52 FALLING OUT WITH LIN BIAO
52 和林彪翻脸
(1970–71 AGE 76–77)
1970～1971 年 76-77 岁
UP TO NOW, August 1970, the Mao–Lin partnership had worked extremely well. For the past four years Lin Biao had delivered the support from the army that Mao needed to purge the Party and reconstruct his regime. And Mao had done the maximum to satisfy Lin Biao's thirst for power, basically handing the army to him, and writing him into the Party charter as No. 2 and successor. Lin's wife had been brought into the Politburo (making her one of only two women members, along with Mme Mao), breaking a long-standing taboo against wife-promotion. Mao even tolerated a Lin mini-cult. Each day, when the chant went up: “May the Great Helmsman [etc.] Chairman Mao live for ever and ever!,” accompanied by the brandishing of the Little Red Book, the homage was followed by: “May Vice-Chairman Lin be very healthy, and for ever healthy!”
直到此次庐山会议，毛泽东同林彪这对搭档，合作得颇为顺利，文革四年，林彪为毛提供了军队支持，毛也最大限度的满足了林彪的权力欲望。中共长期以来不准提拔老婆的规矩被打破，叶群同江青一道進入政治局。毛甚至还容忍了对林彪也搞个人崇拜。人们手舞小红书，先喊：“敬祝毛主席万寿无疆，万寿无疆”，再喊：“祝林副统帅身体健康，永远健康！”
But at Lushan, it was brought home to Mao that he had let Lin grow too powerful, and that this now posed a threat to himself. It started with a seemingly innocuous dispute about the presidency, a post last occupied by Liu Shao-chi. Mao wanted the post abolished. Lin insisted that it should stay, and that Mao should be the president. The reason Lin stuck to his contrary position was because he wanted to be vice-president, which would make him the formal No. 2 in the state hierarchy. Among the top five (Mao, Lin, Chou, Kang Sheng and Chen Bo-da), the line-up was four in favor of Lin's view, against Mao's solitary one. This was an amazing sign of Lin's power, as it showed that for Mao's top colleagues, Lin's interests overrode Mao's wishes.
在庐山，毛忽然意识到，他给林彪的权力太大了，大得威胁到了自己。一开头是一件似乎无伤大雅的小事，关于设国家主席的问题。毛不想当主席，因为当了就免不了出国访问，免不了做许多礼仪上的杂事，都是他不想干的。但是毛又不愿意要林彪当。前国家主席刘少奇对他是一场恶梦。毛要把这个职位干脆取消。但是林彪要留着这个职位，自己起码当个副主席，否则在政府里他名不正，言不顺，二号人物的身份体现不出来。他只是个国防部长，在总理周恩来之下。政治局五个常委中(毛、林、周、陈伯达、康生)，另外三个都赞成林彪，要毛当主席，毛是孤零零一票。三个常委都把林的利益置于毛的意志之上，这阵势本身就是林彪权力的惊人表现。
Mao was further enraged when Lin went ahead and announced his proposal to the conclave on 23 August without first clearing it with Mao. Immediately after Lin spoke, the head of the Praetorian Guard, Wang Dong-xing, backed him up, demanding in fevered language that Mao become president, and Lin vice-president—even though he, too, knew that this was diametrically opposed to what Mao wanted. The man on whom Mao relied for his life was also putting Lin's wishes before Mao's.
使毛更加气恼的是，林在八月二十三日开幕大会上讲话时，不经他同意就把设国家主席的意见向会议宣布。林讲完话后，毛的大总管、中央警卫局局长汪东兴慷慨激昂地发言支持林，说：“热烈希望毛主席当国家主席，林副主席当国家副主席”。汪东兴明知毛多次讲过不设国家主席，可他还是反其意而行之。这样一个毛把生命都托付给他的人，居然把林的话看得比毛的重要。
The reason the head of the Praetorian Guard acted this way was because he felt Lin's patronage was essential. He had seen the fate that befell his de facto predecessor, Luo the Tall, who had been as close to Mao as it was possible to be, and yet whom Mao had sacrificed when Lin had demanded it. And now he saw Mao apparently making another similar sacrifice: Mao had just endorsed Lin's request to victimize yet another man who had Mao's deep trust, the Party No. 7, Zhang Chun-qiao.
汪东兴这样做有他的苦衷，要生存不能不讨好林彪。他看到，同样是毛的亲信的罗瑞卿、杨成武，在得罪了林彪后的下场。而且这次在庐山，毛又准备为了林而牺牲另一个他倚重的人：中共第七号人物张春桥。
The 53-year-old Zhang had been a middle-ranking functionary in Shanghai who had caught Mao's eye with his ability to churn out articles that dressed up Mao's self-serving deeds in Marxist garb. At the start of the Cultural Revolution, Mao had jumped him to the top to perform the crucial job of packaging the Purge in ideological phraseology. Zhang was the person largely responsible for the texts that caused many people in China and abroad to entertain illusions about the true nature of the Cultural Revolution.
五十三岁的张春桥是文革开始后，毛越级从上海提拔到最高层来的，看中他善于给毛的所作所为打上漂亮的意识形态包装。让人们以为毛搞文革真是为了什么“理论”，什么“主义”，张春桥功不可没。
Zhang was reticent and reserved, and wore a face that colleagues found hard to read. He had been dubbed “the Cobra” by Lin and his coterie, partly because he wore glasses, and partly because of his snakelike qualities. Lin Biao hated him because he was not one of his own cronies, and because Mao, ever one to sow discord among his underlings, had told Lin that the Cobra might one day succeed Lin when Lin got old. For some time, Lin had been trying to undermine the Cobra by sending Mao dirt on him. Just before delivering his speech at Lushan, Lin told Mao that he intended to condemn the Cobra in it, and Mao gave Lin the nod to proceed. After Lin's speech, which was fierce, other participants piled in, demanding, in the brutal language of the day, that the Cobra be “put to the death of the thousand cuts.”
张戴眼镜，不苟言笑，目光叫人莫测高深。林彪一帮人给他起了个绰号叫“眼镜蛇”。他跟林彪保持距离。爱在下属中挑事的毛又曾对林说过，林年纪大了，张春桥可能来接班。林更视张为仇敌，不时把手下人收集的告张春桥状的材料送给毛。这次在开幕大会上讲话前，林告诉毛他想批张，毛点了头。林讲完话后，到会的人纷纷讨张，要求对张“千刀万剐”。
The lesson was clear: however close or important anyone was to Mao, that person had to have Lin's blessing to survive. Mao's favor on its own was not enough. This was a huge power shift. The thought that Lin's patronage was now more critical than his own rocked Mao.
