A legend was concocted in the party press about how far and how quickly the old man swam that day—more than nine miles in sixty-five minutes, according to the state newspaper, which would have been a world record. Video of the event shows him doing a leisurely side stroke, surrounded by bodyguards and thousands of enthusiastic supporters who plunged in after him. The swim was a turning point in Mao’s chaotic rule, amplifying a personality cult among young people who now saw him as their champion. They became the Red Guards, the vanguard of the reign of terror that lasted until Mao’s death ten
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