Jonathan Mirsky. But a paedophile? Yes indeed. Ms Chen, the young woman with whom Mao began sleeping in , was The Chairman was born in For years Dr Li listened to Mao boasting about his sexual practices and prowess; he also treated the Great Helmsman for various venereal diseases.
Although at least one became pregnant, Dr Li knew that Mao was infertile; he never revealed this to his patient. He told me she was worried about what might happen to her when China took over Hong Kong on 1 July Could I find out from the British or the Americans if they would get her out? Now she was a plump woman in her fifties, squeezed into a scarlet qipao , the traditional tight dress slit up one side worn by much younger Chinese women. Her Nanking accent was hard for me to follow so I invited a Chinese woman friend to accompany us to lunch.
There, at the Conrad Hotel, Ms Chen talked about herself, pausing occasionally as she slurped down a dozen or so oysters. She showed me happy-snaps of her with her friends, all in uniform, their caps perched on the backs of their heads.
At first their responsibilities included singing and dancing for Mao and his coterie, and then dancing with them. Mao, Ms Chen told me, danced as if on rails, pushing his partner straight ahead across the room and back again. Then there would be sex. After five years, Jiang Qing insisted that Ms Chen be banished to the north-east, to a lesser job. Mao, she claimed, took her on his knee and wept, but said he could do nothing. After some years in exile, she was summoned back to Beijing for a brief stopover where Mao, again weeping, said he could do nothing for her and was sending her back to Nanking where her marriage had been arranged.
In , now at home, she told her parents about the real Mao. When her father, a Party member, heard the details, despite the entreaties of his family he wrote Mao an outraged letter and posted it. A kindhearted man at the local post office brought the letter back. The Cultural Revolution was now in full swing and insulting Mao could lead to death.