毛警觉到，林的权势到了几乎一手遮天的程度。即使得到毛的欢心的人，要想不倒台还得靠上林。毛不寒而栗。
He set out at once to demonstrate that Lin was not omnipotent. He vetoed any possibility of having a presidency, and called a halt to attacks on the Cobra, and to any further discussion of Lin's speech. Mao proceeded to show enormous displeasure towards Lin, and then condemned his old secretary Chen Bo-da, the Party No. 5, who had become too pally with Lin. As usual in such cases, Chen was put under house arrest, and then thrown into prison—an experience he described as like being “hit on the head by an atom bomb.”
他马上着手改变这种状况，在会上宣布不设国家主席，制止对张春桥的攻击，停止讨论林彪讲话。毛把他从前的秘书、第五号人物陈伯达抛出来做替罪羊，软禁后投入监狱。陈跟林彪靠得太紧，失去了毛的信任。
Mao asked Lin to make a self-criticism in front of the top echelon and say that he had been “deceived” by Chen. Lin declined. Until now, thanks to his special relationship with Mao, he had always avoided having to subject himself to this humiliating ritual. Even though Mao insisted, Lin refused to budge. There was an impasse. After four decades, the Mao–Lin relationship began to fall apart.
毛要林在中共高层“表一个态”，说他受了陈伯达的骗。毛这是要林做检讨。林婉拒了。毛并不意外，他曾说：“林彪在我身边待了几十年，我对他的性格和做法很了解，他是不会写检查的，此人从来不做自我批评。”毛也从来没有逼过他。现在毛感到不逼他不行了，可是林彪非常固执，不肯让步。在长达四十年的合作之后，毛林搭档开始散架。
AFTER LUSHAN, which ended inconclusively on 6 September, Mao moved to reduce Lin's power—and also to ensure his personal safety. He summoned trusted generals who were not in Lin's coterie to take over the military command of Peking, and inserted them into the army leadership. He also cleaned up his own household, by dismissing some of his favorite girlfriends who had come from the air force's song and dance troupe, a procuring service for Mao, which had links to Lin.
这次庐山会议在九月六日不圆不满地结束后，毛采取了连串步骤削减林的权力。他把林圈外的将领调来执掌北京的军权，并插入军委领导班子。毛的女友中跟林家沾边的，被清出中南海。
Mao had to tread very gingerly so as not to make Lin feel personally threatened. He could ill afford to break with Lin completely. Virtually the entire regime was staffed with people selected by Lin and his personal network. Mao wanted to neutralize him as much as possible without purging him. The interminable machinations needed to achieve this sapped Mao's energy, and that winter he fell ill with pneumonia. It was now, at seventy-seven, that old age suddenly set in, and he who had enjoyed extraordinary good health began to be besieged by illness.
毛并不希望跟林彪彻底决裂，新当权者多是林彪班子选拔的人。对林削权而不清洗，毛行事得格外小心。无穷无尽的谋画、顾虑消耗了毛的大量精力。这年冬天，他得了肺炎，年届七十七岁的毛突然老了，从此疾病缠身。
Meanwhile, Lin Biao continued to refuse to perform the self-abasement that Mao demanded. Always a loner, he became even more withdrawn, and spent most of his time pacing his room, occasionally watching war films. He dictated a letter to Mao, making it clear that in the event of his being purged, Mao would have to restaff the entire machine that Lin had installed; the only possible replacements would have to be the old Party cadres, and that would mean repudiating the Cultural Revolution. But at his wife's urging, Lin did not send the letter. Mao would not tolerate being threatened in such a way.
要削弱林的权势，关键是要林当众做检讨，林就是不做。林明白一意孤行的结果是什么。一向孤独的他如今更加沉默寡言，极少会客，也不谈天，独自在室内踱步，有时看点电影。他口授了一封信给毛，意思是毛不能清洗他，文革的成果得靠他巩固。在叶群的坚持下，这封信没有发出。毛是不能容忍有人威胁他的。
A more realistic option for Lin was to cut and run, as past foes of Mao's had done: Chang Kuo-tao to the Nationalists in the 1930s, and Wang Ming to Moscow in the 1950s. With his control of the air force, Lin could escape overseas. The obvious choice was Russia. He had spent over four years there altogether, and his wife spoke workable Russian, having had a Russian officer lover. It was a sign of Lin Biao's mistrust of Communist regimes that Russia was only his fall-back choice, and his preferred destination was the British colony of Hong Kong.
林有条出路：逃往海外。毛从前的整肃对象在面临刀俎之灾时，逃亡的不乏其人：张国焘三十年代投向国民党，王明五十年代避难苏联。林彪握有空军，出走是不难的。最明显的目的地是苏联，他在那里前后住过四年，叶群能说点俄文，从前还有个情夫是位苏联军官。但是林彪显然对共产党政权缺乏信心，他把苏联只定为后备之路，第一选择是英国殖民地香港。
Lin's plan was to fly first to Canton, which is very close to Hong Kong, and where the military were exceptionally devoted to him. To secure this escape route, he relied on his only son, Li-guo, whom he called “Tiger,” who was in his mid-twenties. In November 1970, soon after Lin's breach with Mao at Lushan, Tiger started to see people from the Canton military. His intimates made frequent secret visits to Canton, got hold of small arms, radios and cars, and learned to fly helicopters. During all these extensive activities, no one informed on Tiger, who inspired loyalty.
林的计划是先飞靠近香港的广州，那里的将领们对他绝对忠诚。跟这些人联络，踩熟这条路线，林仰仗儿子立果。一九七0年十一月，庐山会议毛林失和后不久，林立果就开始见广州军区、民航的人。他的好友时常来到广州，建立秘密据点，搞小型武器、通讯设备、汽车，学驾直升飞机。林立果的哥儿们都对他很仗义，搞这一系列活动，没有人告密。
Tiger had been a physics student at Peking University when the Cultural Revolution started. Unusually for a young man of his background, he only joined the Red Guards reluctantly, and quickly left, showing no inclination for violence, or for persecuting people. He seems to have been a decent person. He was something of a playboy, and had many girlfriends. His parents worshipped him, and his mother had sent agents all over China to look for the most beautiful young woman to be his wife. Tiger chose a sexy fiancée who was intelligent, and a character. With her he listened to Western rock music, which he adored, and told her: “There will be a day when I will let the Chinese know there is such wonderful music in the world!”
二十多岁的林立果在文革开始时是北京大学物理系学生。不像一般高干子弟，他对参加红卫兵很不积极，只是在同学劝说下才勉强加入，但很快就离开了。他没有狂热，对打人、整人没有兴趣。他是个善良的人。他也是个花花公子，女朋友不少。爸爸妈妈视他为心头肉，妈妈更是派人到全国各地“选美”，要给宝贝儿子挑个完美的妻子。最后林立果选中了一位既美丽性感、又聪明有胆识的姑娘张宁。他同她一起听他热爱的西洋摇滚音乐，对她说：“总有一天，我会让中国人知道世界上还有这么好的音乐！”
Being able to enjoy Western music was only one of Tiger's many rare privileges as the son of Lin Biao. Another was access to Western science magazines, which he devoured, often expressing admiration for the advances being made in the West. (He was an avid inventor of military equipment, with some effective ideas of his own.) But above all, he was able to read some top-secret documents, with the result that he was exceptionally well informed.
