Side by side Mao Tse-tung and I stood, yet he is
considered a god while I am a demon.
-Becoming Madame Mao
As I've written here previously, I really like the prior work of Anchee
Min [see Orrin's review of Katherine
(1995)(Grade: A)]. In particular, I think her memoir,
Red
Azalea, is a book that can stand with the best of the great dissidents
and prisoners of conscience like Solzenhitsyn
and Weisel, and offers an important testament
to the evil nature of Communist China. So I was very excited to receive
this new novel, and Caprice Garvin, the FSB
Associates' representative who sent us the book, could not possibly
have been more helpful. I would like nothing better than to be able
to praise the book as an unqualified success. However, while I did
like the book, I have great reservations about it. I can't decide
whether Ms Min has performed an act of astounding generosity of spirit
in offering such a sentimental portrait of Madame Mao, under whose rule
Min herself suffered, or whether this must be considered a woefully misguided
act of irresponsibility.
Taken simply as a novel, I would have no qualms. Ms Min has taken
the story of Jiang Qing, Madame Mao, and rendered it in lyrical prose.
As always, Ms Min's background in theater and art is used to good effect
as the story reads almost like a grand opera. The Madame Mao of the
novel is an ambitious young woman who is captivated by Mao Zedong and gradually
corrupted by her desire to please him. Eventually her role in the
Cultural Revolution is depicted as her own tribute to Mao. The tragedy
of her life is that once Mao falls, she is disposed of and demonized, while
Mao remains a blameless godlike figure to the people of China. Were
this purely fictional it would be a compelling tale.
The problem, of course, is that Jiang Qing and Mao Zedong were real
people, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were actual
events, and together they truly are responsible for the deaths of scores
of millions of their countrymen and the imprisonment and torture of millions
more. This is the central fact of Madame Mao's existence. Whatever
else she may have been, she is first and foremost one of the most monstrous
tyrants in human history and a mass murderess on an epic scale.
Ms Min is right to point out the injustice of the fact that Madame Mao
is referred to as the "White-Boned Demon" and is vilified (see Ross Terrill's
Madame
Mao : The White-Boned Demon), while Chairman Mao, whose guilt is certainly
far greater, remains a hero, or at least a figure about whom history is
ambivalent. Her mistake is to try to rehabilitate Madame Mao, rather
than to demonize the Chairman.
This uneven assignment of blame is not unique to China. The most
important moment in the collapse of the Soviet Union [even to someone who
gives Ronald Reagan as much credit as I do, see Orrin's review of On
the Brink; The Dramatic Saga of How the Reagan Administration Changed the
Course of History and Won the Cold War (1996)(Jay Winik) (Grade:
A+)] came when the relative loosening of Perestroika allowed Soviet
historians and intellectuals to speak honestly about Russia's Communist
past. As David Remnick shows in his terrific book Lenin's
Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, the Soviet leadership
was totally unprepared for the torrent of criticism of Lenin that was unleashed.
The Soviet Union had operated under a necessary delusion--that Lenin had
lead a pure Communist revolution but that Stalin had corrupted it and was
thus responsible for the failures of the USSR. The attacks on
Lenin served to destroy the legitimacy of the entire Communist enterprise,
demonstrating that the Revolution was corrupt from the beginning.
With this last prop of legitimacy gone, the USSR was doomed.
Similarly, Chinese Communists and their fellow travelers in the West
depend on the delusion that Mao lead a great movement but that it was later
corrupted, in particular during the Cultural Revolution under Madame Mao
(see Ross Terrill's White-Boned Demon). What is needed at this point, in
order for China to move forward, is a recognition that Mao and the Communists
were corrupt from day one. A great novel, rather than seeking
to rehabilitate Madame Mao, would have implicated Chairman Mao.
As I read the novel I found myself plagued by one inescapable thought:
can you imagine a novel that tried to humanize Hitler? I mean, someone
must have loved Adolf Hitler. He must have loved someone too.
He may have been nice to dogs and cats and little kids. He had dreams
and aspirations. He even thought that his actions were in the best
interest of his nation. So what? He was evil. I have
no problem recognizing that he was a human being and that other human beings
have the potential to be just as evil. Big deal. The fundamental,
inescapable fact of Hitler in history is that he was a monster and a murderer.
What would be the point of highlighting his more sympathetic side?
