Synopsis
The book discusses the 22 years in which Dr. Li was Mao's personal physician. After a brief summary of his family and personal history, Li discusses how he came to treat first the senior Chinese communist officials, then in 1954 Mao himself until the Chairman's death in 1976. Much of the text discusses the difficulties and frustrations faced by Li attempting to deal with the politics, infighting and personal conflicts of the upper echelons of the Communist Party of China, as well as the difficulties dealing with both Mao as a patient and other high ranking officials, such as the hypochondriac Jiang Qing, Mao's daughter Li Na, and the physically (and possibly mentally) unstable Lin Biao. The book also discusses the political climate and events of China in the same period, Mao's role in orchestrating events such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the various purges of members of the Communist Party. A significant portion of the narrative involves treatment of Mao's physical and mental health complaints and Li's personal assessments of how Mao handled the personalities and disputes of the party members that surrounded him. A significant theme in the book is Li's gradual transition from his initial sincere admiration for Mao as a leader of the country to his eventual disgust, contempt and personal dislike of the leader due to Mao's manipulation of people and events, personal sexual habits, abuses of power, substitution of slogans and cult of personality for knowledge of modern science or administrative ability, and above all Mao's indifference to the suffering of the general population due to his failed policies. Throughout the book Li compares Mao to the historical Chinese Emperors in the tactics used to control people around himself, noting Mao's frequent references to and reading of the histories of Imperial China.
Read more about this topic: The Private Life Of Chairman Mao