听西洋音乐只是林立果作为林彪儿子享有的无数特权之一。他能看到進口的西方科技刊物，看得爱不释手，对西方发达的科技十分倾心。他本人喜欢发明设计军事设备，颇有些成果。最重要的，一些只有林彪、叶群才有资格读到的高层绝密文件，他也能够看到，这使他讯息广泛，了解内情，思想难得的开放。
Tiger came to be sharply critical of Mao's tyranny. In March 1971, he and three friends put their thoughts on paper:
有了不受禁锢的头脑，林立果看透了毛的暴政。一九七一年三月，他和三个朋友凑在一起，把他们的思想倾泻在纸上。他们这样写到中国的现状：
Senior officials feel anger but dare not speak up;
#党内长期斗争和文化大革命中被排斥和打击的高级干部敢怒不敢言。
Peasants lack food and clothing;
#农民生活缺吃少穿。
Educated youth rusticated: prison labour in disguise;
#青年知识分子上山下乡，等于变相劳改。
The Red Guards were deceived and used at the beginning … as cannon fodder [and then] scapegoats …
#红卫兵初期受骗被利用，已经发(原文如此)充当炮灰，后期被压制变成了替罪羔羊。
#机关干部被精简，上五七干校等于变相失业。
Workers' … wages have been frozen: disguised exploitation.
#工人(特别是青年工人)工资冻结，等于变相受剥削。
These words were part of a document called “Outline of Project 571.” Tiger chose the name because “571”—wu-qi-yi—has the same pronunciation in Chinese as “armed uprising,” and a coup was what the friends had in mind. The Outline was a razor-sharp indictment of Mao, describing China under his rule as “state rich, people impoverished,” which they wanted to change to “people rich and state powerful.” Their aim was “to give the people enough food and clothing and a peaceful life”—the antithesis of Mao's goals.
这些话是《“五七一工程”纪要》的一部分，“五七一”这个名字是林立果取的，因为它跟“武起义”同音，代表了他的愿望，就是搞武装政变，推翻毛的暴政。这几个年轻人要跟毛政权对着干，“用民富国强代替他“国富”民穷”，要“使人民丰衣足食、安居乐业”。
They described Mao as “the biggest promoter of violence,” who “sets … people against people,” “a paranoid and a sadist,” and “the biggest feudal tyrant in Chinese history.” They accused him of “turning the Chinese state machine into a meat grinder, slaughtering and crushing people.”
他们谴责毛为“中国历史上最大的暴君”，行的是“法西斯主义”，“不仅挑动干部斗干部、群众斗群众，而且挑动军队斗军队、党员斗党员，是中国武斗的最大倡导者”。“今天甜言蜜语拉的那些人，明天就加以莫须有的罪名置之死地；今天是他的座上客，明天就成了他的阶下囚”。“他是一个怀疑狂、虐待狂”，“把中国的国家机器变成一种互相残杀，互相倾轧的绞肉机”。
These observations were truly remarkable for the times. Tiger dubbed Mao “B-52” after the US heavy bomber, referring to the fact that Mao, as he put it, had a big stomach full of evil thoughts, each one like a heavy bomb that would kill masses of people. Tiger's attitude to Mao was completely different from that of Mao's opponents among the old guard. He saw right through Mao, whom he regarded as evil, and unfit to run the country. He also realized that with him no dialogue or compromise was possible. In this sense, he was the nearest thing China produced to a Claus von Stauffenberg, the German officer who tried to assassinate Hitler in 1944.
这些见解在当时的环境下真是凤毛麟角，难能可贵。林立果还给毛取了个外号：“B--52”轰炸机，说毛肚子这么大，里面装的都是坏主意，一个主意就是一颗炸弹，掉下来能炸死一大片人。
Tiger and his friends began to talk about assassinating Mao when Tiger saw that Mao was coming after his parents. The friends mooted many ideas, but all in very general terms, like “using poison gas, germ weapons, bombing …,” and there is no sign that they ever got as far as actually preparing any of these. Mao had the most stringent rules on arms and troop movements, and phenomenal security. Moreover, as Tiger's group themselves observed, “the blind faith of the masses in B-52 is very deep” (thanks partly, ironically, to Tiger's father), and so they did not dare to reveal their project to most of their friends, or to Lin's major cronies at the top of the military. Tiger left a copy with his parents, but Lin was non-committal.
林立果和朋友们讨论了如何刺杀毛。立果是中国的克劳斯·冯·施道芬堡(Clausvon Stauffenberg)， 一九四四年企图刺杀希特勒的德国军官。但他和朋友们的主意都只是空想，如“利用特种手段如毒气、细菌武器、轰炸……”，没有迹象表明他们准备了这些武器。毛对武器的控制和部队的调动，以及个人的保卫措施，都无懈可击。另外，正如《“五七一工程”纪要》所说，“群众对B--52的个人迷信很深”。(具有讽刺意味的是，这在很大程度上是林立果的父亲造成的。)结果，这几个年轻人不敢把他们的计划透露给掌管军队的林的亲信，对其他朋友也绝口不提。林立果给了林彪和叶群一份，他们似乎没有给他出什么主意，但也没有提出非议。
IN MARCH 1971, some seven months after the rift with Lin erupted at Lushan, Mao decided to convene a conference for about a hundred of the elite to hear Lin's wife and major army cronies perform their self-abasements. Mao sent Chou En-lai in person to ask Lin, in unusually strong terms, to appear and “say a few words.” Lin refused. This was a huge snub to Mao's authority, and he went berserk. He ordered Chou to deliver a blistering denunciation of Lin on 29 April (though not naming him), saying that the army leadership had been “following a wrong political line.”
一九七一年三月，毛决定召开有一百来人参加的会，听林彪管军队的几员大将做检讨。毛派周恩来到北戴河林彪的住处，要林参加会议，“讲几句话”。周恩来劝了林两天，差不多到了求林的地步，林不冷不热地拒绝了。这对毛的权威无异是极大的蔑视，毛大动肝火。四月二十九日，会议最后一天，周恩来受命做总结，说军委领导“在政治上犯了方向路线的错误”，“走错了路线”。
A furious Lin retaliated. Two days later was May Day, when the leadership traditionally gathered on Tiananmen Gate. Protocol was very important in the Communist world, and any absence could be interpreted as signifying discord at the top. On the night, however, there was no sign of Lin. Chou stared anxiously at the empty seat facing Mao and Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, next to the prince's wife, while frantic phone calls were made to Lin's home. A dejected-looking Lin eventually appeared, long after the fireworks display had begun.