Who cares if he and Eva Braun shared a love for the ages? If he was
defined by the aspects of his personality that we all share, we'd never
have heard of him. Instead, he must be defined by that which made
him unusual: the capacity and the will to exterminate millions of people.
This too is how we must define the Maos. It is deeply disturbing
to read the various encyclopedia entries (see below) and even the biographies
(see especially Mao:
A Life by Philip Short) about the Maos and to read the pusillanimous
equivocations of authors trying to judge them. The typical conclusion
goes something like this: "it is extremely difficult to arrive at a final
judgment about the Maos and the Communist Revolution. Despite years
of oppression and millions of dead which weight down one side of the scale,
it must be acknowledged that they united a backwards agrarian China, rid
it of foreign influence and corrupt Nationalist rule and made it a modern
industrialized nation with atomic weapons." But assessments like
this are based on a completely unexamined premise: that the accomplishments
of the Communists were either unique or beneficial. The inadequacy
of this assumption is amply demonstrated simply by looking at Nationalist
China, Taiwan. Without the millions of dead and with a strict but
hardly totalitarian government, Taiwan too became a modern nation.
Ask the simple question, would the average Chinese citizen be better off
today living in Taiwan or in the People's Republic? Well, of course,
it's not even a close call, which begs the question, wouldn't China have
been better off had Chiang Kai-shek won? And lest this seem
an aberration, look at Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, etc. All
of them have achieved far greater economic progress than Mainland China
without anywhere near the same level of political brutality and bloodshed.
Upon reflection, even the little the Maoists did achieve appears to have
been a case of under achievement. Now how do those scales look when
we try to balance their careers?
I very much wish that I had a more ringing endorsement of this novel
to offer, but while I do recommend it, I do so with caution.
By all means, read it for the quality of the writing and for the compelling
tragic arc of the story line. However, be sure to read it in conjunction
with a non-fiction treatment of the same story. I found Philip Short's
book, Mao:
A Life, to be especially well written and though even he hedges when
he gets to a final assessment, the history he tells makes the unavoidable
case that the Communist era has been an unmitigated disaster for China.
In fact, be sure to read Anchee Min's own aforementioned memoir, Red
Azalea. It too puts the lie to an over sympathetic view of the
Maos and their political legacy.
(Reviewed:15-Jun-00)
Grade: (C+)
Websites:
Anchee Min Links:
-INTERVIEW: with Anchee Min (Powells.com)
GENERAL:
-LECTURE: The New Chinese Empire: And What It
Means for the United States (Ross Terrill, 5/14/03, Carnegie Foundation)
Book-related and General Links:
-PROFILE:
The Re-education of Anchee Min (A.O. Scott, NY Times Magazine)
-PROFILE:
Anchee Min: A spirit transcends revolution (Tracey Wong Briggs, USA
Today)
-AUDIO:
Anchee Min reads from "Becoming Madame Mao"
-EXCERPT:
First Chapter of Becoming Madame Mao
-Q&A with Anchee Min
(provided by FSB Associates)
-INTERVIEW:
Anchee Min: After the Revolution (Roxane Farmanfarmaian, Publishers
Weekly)
-ARTICLE:
Anchee Min's Passionate World (Chinese Culture Net Staff Writer Annie
Wang)
-BOOK
SITE: Becoming Madame Mao (FSB Associates)
-REVIEW:
of Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min Sympathy for the Demon : Anchee
Min's novel is about the actress who would marry Mao Zedong. (SHERYL
WuDUNN, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min (Josephine Foo, Philadelphia
Inquirer)
-REVIEW:
of "Becoming Madame Mao" by Anchee Min (Gary Krist, Salon)
-REVIEW:
of Becoming Madame Mao Red Perils: Madame Mao gets
caught in history (Julia Hanna, Boston Phoenix)
-REVIEW
: of Becoming Madame Mao (R. Erica Doyle, Ms)
-REVIEW:
of KATHERINE By Anchee Min (BERNARDINE CONNELLY, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of RED AZALEA By Anchee Min (Judith Shapiro, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of RED AZALEA By Anchee Min (MARGO JEFFERSON, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of Red Azalea Proper Passions (Gertrude Chock)
MADAME MAO (1913-91):
-ENCYCLOPÆDIA
BRITANNICA: Jiang Qing
-Jiang
Qing (Encyclopaedia.com)
-EXCERPT:
Jiang Qing (The Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth Edition. 2000)
