation doctor like Dr. Li could have adhered to such principles in life and suffered such hardship for the sake of his family and the misguided love he felt for his motherland which left him homeless and nationless at the time of his death.
A Very Good Read Indeed.
A Very Good Read Indeed.
Who better to tell us this than Mao's personal doctor. From his eccentricities to his strangely effective ability to unite un-unitable people; it's all here and highly entertaining. Having read this book you will far better understand Mao, and likely be even more puzzled about how the country has changed as much as it has since his time, given his founding leadership.
I wouldn't recommend reading this unless you have read a broader historical account of Mao. This one is written by his doctor, so you get an intimate look at Mao, and learn about his sleeping disorders and boils, but the context is limited. It is always interesting to me though to read accounts that give a sense of bad, bad, people as real humans.
A fascinating read! I was completely transported and gripped by this pitiable mans struggle to survive the treacheries and political horrors of Mao's Imperial court. He paints an intimate and vivid portrait of the man responsible for the death of millions of China's citizens and the near collapse of it's society. What a document!
Borrowed this book from a library and I am grateful to read it. One of the best books I've read by far. A narrative book which provided undeniably compelling arguments. It might seem to contradict almost everything way from the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution till the day Chaiman Mao died which the Politburo of the Communist Party of China decided to reveal to the masses. Nonetheless, it was proven necessary and this is why this book is much recommended.
What worries me about this book is that it is based on memory, so like any memoir, it is difficult to be accurate. With that said, however, it is a good book and one of the very few inside of Mao's life, which makes it important. Well worth the time.
The account pictures rather a physician's life in Mao's inner circle than a detailed explanation of what was going on in the Chairman's mind. It's more about a one man's survival than about politics. And if this story of 22 years around Mao wasn't limited by one volume, it definitely could fill a whole shelf.
Four stars - for inflated expectations.
Four stars - for inflated expectations.
Feb 07, 2010
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
Told from the perspective of Mao Zedon's doctor (Dr. Li), I suspect that this is one of those wonderful retellings of history through the eyes of a minor character. I always find these perspectives the most revealing.
The author was Mao's personal physician. He wrote it many years after Mao's death. I was amused by one particular anecdote. Mao, taking a train ride across China at the height of his power, saw lush greenery wherever he went. He'd look out the window and he'd see endless vegetation. In farm country he saw healthy crops through the window of his gliding train. Well, the Party made sure that, along the entire route, people would place rows of trees, crops or flowers so that Mao, whenever he'd peer...more
Even if you aren't particularly interested in the insights into what Mao really thought about Nixon and other political stuff, this book is fun for the stories about his dental hygiene and sexual escapades..
Very good book for those interested in modern Chinese history. I enjoy how we get to see glimpses into Mao's life, who is sometimes as normal as anyone else and then also very strange and paranoid, as told by his personal physician.
A fascinating look behind the scenes at an appalling man. The selfishness of Mao was the reason for most of China's conflicts, and he lacked any empathy for those he killed.
An amazing inside look at Chairman Mao Tse Tung. This was eminently more readable than Jung Chang's biography, but I thought both were important books in uncovering the life of a man still much-revered in China, and both concurred on many points. His total disregard for the lives of those who worked closely with him or for the peasant he supposedly represented takes one's breath away. His main concern was gathering, keeping, and protecting his own personal power base. All in all, an incredible l...more
Brilliant biography, fascinating for the author's unique place in Chinese history and in his position to Mao. Started me on the addiction to Chinese autobiographies.
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11147564
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11147564
A good account of life in China and Mao's personal life. But leaves us craving for more of politics. Does not detail on logic of Mao's actions.
Lengthy biography of Chairman Moa by his private doctor. An eye opener for anyone wanting to understand Chinese culture and history.
I read this book 6 years ago, but it was so fascinating to read about how Chairman Mao was living opposed to the Chinese people.
It was amazing to learn about Mao's intimate life details through the eyes of his personal physician who was with him until Mao's death. The book presents Mao not merely as the leader of the Communist Revolution, but also a man riddled with idiosyncrasies-- strange sleep patterns, sexually transmitted diseases, paranoia, patriotism. It reveals a very vulnerable side of Mao that history doesn't remember him for.
The book gets a little boring when it rattles off lists of names and titles and rela...more
The book gets a little boring when it rattles off lists of names and titles and rela...more
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Chinese physician who was the personal physician & confidant of Chairman Mao Zedong. Li received his medical degree from the West Union University Medical School in Sichuan province in 1945 & five years later was named director of the private medical facility that treated China’s top leaders. Beginning in 1954, when Mao chose Li as his personal physician, the two men began to develop a clo...more
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