林彪也火了，以他独特的方式反击。两天后是五一劳动节，中共领导们得在天安门城楼上露面，谁不露面就表明出了麻烦。可是，那天晚上看烟火时，林彪连影子也没有。毛和柬埔寨的西哈努克亲王(Norodom Sihanouk)与夫人坐在一桌，对面林彪的位子在那里空着。周恩来紧张地盯着空位子，不时起身打电话去催林彪。焰火开始好长时间了，林才姗姗而至，沉着脸，慢腾腾走到桌前落坐。
The official photographer, Du, described the scene to us:
摄影师杜修贤这样描绘当时的场景：
When I saw Lin Biao sitting down, I snapped a shot. I didn't intend it to be published at all. I wanted to wait for [Mao and Lin] to start talking … But they didn't even look at each other … Then Lin Biao got up and left. I thought he had gone to the toilet, but half an hour later and he was still not back. I wondered how come Vice-Chairman Lin took so long in the toilet. In fact, he had left. We were all dumbfounded. As soon as the show was over, Premier Chou asked me: “Did you take a photo of Vice-Chairman Lin?” … I said: “One.” He said: “What about film and television?” I said I didn't know. The premier had the crews fetched, and gave them a dressing-down those old guys remember today as if it had been yesterday.
“我看到林彪坐下来，手脚快，先来了一张，根本不准备发表的，想等他们俩[毛和林]讲话。但他俩谁也不理谁。我们电影电视对着，等着他们讲话。林彪起来了，走了。我以为他到厕所去了。等他半小时还不来。我想林副主席上厕所怎么上这么长时间？其实他早走了。我们全愣了。会一散，总理问我，你给林副主席拍照了没有？我说他坐了不到一会儿就走了。总理说：我问你拍了没有？我说只拍了一张。他说：电影电视呢？我说我不清楚。总理把他们都叫来，训得一塌糊涂。训得一些老人到现在都记忆犹新。”
Lin had stayed less than a minute, and had greeted no one, not the Sihanouks, not Mao.
林彪坐了“不到一分钟”，跟谁也没打招呼，看也没看毛一眼。
Lin knew that Mao would not forgive him for what happened. After this, Tiger went to Canton to check out the Hong Kong escape route. He went right up to Lowu, the main crossing-point into Hong Kong, getting so close to the actual border that his entourage was worried the Hong Kong police might open fire.
林当然知道毛不会饶了他。就在那个月，林立果到广州查看去香港的路线。他到了罗湖桥头，离香港近到随行人怕港英警察开枪。
Lin would soon defy Mao again, in June, when Romania's tyrant duo, the Ceau?escus, came to town. Lin declined to come to a meeting with them, claiming that he was “sweating,” and Mrs. Lin had to go down on her knees to get him to go. Lin did finally show up, but left the room after Mao made a few digs at him, and went and sat outside the door in a slouching posture, his head lolling. Shortly afterwards, Tiger made another recce of the border with Hong Kong, by helicopter.
六月，林彪又再度同毛发生抵触。罗马尼亚领导人齐奥赛斯库伉俪 (Nicolae ＆ Elena Ceausescu)来访，毛通知林彪参加会见。林彪说他“在出汗”，不肯去。叶群大哭起来，给他下跪，他才勉强去了。坐了不久，听见毛话里有话，旁敲侧击地剌他，他就起身离开接见大厅，坐到外面椅子上耷拉着头，弄得工作人员不知怎么回事，都很害怕。这之后，林立果再去广州，乘直升飞机飞绕香港边界。
By mid-August, a year after Lushan, Mao was ready to purge Lin. On the 14th he left Peking to prepare provincial leaders. He had to make sure that these men, most of them Lin appointees, would not side with Lin in a showdown. During his tour, Mao made repeated damning remarks about Lin, like:
八月，与林彪翻脸一年了，毛下决心清洗林彪。十四日，他去外地巡视，给一些主要省份的领导“打招呼”。这些人大多是林彪提拔的，毛得弄确实他跟林摊牌时，他们不会跟林走。一路上，毛不断地针对林说：
“He wants to split the Party and can't wait to seize power.” Although Mao told his audiences not to report to Lin on what he said, a few of Lin's followers disobeyed.
“有人急于想当国家主席，要分裂党，急于夺权。”虽然毛叫听他讲话的人不准向林报告，有几个林的铁杆亲信还是把毛的话传给了林家。
Mao's words reached the Lins at the seaside resort of Beidaihe, east of Peking, on 6 September. The Lin villa occupied a whole hill, well shielded from the sea by luxuriant vegetation, as Lin could not stand the sight of water, though he liked the sea air. For kilometers there was not a soul around, except guards and staff.
这些话在九月六日传到。
Lin and his wife and Tiger decided to flee abroad at once. They planned to depart from the nearby airport at Shanhaiguan, where the Great Wall meets the sea. Tiger flew to Peking on the 8th to secure planes for the escape. He brought with him a handwritten note from his father: “Please follow the orders relayed by comrades Li-guo [Tiger] and Yu-chi [Tiger's closest friend]. (Signed) Lin Biao 8 September.” The man in charge of dispatching planes at Peking military airport agreed to bypass regular channels to get Tiger the planes.
林彪夫妇和立果决定马上逃走。他们此时住在北戴河林家别墅里，山海关机场就在附近。八日，立果和好友周宇驰从那里飞去北京，预备出逃的飞机。林彪给了他们一纸手令：“盼照立果、宇驰同志传达命令办。林彪九月八日。”在北京军用机场，负责调配飞机的人依条绕过规定的程序，给林立果调了飞机。
But Tiger did not want to flee without first making an attempt to assassinate Mao. At that moment Mao was in the Shanghai area, where officers loyal to Lin held key positions, and even had partial charge of Mao's security in the outer ring. It seems that at the eleventh hour, Lin Biao agreed that Tiger could try. Mrs. Lin was all for having a go. When Tiger kissed his fiancée goodbye at Beidaihe, he said: “In case something happens to me, you don't know anything; I won't incriminate you.”
林立果不想就这样逃走，他还想做番努力刺杀毛。这时毛正在上海地区，那里掌权的有忠实于林的军人，他们甚至还负责一部份毛的外围保卫工作。在这最后的关头，看来林彪同意立果一试，叶群对此举更是双手赞成。林立果在北戴河与未婚妻吻别时对她说：“万一出了什么事，你什么也不要讲，我不连累你。”
In Peking, Tiger asked the deputy chief of staff of the air force, Wang Fei, to mount an assault on the compound where Mme Mao and her coterie were living, the Imperial Fishing Villa. Tiger told him that simultaneous action would be taken “in the south,” where Mao was. Wang Fei was a good friend, but his reply was disappointing. He did not think he could persuade any troops to do what Tiger was asking. In any case, his troops were not allowed to carry weapons into Peking.
