Chapter 11: The End of the Mao Era
1 Roderick MacFarquhar, “The Succession to Mao and
the End of Maoism, 1969–1982,” in Roderick MacFarquhar, ed.,
The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and
Deng, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997),
278–81, 299–301. In quest of finding a successor among China’s
“pure” young generation, Mao elevated the thirty-seven-year-old
Wang Hongwen, previously distinguished only as a provincial-level
leftist organizer, to the third-ranking position in the Communist
Party hierarchy. His meteoric rise baffled many observers. Closely
aligned with Jiang Qing, Wang never achieved an independent
political identity or authority commensurate with his formal
position. He fell with the rest of the Gang of Four in October
1976.
2 This comparison is elaborated, among other
places, in David Shambaugh, “Introduction: Assessing Deng
Xiaoping’s Legacy” and Lucian W. Pye, “An Introductory Profile:
Deng Xiaoping and China’s Political Culture,” in David Shambaugh,
ed., Deng Xiaoping: Portrait of a Chinese
Statesman (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006), 1–2,
14.
3 “Memorandum of Conversation: Beijing, November
14, 1973, 7:35–8:25 a.m.,” in David P. Nickles, ed., Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS),
1969–1976, vol. 18, China
1973–1976 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 2007), 430.
4 “Memorandum from Richard H. Solomon of the
National Security Council Staff to Secretary of State Kissinger,
Washington, January 25, 1974,” FRUS
18, 455.
5 Gao Wenqian, Zhou Enlai: The
Last Perfect Revolutionary, trans. Peter Rand and Lawrence
R. Sullivan (New York: Public Affairs, 2007), 246.
6 Kuisong Yang and Yafeng Xia, “Vacillating Between
Revolution and Détente: Mao’s Changing Psyche and Policy Toward the
United States, 1969–1976,” Diplomatic
History 34, no. 2 (April 2010): 414. The proceedings of this
meeting have not been published. The quotation draws on an
unpublished memoir by the senior Chinese diplomat Wang Youping, who
was privy to Foreign Minister Qiao Guanhua’s summary of the
Politburo meeting.
7 Chou Enlai, “Report on the Work of the
Government: January 13, 1975,” Peking
Review 4 (January 24, 1975), 21–23.
8 Ibid, 23.
9 “Speech by Chairman of the Delegation of the
People’s Republic of China, Teng Hsiao-Ping, at the Special Session
of the U.N. General Assembly: April 10, 1974” (Peking: Foreign
Languages Press, 1974).
10 Ibid., 5.
11 Ibid., 6.
12 Ibid., 8.
13 “Memorandum of Conversation: Beijing, October
21, 1975, 6:25–8:05 p.m.,” FRUS 18,
788–89.
14 Ibid., 788.
15 George H. W. Bush, Chief of the U.S. Liaison
Office in Beijing; Winston Lord, Director of the State Department
Policy Planning Staff; and myself.
16 “Memorandum of Conversation: Beijing, October
21, 1975, 6:25–8:05 p.m.,” FRUS 18,
789–90.
17 Ibid., 789.
18 Ibid., 793.
19 Ibid. In 1940, Britain withdrew its
expeditionary force after the Battle of France.
20 Ibid., 794.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., 791.
23 Ibid., 792.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., 790.
26 Ibid., 791.
27 Ibid.
28 “Memorandum of Conversation: Beijing, October
25, 1975, 9:30 a.m.,” FRUS 18,
832.
29 Ibid.
30 “Paper Prepared by the Director of Policy
Planning Staff (Lord), Washington, undated,” FRUS 18, 831.
31 “Memorandum of Conversation: Beijing, December
2, 1975, 4:10–6:00 p.m.,” FRUS 18,
858.
32 Ibid., 859.
33 A companion of Mao’s in Yan’an during the civil
war; a former general, now ambassador in Washington.
34 Wang Hairong and Nancy Tang.
35 Qiao Guanhua, Foreign Minister.
36 “Memorandum of Conversation: Beijing, December
2, 1975, 4:10–6:00 p.m.,” FRUS 18,
859.
37 Ibid., 867.
38 Some of the texts leveled harsh criticism
against the excesses of Qin Shihuang and the Tang Dynasty Empress
Wu Zetian, rhetorical stand-ins for Mao and Jiang Qing
respectively.
39 See Henry Kissinger, Years
of Renewal (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999),
897.