Becoming Madame Mao - Anchee Min [96]
For years Lin has played all kinds of tricks in order to win Mao's favor. About his behavior, his colleague Marshal Luo Reiqing is not only disgusted but criticizes him as a hypocrite.
I have come to know Lin through Kang Sheng. Kang Sheng says that Lin Biao is a bride who has been waiting for her wedding day all her life, and now she has gotten the ring.
I visit the Lin family. I mention Marshal Luo. I say Luo is now our shared enemy.
What's your story? asks Lin.
I'd like to have an official position in the Party. I thought Marshal Luo was my husband's close friend and might be willing to lend me a hand. I'd like to get the army to participate in the Cultural Revolution.
What happened?
Marshal Luo turned me down. I am too embarrassed to describe the details—he wouldn't even let me take a uniform!
You don't have to go on, Madame Mao. I know what to do about it. Why don't you come to my headquarters and open a seminar?
February 20, 1966. In a brand-new uniform, Madame Mao Jiang Ching delivers a speech against "The Report." It is the first time in her life she holds a meeting attended by the heads of state and men of the armed forces. She experiences stage fright. But she is confident. Afterwards she informs Mao of what she has done. He congratulates her.
From then on Lin Biao and Madame Mao Jiang Ching visit each other frequently. They form an alliance to help get rid of each other's enemies.
After my speech Lin's headquarters produces a booklet. It is entitled The Summary of Discussions Held by Comrade Jiang Ching and Sponsored by Comrade Lin Biao. It is the text of my speech. The subtitle is On the Role of the Arts in the Army. In short, The Summary.
Comrade Jiang Ching is the model member of our Party, Marshal Lin's hand printing reads on the cover page. She has made tremendous contributions and sacrifices for our country. The Cultural Revolution has provided an opportunity for her to demonstrate leadership. She shines as a political talent.
Mao is pleased with The Summary. I have claimed Maoism to be the greatest and only theory of the Chinese Communist Party.
In the next four weeks Mao calls me four times to personally revise The Summary. In April Mao issues an order to make The Summary the handbook of every member of the Communist Party.
***
I touch you with these hands, I put them on your burning cheeks so they will be cool.
I look in the mirror and embrace myself for what I have gone through. Taking off my glasses I see a pair of swollen eyes.
I've made you weep, I've made you love and I've made you cartwheel on the tips of knives. You were a winter fan, a summer stove—no one desired you. But now your time has come.
My new role helps me understand happiness in a different light. It is beyond lust and companionship, beyond the ordinary notion of love. I have run the earth out in wildness and know that every human being in essence is alone. I have decided to push aside silence and answer music. I have made myself an exuberant fountain.
In my heart's land the gold summer's fierce sun is thrusting through the leaves.
Can you see lily stems stand green and tall and bees collect nectar from an endless line of clover?
***
On March 28 Mao hosts a secret meeting in his study. The only attendants are Jiang Ching, Kang Sheng and Chun-qiao. Mao calls it a Politburo meeting although its official members, Vice Chairman Liu, Premier Zhou, Commander in Chief Zhu De, Vice Premier Chen Yun and Deng, are excluded.
The meeting lasts three full days. Mao points out that Mayor Peng's report has failed to carry out the principles of Communism. It's time to rebel, Mao instructs. The old Politburo no longer works for the revolution. Down with the Cultural Bureau and the Mayor's Committee of Beijing. Let's send the devils to hell and liberate the ghosts!
Mao turns to Chun-qiao and asks