在北京，林立果要空军副参谋长王飞组织攻打江青等人居住的钓鱼台，对他说毛所在的“南边”也会同时行动。王飞没有表示惊诧，可是他的回答却令人失望，他说他“无法说服部队行动”， 而且，“北京市不准带武器進城，不等你到钓鱼台，就把你拦住了。再说，北京卫戍区部队很快就会到，就是冲進去，也跑不了。”
Next, Tiger met a senior air force officer called Jiang Teng-jiao, who was the youngest general in China, and who, for various reasons, hated Mao. Tiger asked him to try to kill Mao while Mao was still near Shanghai. Jiang agreed, and the two aired various ideas. One was to shoot up Mao's train with flame-throwers and bazookas; another was to shell it; a third was for the Shanghai military chief, a man trusted by the Lins, to shoot Mao on his train. The fourth was to bomb Mao's train from the air. But the man they approached to drop the bombs, a Korean War ace, replied that there were no bomber aircraft available. He took fright, and asked his wife, who was a doctor, to rub salt water and old aureomycin into his eyes so that they would swell up, and he thus got himself hospitalized. The other ideas also proved non-viable, as it was impossible to get lethal firepower anywhere near Mao's closely guarded and heavily armor-plated train.
林立果找的另一个人是空军军官江腾蛟，中国最年轻的将军。由于各种原因，他恨透了毛泽东。林立果让他负责在上海附近行剌毛，他答应了。几个密谋者在一起考虑了不同的方案。一个是用火焰喷射器和火箭筒打毛的专列，一个是调高射炮平射毛的专列，一个是派他们在上海的人趁毛在专列上接见时带武器上车动手，等等。但这些方案都无法实施。毛的专列上有秘密探测仪器，武器带不上去。车身是加固防弹的，打不進去。高射炮一旦朝毛的专列方向移动就会被发现。他们又想起一个主意：轰炸毛的专列。他们找的投弹人是朝鲜战争的空战英雄、空军作战部长鲁珉。鲁珉害怕了，说没有轰炸机可派，回家让当医生的妻子给他眼睛里揉上盐水和过期的金霉素，使眼睛红肿，住進了医院。密谋者们还想了别的主意，但都解决不了关键问题：任何能行剌的兵器都靠近不了毛泽东专列。
Over the next couple of days, tense discussions continued. “I just can't stomach him any longer!” Tiger would shout, waving his fists. “OK,” he would say, “the fish dies, but it breaks the net!,” indicating that he was ready to make a suicidal attack if that was what it took to bring down the Mao regime.
紧张讨论了两天，林立果激动地挥舞拳头高喊，说他咽不下这口气，要拚个鱼死网破。万般无奈下，十日，他派好友刘沛丰飞北戴河，请他父亲下令给总参谋长黄永胜，帮助他们。林彪写了封亲笔信，傍晚带回北京。这封信没有交给黄。看来密谋者们信不过黄，怕他背叛他们。
Fast running out of ideas, Tiger sent a friend back to Beidaihe on the 10th to get his father to write to Army Chief of Staff Huang Yong-sheng, asking him to cooperate with Tiger. Lin wrote the letter, but it was not delivered. The plotters could not trust Huang not to betray them.
It was also too late. Next day, news came that Mao had left Shanghai by train. Several of Tiger's friends offered to fly helicopters on a suicide attack against Mao on Tiananmen Gate on National Day, 1 October. Tiger vetoed the idea, in tears. He had not anticipated any action of this magnitude.
接下去一切都太迟了，十一日，毛乘专列离开上海。得知这个消息后，林立果的几个朋友自告奋勇，要在“十一”国庆节那天驾直升飞机去撞天安门。林立果流着眼泪说：“这样不行，我不允许你们这样做。”
All assassination plans were aborted, and Tiger decided to revert to the plan to flee to Canton, and then Hong Kong. On the evening of 12 September he flew back to Beidaihe in Lin's plane, a Trident, intending to leave with his family next morning.
暗杀计划就此告吹，林立果决定回头走外逃的路，先飞广州，再去香港。九月十二日晚，他乘林彪的专机“三叉戟”，飞回北戴河，准备第二天出走。
Mao had returned to Peking late that afternoon, completely unaware that an assassination plot had been afoot. His train stopped outside the capital at a station called Fengtai, where he was given a routine briefing by his newly appointed Peking commanders on what had been happening in the capital. The meeting opened with a report about an army delegation's visit to Albania. Back in Zhongnanhai, it was like the end of any other trip. Mao's security chiefs and the head of his guards, who lived outside the compound, went home. Some of them took sleeping pills. Mao, too, went to sleep.
当天下午，毛回到北京，专列停在北京郊外丰台车站。他接见了北京军区负责人，一开始听取的是军队代表团近日访问阿尔巴尼亚的情况报告。会后回到中南海，一切都像往常出巡归来一样。负责警卫的官员们回家休息去了，有的吃了安眠药。毛也上床睡了。显然他对暗杀密谋全无所知。
AT THE TIME Mao and his entourage went to bed, the Lins were getting ready to decamp. Tiger had reached Beidaihe about 9:00 PM, and went over plans with his parents. The staff were told that the Lins were leaving at 6:00 AM for Dalian, a nearby port city, which was an old haunt of Lin's, so this did not arouse suspicion. Then, fatally, Tiger asked his sister Dodo to be ready to leave in the morning.
就在毛宽衣就寝时，林彪这边活动紧张。林立果晚上九点回到北戴河，跟父母商定第二天一早外逃。他们对工作人员说早晨六点飞大连，那是林彪常去的地方，大家都觉得很自然，没人怀疑。就在这时，林立果走出了致命的一步：他告诉姐姐林豆豆，要她预备“明天早上六点行动”。
Two years older than Tiger, Dodo was a very brainwashed young woman. Her parents had not wanted to let her in on their escape plans, in case she might turn them in. But Tiger was worried about what might happen to his sister after they fled, and had disclosed part of the plans to her a few days before. As their parents had foreseen, she got scared. Unlike her brother, Dodo was a product of the fear and twisted logic of Mao's China. For her, attempting to flee abroad was defection, and therefore treason, even though she knew that her sick father, whom she loved, was not likely to survive long in prison under Mao. When Tiger told her they were leaving the following morning, she reported the news to the Praetorian Guards who were stationed in a separate building at the bottom of the drive. This action doomed her family.
