Editor's Introduction

China's political liberalization in the 1980s produced a general relaxation in publishing circles that resulted in a flurry of memoir literature on the country's leaders. From accounts of Mao Zedong's personal bodyguards and secretaries,¹ to firsthand memoirs by military and political leaders,² to reminiscences of the children of Chinese elites persecuted during the Cultural Revolution,³ these works purport to reveal "inside" information on the political and personal lives of a leadership group that for decades was deeply insulated from public exposure. Often hagiographic in tone, they are generally overconcerned with the lurid and the voyeuristic at the expense of serious historical examination and political analysis. Yet in the absence of access to party archives, these books constitute a major documentary source for students of contemporary Chinese affairs.