Even in the brief meeting with Nixon, Mao could not escape the nightmare that shadowed his accomplishments and tormented his last years: that it might all prove ephemeral, that the exertions, the suffering, the Long March, the brutal leadership struggles would be but a brief incident in the triumphant, passive persistence of a millennial culture which had tamed all previous upheavals. "The Chairman's writings moved a nation and have changed the world," said Nixon. "I have not been able to change it," replied Mao, not without pathos. "I have only been able to...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
