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Envy & Politics. In the puritanical atmosphere of Yenan, Mao's philandering was ill-received. The embryonic Politburo refused to approve his marriage to "the flower of Yenan" until it was agreed that Chiang Ching would play no part in party affairs and stay strictly out of sight. It was a bargain largely kept, from their marriage in 1939 until August of 1966, when Mrs. Mao suddenly appeared at a Red Guard rally to introduce Defense Minister Lin Piao as Mao's new heir apparent and "closest comrade in arms." The occasion signaled a declaration of war on the enemies of Mao led by his former heir, Chinese President Liu Shao-chi.
Some of Chiang Ching's denunciations are pointedly political; others make sense only as the products of a jealous and petty female. She has accused Liu Shao-chi's wife—a well-born and charming woman who often drew headlines around the world in the years when Chiang Ching was putting up plum preserves in the Precious Moon Castle—of being "a prostitute." She also subjected Mrs. Liu Shao-chi to an all-night "confession" session at the hands of Chiang Ching's pet Red Guard group. She shows such favoritism among the myriad Red Guard bands that two weeks ago posters appeared accusing her of attempting to "monopolize" Maoism and calling her a "time bomb" ticking at the side of Chairman Mao.
Some Western analysts think that the analogy may not be too far wrong and that Mrs. Mao has Red empress ambitions of her own beyond merely aiding Mao in his purge. Chinese history is replete with powerful women, right up to Mme. Sun Yat-sen and Mme. Chiang Kaishek. Some draw a more ominous parallel between Mrs. Mao and the late 19th century Empress Tzu Hsi. The willful Empress had a lethal impact on her environment: her chief rival, her son, her pregnant daughter-in-law and a nephew all died under mysterious circumstances. No one is ready to suggest that Chiang Ching is cut from quite the same cloth. But Sinologists feel that Mrs. Mao, being only 52 in an inner circle of old men, may have considerable say about who will succeed to the Red throne after Mao's last battle is fought, even if she does not herself join the ranks of Chinese empresses.