In a letter to a friend in 1916, Mao had predicted that China and America would one day join forces to counter Japan. “We attack the Japanese army. The US attacks the Japanese navy,” he wrote. “Then Japan would be defeated in no time.” Like many of his countrymen, he had been inspired by Wilson and had placed his hopes in the United States. In the weeks following China’s betrayal, Mao founded a student association, organized a student strike, and established a journal, the Xiang River Review. In it, he poured scorn on the Western powers, including America, calling them “a bunch of robbers” who
...more
