Many Chinese still remain connected to the memory of Mao, despite the last twenty years of his life have represented a disaster for China. The apex of power known as the "Four times as great" ("Great Teacher", "Big Boss", "Great Supreme Commander," "Great Helmsman"), there is still a cult of his personality. Especially for many who see him as an icon. His look is entered in them (as in our) imagination, from the clothes, the hats and the famous jacket (vintage now ...). Not only that a few years ago his portrait was sold for $ 17.4 million at Christie's to a collector in Hong Kong. It was an Andy Warhol silkscreen of two meters by one and a half, produced in 1972 upon the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S.. Finally, last year, it seems that a designer of Beijing has even portrayed President Obama in the role of the Great Helmsman and applied on some clothes to the delight of many Chinese. The photo depicted a new "ObaMao" in Maoist uniform complete with a red star on his hat. But things are just not like the authors of a book published some years ago that made headlines. At that time I had met for the Journal. Is what we learned ... 
The true face of Mao: ugly, dirty and bad
Scheming, cunning, calculating, cynical, strategically, domineering, occasionally fawning, arrogant, ruthless and morality. Formidable in delegating tasks to other unpleasant, rebellious, refractory authority (except to carry on), lazy, inept in physical work, fond of reading, and the comfortable life of idleness. He killed and tortured mercilessly his fellows, but he was afraid of death. It caused the worst famine of all time, exporting food to Russia in exchange for arms and nuclear technology.
For decades, Mao Ze-Dong exercised absolute power over the lives of one quarter of world population and became responsible for the deaths of more than seventy million people, many more than Hitler and Stalin combined. Meet the authors of the monumental biography out these days (Mao. The Unknown Story, Longanesi, p. 960, 22.60 euros), which analyzes, dissects and reassembles the figure of the Great Helmsman, revealing - in addition to reconstructing the time and history - the new aspects. And debunking some myths, such as the Long March in 1934 that he was not the organization. This is based on unpublished documents and testimonies of people very close to the Chinese leader who had never issued statements. Her name is Jung Chang, and is the bestselling author of Wild Swans, and he is her husband, Jon Halliday, a historian and writer turn. Here are their answers that we alternate with passages from the book that offers two levels of interpretation: a more immediate for the reader "not a specialist," and a more complex for those historians who wish to explore in the accompanying notes. 
What were the peculiarities of the character of Mao?
Jung Chang: "It was pigrissimo. He hated to shower and bathroom. Every day an attendant rubbed it with a cloth. He never washed his hair, but combing them with care. He wore glasses, but even the gesture was an effort to wear them when reading in bed, so it was thought up only a pair of glasses with a temple that the servants were hurrying to shove the second movement of the head that rested on the pillow. He worked without a schedule, loved the night. When under stress was taking a dose of sleeping pills that would cut off a horse. "
Jon Halliday: "I never pulled the rope of the Cabinet." (A forerunner of the then London Mayor Livingstone, who for months did not draw water from the toilet at home, Ed.)
From the book: "Mao was born into a peasant family in a valley called Shaoshan in Hunan province, in the central region of China. The date was December 26, 1893. He was given a compound name, Ze-Dong, which means "to shine on the Orient". He loved his mother with an intensity that did not show to anyone else. Inherited from her face plump, sensual lips, eyes calm and proud. "
Other unknown aspects of Mao?
Jon Halliday: "In the book demonstrate how joined the Communist Party for the first time and had begun purging people. We investigated the repressive methods he used. He was ambitious and determined to transform China into a super-militarized country. He wanted to dominate the world. It prolonged the war in Korea at the expense of human lives. It was the only way to build a defense industry leading, guaranteed by Stalin. For him, people were cannon fodder. "
From the book: "In thirty years, the lack of ideological clarity and passion had led back to his family estate. The setbacks suffered by Mao in the early years of the CCP are still kept secret. Mao did not want to be known that he was inept as a Party activist and enthusiastic Nationalist Party (which in future years would become the main enemy of the Communists), or that, at that time, was quite confused by ideological point of view. "
It seems that the women were terrible ...
Jung Chang: "He was a tireless womanizer but for them it had the most complete indifference. He had four wives. He married for the first time in 1908, when he was fourteen and his bride eighteen. To our knowledge, Mao mentioned it once, with impressive coolness. He died in 1910, just over a year after marriage. The moment he joined the Party, Mao began to frequent the daughter of his former teacher: Yang Kai-Hui, eight years younger than him. It would become his second wife, the mother of his three children (years after Mao was executed without moving a finger to prevent it), replaced by the third, Mrs. Gui-Yuan was exiled to Russia and ended up in a mental institution after suffering the loss of four sons and the utter indifference of Mao. In 1938 she married Jiang Qing, an actress from unscrupulous checkered past, who would become notorious and vengeful Madame Mao, subservient to her husband ("I was Chairman Mao's dog. Everyone told me to bite, I bit"). Even the children did not care. He was not concerned or having no heirs of what was left behind. "
From the book: "Mao did not believe in anything, unless it could obtain a personal advantage. A good name is to be handed down to posterity, he said, "can not give me joy, because the future belongs not to my reality. People like me do not realize companies to pass on to future generations. '"
Because in China, Mao continues to be a myth after all?
Jon Halliday: "She keeps the party alive. Respect means respecting the power of Mao. And the party does not want to lose power. "
How long did it take to write the book?
Jon Halliday: "Some ten years. We have scoured the archives in China and former Soviet Union. The access was not always easy. There have been prevented, but it happened that when they saw the purpose of our research have concealed documents. In Albania we were the first to recall the new material. "
Your book will be published in China?
Jung Chang and Jon Halliday: "For now it is censored. A Chinese version will be released abroad. In the future? Who knows. " (Meanwhile, I have not heard about it, ed)
Article by Marina Gersony: The Newspaper, 5.5.2006
