 | 97. "Chairman Mao Swims in the Yangtse," p. 4. See also page 2 of this article for Mao's poem "Swimmingto the Tune of `Die lian hua.'"
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| 98. As a propaganda report of the time put it: "The Yangtse was in spate; its current was swift and the rolling waves pounded the shores. Swimming in the vast river, Chairman Mao sometimes made his way through the turbulent waters by side-stroking and sometimes he floated on his back, looking at the blue sky. The news of Chairman Mao's swim in the Yangtse stirred all hearts and brought immense inspiration and strength to everybody." See "Chairman Mao Swims in the Yangtse," pp. 3-4.
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| 99. For more on Mao's 16 July swim, see Li,
The Private Life of Chairman Mao,
p. 463; and Lucian W. Pye,
Mao Tse-tung: The Man in the Leader,
pp. 72-73. The tenth episode (
Dao zhongliu jishui
) of the twelve-part China Central Television documentary "Mao Zedong" (broadcast in December 1993) is devoted to Mao's aquatic feats and features footage of his particular chaise-longue swimming style. In the Mainland press, Mao's swimming is still described in the most reverent terms. See, for example, a report on the young girls who were called to accompany Mao on his Wuhan swims, Xiao Fan, "Tamen wei Mao zhuxi hengdu Changjiang baobiao."
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| 100. For a typical example of the ritual that was repeated in rivers and lakes throughout China, see "Proletarian revolutionaries in Peking cross Kunming Lake [of the Summer Palace] in celebration of the anniversary of our great leader Chairman Mao's swim in the Yangtse a year ago," the front cover illustration of
China Pictorial
9 (1967). To this day, the swimming costume Mao wore on that occasiona "Mao suit" worthy of the namehas been preserved and is on display in Zhongnanhai. See Zhongnanhai huace bianji weiyuanhui, ed.,
Pingfan yu weida,
p. 133.
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| 101. A scene showing the octogenarian Deng swimming is used in the title sequence of the 1990 four-part propaganda television documentary "On the Road" (
Shijixing
). See Barmé, "`Road' versus `River,'" p. 32. As the crooner Liu Huan sings the line "You are a banner, having fallen and risen, you emerged victorious/ You gave us the Truth," Deng is shown bobbing up and down in the water, doing the breaststroke. In 1993 Premier Li Peng made a similar, although far less photogenic, gesture when he appeared in his swimsuit supposedly enjoying sun and surf as a sign of his political resilience. The former Party secretary Zhao Ziyang, purged in 1989, preferred to use the golf coursethe internationally recognized leisure-time arena for power politicians and CEOsto display his vigor.
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| 102. See Frederic Wakeman, Jr., "Mao's Remains," p. 263. See also Rudolf G. Wagner, "Reading the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Peking: The Tribulations of the Implied Pilgrim," pp. 378-423.
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| 103. Wakeman, "Mao's Remains," p. 281; and A.P. Cheater, "Death Ritual as Political Trickster in the People's Republic of China," pp. 85-94.
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| 104. See David E. Apter and Tony Saich,
Revolutionary Discourse in Mao's Republic,
p. 313.
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| 105. Cai Yongmei, "Maorede shangpinhua," pp. 63-64.
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| 106. Ann Anagnost, "The Nationscape," p. 601 and n. 31.
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| 107. See Mark Elvin, "Tales of
Shen
and
Xin,
" p. 259. By having his ashes scattered after his death, Zhou Enlai achieved a "geospiritual return" with greater effect. Zhou was the first leader whose ashes were scattered after being cremated at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Crematorium and Columbarium. His cremation is also noted for being the longest (three hours) and producing the finest-quality ash. For these details, see Li Weihai,
Weiren shenhoushiBabaoshan geming gongmu jishi,
pp. 266-67.
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