比立果年长两岁的豆豆，跟弟弟不一样，是个听毛话的姑娘。林彪、叶群都不想把出逃计划告诉她，怕她接受不了去揭发。可是林立果怕姐姐在他们逃走后“有危险”，说服了父母，在几天前把计划对她讲了，要带她一起走。正如她父母预见的，豆豆吓坏了。这个被毛的专制逻辑扭曲的天真女孩子，认为逃亡国外就是叛国，就是大逆不道。尽管立果提醒她，她热爱的父亲“身体这么弱，关進监狱能活几天？” 这样明白有力的道理也不足以让她清醒。九月十二日晚，当立果通知她第二天早上出逃时，她立刻跑去向警卫部队报告。这一行动导致了全家的覆亡。
The Guards phoned Chou En-lai, and he began to check on the movements of planes, particularly the Trident, which was Lin's plane. Tiger's friends immediately let him know that Chou was asking questions, and Lin Biao decided to leave at once rather than wait till morning. He also decided to fly not to Canton, but to their fallback destination, Russia, via Outer Mongolia, as this route would mean much less time in Chinese airspace, just over an hour.
警卫部队连忙打电话给周恩来。周开始查问飞机调动情况，特别是林彪的专机“三叉戟”。立果的朋友给林家通了气。林彪感到了周恩来的怀疑，决定不等天明马上走。他同时决定不飞广州，改采备用方案经外蒙古飞苏联。这条线在中国领空的飞行航程短，只要一个多小时。
Tiger rang his friends about the change of route, and phoned the captain of the Trident to get the plane ready. Unaware that Chou's enquiry had been triggered by his sister's betrayal, Tiger told Dodo they were taking off right away. She went straight back to the Praetorian Guards and stayed at their post.
林立果打电话告诉朋友们路程的改变，通知在山海关机场的“三叉戟”机长做好起飞的准备。他没想到周恩来的查问源于姐姐，要豆豆准备“现在就走！”林豆豆又跑去警卫部队报告，然后躲在那里。
Around 11:50 PM, Lin Biao, Mme Lin and Tiger, plus a friend of Tiger's, sped off for the airport, accompanied by Lin's butler. As the car raced out of the estate, the Praetorian Guards tried to stop it. At this point Lin's butler surmised that they were going to flee the country. Thinking of the fate that awaited his family if he became a defector, he shouted “Stop the car!” and jumped out. Gunshots followed, one hitting his arm. The shot came from Tiger, the butler said; some suggest that it was self-inflicted, to protect himself.
豆豆的失踪使出逃更加紧迫。大约十一点五十分，林、叶、立果一行，匆忙乘车驰向山海关机场。林彪的卫士长跟着上了车，当车冲过警卫部队驻扎的路口，部队示意停车而不停时，他意识到林彪这是外逃。他想到要是他做了“叛徒”，老婆孩子就完了，于是大叫“停车”，随即开门跳下车去。数声枪响，有一发打中了他的手臂。他说是林立果打的，有人说是自伤，为的是保护自己。
The Praetorian Guards set off in hot pursuit, in several vehicles. About half an hour later the Lins' car screeched to a halt beside the Trident at Shanhaiguan airport, with one pursuing jeep only 200 meters behind. Mrs. Lin hit the tarmac screaming that Lin was in danger, shouting: “We are leaving!” Tiger had a pistol in his hand. The group clambered frantically up the small ladder to the pilot's cabin.
警卫部队的车跟在林彪车后紧追。半个多小时后，林彪的车在山海关机场的“三叉戟”机旁嘎然停下，后面追他的一辆吉普车离他只有二百公尺。叶群一下汽车就喊：“有人要害林副主席，我们要走了！”林立果拿着手枪，也喊着：“快！快！快！飞机快起动，飞机快起动！”飞机发动了，登机的梯子没有到，一行人匆匆忙忙攀着一架小梯子爬進驾驶舱。
The Trident took off in a rush at 12:32 AM, carrying the three Lins, plus Tiger's friend and Lin's driver. Out of the full nine-man crew, only four, the captain and three mechanics, had had time to get on board. The mechanics had just readied the plane for departure, and were only beginning to refuel it when the Lins arrived and Mrs. Lin yelled for the fuel tanker to be moved away. As a result, the plane had only 12.5 tons of fuel on board, enough for between two and three hours in the air, depending on altitude and speed.
“三叉戟”于零点三十二分急促起飞，载着林家三口人，加上立果的朋友和林彪的座车司机。机组九个人里只有机长和三个机械师得以登机。机械师们刚来得及做飞机起飞的种种技术准备，正要加油时，林家人就赶到了。在叶群“快把油车开走！” 的命令下，飞机起飞时未来得及加油，只有机存的十二吨半油。根据飞行高度、速度，这些油可供“三叉戟”飞两到三小时。
They had to fly low for most of the time to dodge radar, and this used up more fuel. Two hours later, over the Mongolian grassland, they would have had only about 2.5 tons of fuel left—at which point the fuel gauge would have been flashing for some time. At 2:30 AM on 13 September 1971, the plane crash-landed in a flat basin and exploded on impact, killing all nine people on board.
两小时后，飞机早已顺利离开中国领土，来到外蒙古草原上空。因为大半时间都低空飞行以躲避雷达，耗油量大，机上的油只剩大约二点五吨了，油表警告灯已经亮了好一阵子，驾驶员不敢再飞下去，必须马上降落。一九七一年九月十三日夜里两点三十分，林彪的专机在土质松软的草原上迫降着陆时起火爆炸，机上九人全部罹难。
A HEAVILY SEDATED Mao had been woken up by Chou soon after Lin's plane took off. Mao stayed in his bedroom, which was one of the former changing-rooms of the swimming pool in Zhongnanhai. The nearest telephone was in a room at the other end of the 50-meter pool. When the people monitoring Lin's plane rang, the head of the Guard, Wang Dong-xing (whom Mao had forgiven for supporting Lin at Lushan a year before), would rush to the phone, then back to Mao, then to the phone again. The plane did not cross the border into Mongolia until 1:50 AM, so Mao had about an hour to act.
