JP\/8\/mao<\/p>\n
Jung Chang and John Halliday were in Jakarta on July 9 as part of
\na global book tour to launch Mao: The Unknown Story (Jonathan
\nCape, June 2, 2005), which shatters the cult image surrounding
\nthe 20th-century Chinese leader, at the Periplus Bookshop in
\nKemang, South Jakarta. The Jakarta Post interviewed the authors
\non their journey into uncovering the man behind the myth.<\/p>\n
Investigative scholars shatter myth of Mao<\/p>\n
Chisato Hara
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The in-store cafe and extra chairs set out in the Periplus
\nBookshop are full, and standing guests line the magazine rack to
\nthe rear or around book displays. At least half of the audience
\nis of Chinese ethnic origin, many of whom look to be in their 60s
\nto 70s. Shoppers from the nearby Hero supermarket stop by after
\ntheir errands, and guests keep trickling in throughout the
\nlaunch, which also marked the release of the Bahasa Indonesia
\nversion of Jung Chang's Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, or
\nAngsa-Angsa Liar, a memoir of her upbringing in Mao's China that
\ntook the literary scene by storm in 1991.<\/p>\n
The launch and Q&A session run almost an hour overtime as the
\nquestions keep coming from enthusiastic fans, and the authors
\nconsider each one equally, even those that border on academic
\ndebate. It is clear readers feel close to Chang because of Wild
\nSwans, and one asks, \"How is your mother?\" The cashier's till
\ndings in succession as guests purchase Mao: The Unknown Story,
\nWild Swans or both for an autograph. One old woman clutches her
\nsigned copy to her breast as she leaves the store.<\/p>\n
It is now late afternoon, and Jung Chang is sitting back in an
\narmchair in her hotel room, wearing a tunic-and-trouser set in
\nmint, with a deep teal silk shawl around her shoulders.<\/p>\n
She has not been feeling well today, suffering from some kind
\nof stomach ailment -- the hotel doctors have been called, and are
\ndue to arrive in 30 minutes or so. Nevertheless, she and her
\nBritish co-author husband, Jon Halliday, have been gracious in
\nmaking the interview.<\/p>\n
Chang has a mellow voice that resonates with animation as soon
\nas she begins to speak, and readers of Wild Swans would recognize
\nthe precision and evocative quality of her narration.<\/p>\n
\"Mao seemed the obvious subject... (since) he dominated my own
\nlife and dominated China,\" Chang replied as to her choosing a
\nbiography on Mao Zedong to follow up her memoir.<\/p>\n
The couple has spent the 12 years since the publication of
\nWild Swans researching Mao exhaustively across China and through
\nvarious archives -- including the Russian Foreign Ministry
\narchives and the independent Communist International (Comintern)
\narchives in Moscow -- and in speaking to over 150 people who had
\ndirect contact with him, from his personal laundry-woman to
\nformer world leaders.<\/p>\n
\"We went for primary sources,\" emphasized Chang, \"and used
\nsecondary sources only if they were verifiable.\"<\/p>\n
While much literature exists on the statesman who was
\ninstrumental in bringing China into the modern era, Chang felt
\nthat \"it seemed the world didn't know him ... He hadn't
\npenetrated into the consciousness of the general public, although
\nhe was as evil as Hitler or Stalin... He was responsible for the
\ndeaths of at least 70 million of his countrymen during his rule\".<\/p>\n
Halliday added, \"To be fair, earlier biographers didn't have
\naccess to the material we had... But it's also about asking the
\nright questions. How did he hold cabinet meetings? Discussions?
