Mao Zedong: Man, Not God

“Mao Zedong: Man, not God” by Quan Yanchi was first published in 1992, book is translated to English from Chinese by Wang Wenjiong and edited by Gale Hadfield. The book is based on the recollections of Li Yinqiao, Mao's bodyguard for many years. Highlighting the book are photographs of Mao with his relatives and Li, published for the first time. This book can help anyone who is new to China or know just a little about this country to get more familiar with who Mao for Chinese is. They love him so much, and the main aim of author of the book is to show to reader hidden situations of his life. The book is divided into 20 chapters by their theme. It ranges from Mao's relationship with different people to things that made him cry. Author was worried that not all of his questions will be answered by Li, despite Li is his friend. He thought some questions may embarrass Li, as they were about Mao's likes and dislikes, his fears. But to his fortune Li did his best trying to remember everything in details. Mao is well-known around the world as the greatest man China produced in this century. The author supports this impression and also tries to show that Mao was not like a robot,but ordinary human feelings are not alien to him. He had some habits which characterize him as a person who doesn't really like changes. As he choose Li to be his bodyguard's commander, they spent about 15 years together and after Li left Mao didn't have any new bodyguard commander. There are lots of situations while Mao afield. During the war he shows himself as a good commander and great strategist. He is very principled, sometimes it almost costed him a life. There were only few occasions when he refused his words and changed the order of things. But in some cases we should have thanked Li that Mao stayed alive. He was so dogged, he didn't worry about his own safe, he was just following his desire or whim like as he said so he would do so no matter how it would finish. For me personally