Li Zhisui | Memoirs of Mao Zedong’s Private Physician

“The Private Life of Chairman Mao”

The interaction between Mao Zedong’s physiology and psychology and his absolute power, and its impact on his country and the world. This book, with the world’s first-hand information, reveals Mao’s politics and power, sex and death.

Original: Li Zhisui
English translation: Professor Dai Hongchao
Assistant Editor: Anne F. Thurston
Foreword: Professor Andrew J. Nathan
Chinese translation: Li Zhisui
Chinese edition assistant editor: Liao Shushan

About the Author

Dr. Li Zhisui, born in Beijing in 1919. His family belonged to a family of doctors who had been doctors for generations. Dr. Li’s great-great-grandfather was a royal physician during the Tongzhi and Guangxu periods of the Qing Dynasty. Dr. Li received his Ph.D. in medicine in 1945. After 1950, he became the head of the core medical institution of the Communist Party of China, and was appointed as Mao Zedong’s personal doctor from 1954 until Mao’s death in 1976. After 1980, Dr. Li was appointed as the Vice President of the Chinese Medical Association and the Chinese Geriatrics Society, and edited the Chinese editions of the Chinese Journal of Medicine and the American Journal of Medicine. In 1988, he moved to the United States and lived with his two sons and daughters-in-law.

Dedication

This book is not a biography of Mao Zedong. This is just the author’s personal experience as Mao Zedong’s doctor for twenty-two years. This is dedicated to my deceased wife – Wu Shenxian. During these years, she shared my hardships, encouraged and supported me, enabling me to get through those days of fear and depression, and finally complete the writing of this book.