CHAPTER 11
The End of the Mao Era
AT EVERY STAGE of China’s diplomatic revolution, Mao
was torn between Sinocentrist pragmatism and revolutionary fervor.
He made the necessary choices and opted for pragmatism
cold-bloodedly though never happily. When we first met Mao in 1972,
he was already ill and speaking—with some irony for an avowed
atheist—about having received an “invitation from God.” He had
destroyed or radicalized most of the country’s institutions,
including even the Communist Party, increasingly ruling by personal
magnetism and the manipulation of opposing factions. Now, as his
rule was nearing its end, Mao’s grip on power—and his capacity to
manipulate—were both slipping away. The crisis over Lin Biao had
destroyed Mao’s designated successor. Now Mao had no accepted heir,
and there was no blueprint for a post-Mao China.