Unlike in Chongqing, where everyone griped constantly about Chiang, he observed, “Mao and the other leaders are universally spoken of with respect.” This was a sign of the party’s popularity, he argued, not the result of its having just spent two years terrorizing those who dared to think otherwise. “There is no feeling of restraint or oppression,” Service wrote. “There is no hesitation in admitting failure.” The program in the Special Area, he declared, “is simple democracy … much more American than Russian in form and spirit.”