-REVIEW:
of White-BONED DEMON A Biography of Madame Mao Zedong. By Ross Terrill(Fox
Butterfield, NY Times Book Review)
CHAIRMAN MAO (1893-1976):
-ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BRITANNICA: Your search: "mao zedong"
-Mao
Zedong (1893-1976)(kirjasto)
-Who
2: Mao Zedong Profile
-EXCERPT:
MAO ZEDONG (The Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth Edition. 2000)
-Quotations
from Chairman Mao
-TIME
100: Leaders & Revolutionaries - Mao Zedong (Jonathan Spence, TIME)
-ArtiFacts
from the Cultural Revolution
-Report
on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, March 1927 (Modern
History Sourcebook: Mao Zedong (1893-1976))
-The
Party-Red Line: Mao bio and history
-Mao
Zedong--The Great Helmsman (Inside China Today)
-Maoist
Internationalist Movement
-ESSAY
: Cult of the chairman : He presided over mass murder and cultural
devastation. But 25 years after his death, Mao Zedong is a demigod with
a lucrative line in merchandise. (Ian Buruma, March 7, 2001, The Guardian
uk)
-ESSAY:
Beijing Journal; The Tears of the Helmsman and Other Scuttlebutt (NICHOLAS
D. KRISTOF, NY Times)
-ESSAY:
Once Again, Long Live Chairman Mao: A recent return to deifying Mao
is less straightforward than it seems (Orville Schell, The Atlantic)
-ESSAY:
The Red Book and the Power Structure of Communist China (Dorian Berger,
Harvard University)
-REVIEW
ARCHIVE: (NY Review of Books)
-EXCERPT:
Chapter One of Mao Zedong by Jonathan D. Spence
-REVIEW:
Ian Buruma: Divine Killer, NY Review of Books
Mao: A Life by Philip Short
Mao Zedong by Jonathan Spence
-REVIEW:
of Mao: A Life by Philip Short & Mao Zedong by Jonathan Spence
(Gavin McNett, Salon)
-REVIEW:
of Mao A Life. By Philip Short (John F. Burns, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of Mao : A Life by Philip Short The Survivor (Roger Gathman,
Intellectual Capital)
-REVIEW
: of Mao : A Life by Phillip Short (Antonia Finnane, The Age)
-REVIEW:
of HUNGRY GHOSTS Mao's Secret Famine. By Jasper Becker (Nicholas Eberstadt,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of HUNGRY GHOSTS Mao's Secret Famine. By Jasper Becker (Richard Bernstein,
NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of THE PRIVATE LIFE OF CHAIRMAN MAO The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician.
By Li Zhisui (Marilyn B. Young, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE SECRET SPEECHES OF CHAIRMAN MAO From the Hundred Flowers to
the Great Leap Forward. Edited by Roderick MacFarquhar, Timothy Cheek and
Eugene Wu (Jonathan D. Spence, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE LONG MARCH The Untold Story. By Harrison E. Salisbury (Michel
Oksenberg, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
Jonathan Mirsky: The Mark of Cain, NY Review of Books
The Origins of the Cultural Revolution
3: The Coming of the Cataclysm 1961-1966 by Roderick MacFarquhar
Mao's Road to Power: Revolutionary
Writings 1912-1949
MAOIST CHINA:
-ESSAY:
Not Yet a Revolution: Reviewing China's "New Cold War Documentation"
(Chen Jian, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale)
-ESSAY:
Nothing to Celebrate: China's wasted half-century (Jonathan Mirsky,
New Republic)
-REVIEW:
of CHINA IN OUR TIME The Epic Saga of the People's Republic From the
Communist Victory to Tiananmen Square and Beyond. By Ross Terrill (Nicholas
D. Kristof, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE CHINESE CENTURY A Photographic History of the Last Hundred Years.
By Jonathan D. Spence and Annping Chin (Anthony C. Yu, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of A GENERATION LOST China Under the Cultural Revolution. By Zi-ping Luo
(Gayle Feldman, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of ELDEST SON Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, 1898-1976. By
Han Suyin (Ross Terrill, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of DENG XIAOPING, MY FATHER By Deng Maomao (Merle Goldman, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE CLAWS OF THE DRAGON Kang Sheng -- the Evil Genius Behind Mao
-- and His Legacy of Terror in People's China. By John Byron and Robert
Pack (Merle Goldman, NY times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of The New Emperors China in the Era of Mao and Deng By Harrison E. Salisbury
(Orville Schell, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
of THE NEW EMPERORS China in the Era of Mao and Deng. By Harrison E. Salisbury
(Lucian W. Pye, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of A HIGHER KIND OF LOYALTY A Memoir by China's Foremost Journalist.