\nFor example, they don't describe how he made decisions when he
\nwas in power.\"<\/p>\n
This is the second husband-wife collaboration after Mme Sun
\nYat-sen (Penguin, 1986), and the historian-linguist partnership
\n\"worked very well\", said Chang, who holds a doctorate in
\nlinguistics and was the China section director for external
\nservices at the University of London's renowned School of
\nOriental and African Studies. There, she taught Mandarin and
\nChinese culture to businessmen and correspondents, such as those
\nfrom Reuters, but mostly British diplomats, for posts in China.<\/p>\n
Halliday's background lies in the Classics department at
\nOxford, where he focused on Ancient History, along with Ancient
\nGreek and Latin philosophy. But he is no stranger to modern Asia,
\nand has published books on the Korean War and modern Japan. His
\nfluency in several languages, particularly Russian, and his
\nresearch for The Artful Albanian: Memoirs (Chatto & Windus, 1986)
\non Stalinist leader and co-author Enver Hoxha, also proved
\ninvaluable for Mao.<\/p>\n
But it was Wild Swans that opened many doors to Chang and
\nHalliday. The book is banned in China, \"But I'm happy that a
\npirated Chinese version found its way in -- I know, because a
\nfriend brought me back a copy,\" laughed Chang. \"So people had
\nread Wild Swans and knew the kind of book I wanted to write about
\nMao.\" If they hadn't, Chang was ready with a copy as introduction
\nto potential interviewees.<\/p>\n
Inadvertently, the Chinese government had also aided their
\ncourse: \"(The government) had warned Mao's inner circle not to
\ncooperate with us, but this had an adverse effect, because the
\nwarning let them know that this was not going to be a party-line
\nbook. They knew it was an important book...\" She also found that
\nmost of the interviewees, after so many years of silence, were
\nwilling and more than eager to tell their tales.<\/p>\n
Mao also attempts to go beyond a mere biography, as Chang had
\na vision to explain 20th-century Chinese history in a
\ncomprehensive manner through Mao and his relentless, pitiless
\npursuit of personal power.<\/p>\n
\"He was heartless. He cared about nothing,\" she stressed. To
\nillustrate, she relates the life of Mao's second wife, Yang
\nKaihui, who bore him two sons, and whom Mao abandoned to
\ndestitution. She was eventually executed by the Nationalists for
\nher previous connection to Mao.<\/p>\n
At the same time, however, \"Mao understood human emotions very
\nwell\", said Chang, but even this insight was used to propel
\nhimself toward his ultimate goal of world domination.<\/p>\n
The authors found that he also identified with disgraced
\nleaders, and felt an affinity with former U.S. president Richard
\nNixon and even his archrival, Chiang Kai-shek -- not because of
\nempathy, but because of his own fear of being deposed.<\/p>\n
\"In his last days, the most dominant emotion was self-pity --
\nbecause he didn't achieve world domination,\" said Chang.<\/p>\n
Her most shocking discovery was that the Great Famine of 1958-
\n1961, during which 38 million Chinese people perished, was not
\ndue to economic mismanagement as she had long believed: Mao had
\ncalculated the deaths into his economic policy.<\/p>\n
By the end of their investigation, she came to the realization
\nthat Mao was \"far worse than I had thought\".<\/p>\n
Even so, Chang does not appear to hold any personal animosity
\ntoward Mao, and the most palpable emotion she and Halliday seem
\nto share is a blend of academic objectivity and scholarly
\npassion.<\/p>\n
\"The research was exciting in itself. And discovering new
\nmaterial ... (like) finding the manuscript written by Mao's
\nsecond wife and making historical discoveries. For example, in
\nthe war against Japan, (that) Mao used the Japanese to destroy
\nChiang Kai-shek,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Halliday interjects politely and is careful to specify that,
\nwhile Yang's manuscript was not a state secret, its existence was
\ncertainly \"kept secret\" by the government.<\/p>\n
The authors are modest about their monumental biography, which
\nTIME magazine referred to as \"an atom bomb of a book\" (June 13,
\n2005), and luck also played its part: \"We were lucky the Russian
\narchives were opened after the fall of Communism,\" said Halliday.<\/p>\n
\"We set out to write a truthful book that could stand against
\nthe strictest critics, a biography with a great narrative drive,\"
\nsaid Chang. \"And we were lucky because Mao's life was full of
\ndrama.\"<\/p>\n
How do they feel about their achievement? \"We are very
\npleased,\" she said. Chang is currently translating Mao into
\nChinese, and hopes it will be available in China -- but no word
\non this has been forthcoming thus far.<\/p>\n
There is a knock on the door, and two doctors enter. Chang
\nexcuses herself, extending her thanks for the interview, and
\nretires to an adjoining room.<\/p>\n
\"As a historian, (Mao) was a terrific subject,\" said Halliday.
\n\"He led an incredibly interesting life ... (Researching the book)
\nwas also a historian's dream. We made huge discoveries, accessed
\nthousands of pages never seen before ... It was as exciting as we
\ncould hope for.\" He is also ecstatic about the journey they made
\nthrough China: \"With Jung, I was able to travel to remote
\nlocations which otherwise would have been closed to me.\"<\/p>\n
Earlier, when asked as to why the authors had agreed to a
\nlaunch in Indonesia, Chang had replied, \"Because of the
\nintelligent and widely read Indonesian readership\" and the
\nhistorical connection the country holds with China.<\/p>\n
Halliday elucidates that Mao had an intimate relationship with
\nIndonesia, and was actually behind the 1965 Indonesian Communist
\nParty (PKI) coup.<\/p>\n
\"Wild Swans was a big hit in Japan, and (Japanese Communist
\nParty\/JCP leader) Nosaka Sanzo and his wife loved the book.\" They
\nwelcomed the authors eagerly, and Nosaka moved to authorize the
\nrelease the transcripts of former JCP leader Miyamoto Kenji's
\nconversations with Mao about the 1965 coup. In addition, one of
\ntheir interviewees was Jusuf Adjitorop, possibly the only
\nsurviving senior member of the PKI, who resides in China where he
\nwas at the time of the coup.<\/p>\n
\"The Chinese government has released many transcripts of Mao's
\nconversations with foreign leaders. It's just a suggestion, but
\nit would be interesting, since he is going to China, if President
\nSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono could ask them to release the
\ntranscripts between Mao and (then PKI leader) Aidit,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp8mao-1447899208",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}