"Comrade Chiang Ch'ing is prepared!" These words were the summons to leave the guesthouse, where we had been waiting, and begin the drive to Chiang Ch'ing's villa. Leading to [the] villa was a narrow winding road flanked by deep bamboo groves. In them, young PLA [People's Liberation Army] guards, bayonets glinting, were partially hidden.
The interior was spacious but its decor was neutral. Chiang Ch'ing was wearing a superbly tailored shirtwaist dress of heavy crepe de chine, with a full pleated skirt falling to midcalf, a style evocative of our early 1950s.
With a later break for dinner and...