From China's Past: "I was a teenager when I first met Mao Zedong"

I was a teenager when I first met Mao Zedong. In October 1950, Mao gave a big dinner party at Zhongnanhai to celebrate the first anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. My father, an old friend of Mao — or rather of his father-in-law — was invited. I still don’t know why, but guests were allowed to bring their children.

It was a big party with more than 100 guests. Mao approached my father, and I was introduced. He seemed to me like a giant: so tall, so big, but also so kind. He patted my head, asked me a few questions and then said, You kids must be bored to be with us adults. I am asking Comrade Jiang Qing, his wife, to take you all to the garden. You will surely like that much better.

It was 13 years before I saw him again. The occasion was another dinner party to which my father had been invited and permitted to bring a daughter. It was Mao’s 70th birthday.

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