By Liu Binyan (Emily MacFarquhar, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of LIFE AND DEATH IN SHANGHAI By Nien Cheng (J. M. Coetzee, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of BORN RED A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution. By Gao Yuan (Timothy
Tung, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of PEOPLE OR MONSTERS? And Other Stories and Reportage From China After
Mao. By Liu Binyan (Merle Goldman, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE CONSPIRACY AND DEATH OF LIN BIAO By Yao Ming-le (Orville Schell,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE By Anne F. Thurston (Merle Goldman, NY times
Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of TO THE STORM The Odyssey of a Revolutionary Chinese Woman. By Yue
Daiyun and Carolyn Wakeman (Barbara Probst Solomon, NY times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of SON OF THE REVOLUTION By Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro (Orville
Schell, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of FROM THE CENTER OF THE EARTH The Search for the Truth about China.
By Richard Bernstein (Ross Terrill, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of CHINA A New History. By John King Fairbank (Jonathan D. Spence,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of AGNES SMEDLEY The Life and Times of an American Radical. By Janice
R. MacKinnon and Stephen R. MacKinnon (John Patrick Diggins, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
of EDGAR SNOW A Biography. By John Maxwell Hamilton (Seymour Topping,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of CHINA HANDS The Adventures and Ordeals of the American Journalists
Who Joined Forces With the Great Chinese Revolution. By Peter Rand ( Emily
MacFarquhar , NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of SHENFAN By William Hinton (Richard Bernstein, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE: The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895-1980.
By Jonathan D. Spence (John Leonard, NY Times)
POST-MAO CHINA:
-REVIEW:
of THE SEARCH FOR MODERN CHINA By Jonathan D. Spence (Vera Schwarcz,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of 'WATCH OUT FOR THE FOREIGN GUESTS!'' China Encounters the West.
By Orville Schell (Allen S. Whiting, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of MANDATE OF HEAVEN A New Generation of Entrepreneurs, Dissidents,
Bohemians, and Technocrats Lays Claim to China's Future. By Orville Schell
( Lucian W. Pye, NY times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE DRAGON AND THE BEAR Inside China & Russia in the Eighties.
By Philip Short (Richard Bernstein, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of COMING ALIVE China After Mao. By Roger Garside (David Lattimore,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of CHINESE DEMOCRACY By Andrew J. Nathan (John F. Burns, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW:
of SOWING THE SEEDS OF DEMOCRACY IN CHINA Political Reform in the Deng
Xiaoping Era. By Merle Goldman (Jonathan Mirsky, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of SCIENCE AND DISSENT IN POST-MAO CHINA The Politics of Knowledge.
By H. Lyman Miller (Jonathan D. Spence, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY:
Writers in China: How Long Is the Leash? (Mitchel Levitas, NY Times
Book Review)
-ESSAY:
LETTER FROM CHINA - YOUNG WRITERS TEST THE LIMITS (Judith Shapiro and
Liang Heng, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY:
THE RE-EDUCATION OF A 'STINKING INTELLECTUAL' (Judith Shapiro,
NY Times Book Review)
GENERAL:
-Chinese
Culture (about.com)
-Chinese
Culture Net
-Cold
War International History Project (Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars)
-REVIEW:
of THINKING LIKE A COMMUNIST State and Legitimacy in the Soviet Union,
China, and Cuba. By Tony Smith (William G. Hyland, NY times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of THE BLACK BOOK OF COMMUNISM Crimes, Terror, Repression. By Stephane
Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek
and Jean-Louis Margolin (Alan Ryan, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of The Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth
Century by François Furet & THE BLACK BOOK OF COMMUNISM
Crimes, Terror, Repression. By Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis
Panne, Andrzej Paczkowski, Karel Bartosek and Jean-Louis Margolin ( J.
Arch Getty, The Atlantic)
-ESSAY:
The Age of Social Transformation (Peter F. Drucker, The Atlantic)