林彪的专机起飞后不久，吃了安眠药正睡得晕沉沉的毛泽东被周恩来叫醒。毛睡觉的屋子是中南海游泳池的更衣室，在五十公尺长的池子一端，电话在池子另一端的警卫值班室，监视林彪飞机的人用电话随时向毛报告。电话响时，大总管汪东兴(此时已被毛原谅)来回奔走，把最新消息报告毛，再跑过去发指示。林的飞机一点五十分过边境，毛有一个多小时的时间采取行动。根据中共“周恩来生平研究小组” 组长高文谦先生披露的周在“九·一三”当晚写给毛的信，可以断定，林彪的飞机不是毛打下来的。
It seems Mao was only presented with one option if he wanted to strike: interception by fighter planes. China apparently had no usable ground-to-air missiles. Mao vetoed interception.* The unspoken reason was that he could not trust the air force, which was honeycombed with Lin men. Instead, Mao had every plane in China grounded, while the land army took over all the airports, blocking the runways to prevent any planes taking off. The only planes allowed into the air were eight closely monitored fighters sent up later to force down a helicopter carrying three friends of Tiger's. When the three men were brought back to the outskirts of Peking, they agreed to shoot themselves together. Two did. The third, who had said that his last bullet was “reserved for B-52,” meaning Mao, weakened at the last moment, and fired into the air.
当时供毛选择的办法只有一种，就是派飞机拦截。毛不让拦截。他信不过林彪亲信密布的空军。相反地，他下了一道“禁空令”，全国飞机都不许起飞，陆军進驻所有机场，设置障碍物阻止飞机升空。只是在林立果的三个朋友几小时后乘直升飞机从北京向境外飞去时，才派了八名信得过的飞行员升空迫降。直升飞机在北京郊区降下后，三个朋友约好一同自杀，两个对自己开了枪，第三个曾说他要把最后一颗子弹留给B-52毛泽东，在最后一刻向天放了空枪。
Mao was moved to his Suite 118 in the Great Hall, where there was a lift to a nuclear-proof bunker and a tunnel to the Western Hills. His servants were told to be ready for war, and his guards went onto top alert, and started digging trenches around Mao's residences. The head of Mao's guards for twenty-seven years said he had never seen Mao look so strained, so exhausted and so furious.
毛身边工作人员得到命令“做好打仗的准备”，卫队進入一级战备，中南海、钓鱼台都挖起工事，怕林彪的人進攻。毛转移到人民大会堂一一八厅，那里室内有电梯下到通往西山的地下通道。跟随毛二十七年的警卫队长说，他还从来没见过毛显得这样筋疲力尽，这样生气。
Mao remained sleepless and wiped out until the afternoon of 14 September, when news came that the Lins had crashed in Mongolia. This was an ideal outcome from his point of view, and he swigged some mao-tai, the powerful liquor he did not normally touch, in celebration.*
毛在不眠中待到十四日下午，直到周恩来带来好消息，林彪的飞机坠毁在蒙古草原。这对他是“最理想的结果”。毛高兴了，为了庆贺，还喝了一向不沾的茅台酒。*
* 苏联派克格勃专家扎格沃斯丁将军(Aleksandr Zagvozdin)到蒙古，去确认死的是林彪。扎格沃斯丁告诉我们，他把尸体挖出来看了，返莫斯科后他的上司不满足，把他又派了回去，在天寒地冻里重新掘出林彪、叶群的尸体，在大锅里煮了以后头骨运到莫斯科，跟林彪医疗档案中的X光照片比对。勃列日涅夫和安德罗波夫(Yuri Andropov)终于确信死者是林彪。
But Mao's relief that Lin was dead was quickly overshadowed by the news that there had been a plot to assassinate him, which came to light right after he heard that Lin had crashed. This was the first assassination plot against Mao by his top echelon, and it came as a profound shock. Equally alarming was the fact that quite a few people had known about these plans, and not one had informed. For days Mao hardly slept, in spite of downing fistfuls of sleeping pills. He ran a temperature and coughed incessantly. Breathing problems made it impossible for him to lie down, so he sat on a sofa day and night for three weeks, developing bedsores on his bottom. Then a heart condition was discovered. On 8 October, when he met Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie, he barely spoke a word. One official present, who had last seen Mao the day before Lin fled, less than a month before, could not believe how washed-out Mao looked. Chou brought the meeting to an early close.
毛的兴奋很快被罩上阴影。十四日当天审讯林立果的朋友江腾蛟，发现了暗杀毛的密谋。这是中共高层第一起暗杀他的企图，对毛的震动之大无以复加。而且参与密谋的人不少，但没有一个出事前出来告发。毛几天几夜睡不着觉，吃多少安眠药也无济于事。他发烧，咳嗽不停，躺下不能呼吸，只好日夜坐在沙发上，坐了三个星期长了褥疮，心脏也出了问题。十月八日，他会见埃塞俄比亚(Ethiopia)的海尔·塞拉西皇帝(Haile Selassie)时，只说了寥寥数语，周恩来早早地结束了会见。林彪出逃前一天才见到毛的官员，吃惊地发现毛一个月不到，形容全非。
Mao had to struggle to deal with endless details in order to tighten his already incredibly tight security. Everybody near him had to report in detail on their every dealing with the Lins. A deputy chief of the Praetorian Guard, Zhang Yao-ci, owned up to having received some bamboo shoots “and two dead pheasants” from Mrs. Lin one New Year, and to having given her some tangerines.
毛绞尽脑汁地改進本来已严之又严的安全措施。所有负责警卫他的人都得详细报告跟林彪、叶群的关系。中央警卫局副局长张耀祠给毛的书面检讨包括：“一九七0年春节，叶群还让保密员送来三斤竹笋、两只死野鸡。为了表示我对她的谢意，我在七0年春回送过叶群二十斤橘子。”
Mao's warning to him tells a lot about the bleak world surrounding the Boss:
毛要张“今后注意几条”：
1. Don't cultivate connections;
一、不要拉关系；
2. Don't visit people;
二、不要串门子；
3. Don't give dinners or gifts;
三、不要请客送礼；
4. Don't invite people to operas [i.e. Mme Mao's model shows] or films;
四、不要请人看戏，看电影：
5. Don't have photographs taken with people.
五、不要同别人照相。
围绕着毛的是一个多么无情无趣，多么阴冷惨淡的世界啊！
An altogether more monumental task was sorting out the armed forces, which were crammed with Lin men, especially at the top. Mao had no way of knowing who was involved in the assassination plot, or where anyone's allegiance lay. One small but alarming incident came days later when senior air force officers were gathered to be briefed about the Lins. One of the men raced to the top of the building, shouted anti-Mao slogans and jumped to his death.
更大的问题是如何清理军队，林彪的人到处都是。毛无法弄清谁卷入了要刺杀他的密谋，谁是林彪的死党。在号召空军机关副部长以上干部揭发林彪父子的会上，有一位跑到楼顶上高呼反对毛的口号，然后跳楼身亡。
The only marshal Mao could trust to take over running the army was Yeh Jian-ying. He had been a faithful follower in the past, but had spoken his mind against the Cultural Revolution, and as a result had been cast into semi-disgrace, for a while living under virtual house arrest. At the time Mao brought him back to high office, several of his children and other close relatives were still languishing in prison.
谁来管军队？毛无奈只得起用叶剑英元帅。历史上叶是毛的追随者，因为直言反对文革，被毛打入冷宫，一度囚禁在家，他的好几个孩子和亲戚此时还在监狱中受罪。
But Mao had nobody else. He was also forced to reinstate purged Party officials, because they were the only alternative to the people installed by Lin's network. These officials were mostly in camps. Now many were rehabilitated and re-employed. Mao loathed having to let this happen, and tried to limit the scale of the rehabilitations. He knew that these officials felt extremely bitter towards him after the appalling ordeals they had been put through. One former deputy chief of the Praetorian Guard spoke for many people when he told us how he felt then: “What Chairman Mao, what Party? I stopped caring about any of them …”
地方上，毛不得不重新起用被他打倒的老干部。这些人文革中被整得家破人亡、死去活来，大多数现在“五七干校”变相劳改。毛在这些人心中已不再是神了。中央警卫局一位前副局长的话颇有代表性：“什么毛主席，什么党中央，到这个时候，我什么都不想了，我只想我的孩子。”
毛很清楚这一点，重新起用的事做得勉强缓慢。这时出了一件事。
At this juncture, Marshal Chen Yi, one of the more outspoken opponents of the Great Purge, who had suffered much in it, died of cancer, on 6 January 1972. The memorial service was scheduled for the 10th, as a low-key affair, with limitations put on the size of his portrait, the number of wreaths, how many people could attend—and the number of stoves permitted to heat a big hall: just two. Mao had no wish to attend the funeral.
一九七二年一月六日，因反对文革而受排挤的陈毅元帅患癌症去世。追悼会定在十日，规定小规模、低规格。连照片多大、花圈多少、参加人数都有限制，会场的取暖火炉也只准生两个。毛泽东无意出席。
But in the days after Chen Yi's death, although the news was not announced, word got out, and large numbers of old cadres gathered outside the hospital, demanding to be allowed to bid farewell to his corpse. The mood of the crowds was angry as well as mournful. And there was no doubt that the anger was directed against the Cultural Revolution—and against Mao himself. Mao felt tremendous pressure to make a gesture to placate the old power base which he had treated so abominably, and on which he now had to rely again.
尽管报纸上没有公布，但陈的死讯还是传开了。大群老干部聚集在医院外面，要求向遗体告别。人群的情绪不但是悲痛，而且是激愤。毛能感到人们的矛头对着他，意识到他必须做姿态来平息这些老干部的怒气。既然他不得不用他们，他就得安抚他们。
On the day of the service, shortly before it was due to begin, Mao suddenly declared that he would attend. His staff observed that “his face was hung with dark clouds” and he looked “irritated and frustrated,” remaining totally silent. But he could see it was wise to go and use the occasion to put across the message to old cadres that he “cares for us.” He also did some scapegoating, telling Chen Yi's family that it was Lin Biao who had “plotted … to get rid of all us old stagers.” Word went out that the persecutions in the Cultural Revolution were Lin Biao's fault, and that Mao was coming to his senses. Afterwards, a photo was published of Mao at the service, looking suitably sad (though with his unshaven stubble airbrushed out), with Chen Yi's grief-stricken widow clinging to his arm, and this did much to abate the bitterness among “capitalist-roaders.”
追悼会前，毛身边人看到他焦躁不安，“一脸阴霾”，“板着面孔，没有一句话说”。追悼会即将开始的最后一刻，他才决定出席。他要藉此向老干部表态，他是好人，迫害他们的是林彪。他对陈毅的遗孀说，林彪“要把我们这些老人都搞掉”。这话被广泛传播。报纸上又登出一张毛在追悼会上的照片，毛看上去一副痛苦模样，悲痛欲绝的陈毅夫人双手紧紧挽住他的胳膊。老干部们看了，对毛又泛起了好感。
The day of Chen Yi's funeral was bitterly cold, but Mao was in such a foul mood at having to go that he refused to put on a warm coat. His staff tried to get him to dress sensibly, but he pushed the clothes away. He ended up wearing only a thin coat over his pajamas, and that was all he had on for the whole service in the poorly heated hall. As a result he fell ill. He was seventy-eight, and he got sicker and sicker. On 12 February he passed out, and lay at the brink of death.
陈毅追悼会那天天气严寒。毛因为被迫干他不情愿干的事，心头冒火，拒绝穿戴整齐。身边人要给他披上棉大衣，他摆手不要，只在睡衣外罩上一件呢大衣，衣着单薄地在那个冰凉的房间里开追悼会。七十八岁的他，回去就病了，病势越来越严重。二月十二日，他突然休克，心脏停止跳动，一阵紧急抢救后才苏醒过来。
Physical and political vulnerability forced Mao to allow the rehabilitation of cadres to be speeded up, and the regime became markedly more moderate for the first time since the start of the Cultural Revolution nearly six years before. Abusive practices in prisons decreased greatly. Violent denunciation meetings were scrapped, even for Lin Biao's men, who, although detained,* suffered little physically compared with Mao's previous routine. Incredibly, given that an attempted assassination—of Mao, no less—was involved, not a single person was executed.
毛在身体上、政治上都很虚弱了，他不得不容忍加快重新起用老干部的步伐。文革以来的一套严酷作法，有了改变。监狱里对犯人的虐待减少了，残酷的批斗会停止了。受林彪牵连的人虽然被集中看管起来(包括林豆豆)，但同毛一向的做法相比，他们简直可以说是在受优待。最令人惊异的是，那些参与密谋刺杀毛的人，竟没有一个被枪毙。
After years of living surrounded by daily brutality, and with almost nothing constructive to see or do in the way of entertainment, tension in society had built up to an almost unbearable pitch. An Italian psychoanalyst who was in China just before this time observed to us that he had never seen anything like the number of facial tics and extreme tension in people's faces. Now there was a let-up. A few old books and tunes, and some leisure activities, were allowed again. Some historical sites were reopened. Although relaxation stayed within very strict limits, still there was a lightness in the air when spring came in 1972.
文革这些年来，中国人生活里充满了野蛮，文明绝迹，整个社会箍得紧紧的，让人窒息。一位意大利心理分析家访华后惊叹道，他从未见过如此多紧张不堪的神情。现在人们终于可以缓缓气了。几本旧书，几支旧曲、几处古迹、几丛花卉，重新進入了生活。虽说允许的范围极其有限，一九七二年的春天到来时，随之而来的是一缕和煦的阳光，一丝轻松的气息。
*A letter from Chou to Mao on the night of 13 September shows unequivocally that the plane was not shot down by the Chinese.
*The Russians sent their top investigator, KGB general Aleksandr Zagvozdin, to Mongolia to make sure it really was Lin on the plane. Zagvozdin dug up the corpses. But, he told us, his report failed to satisfy his bosses, and he was sent back to exhume the bodies again from the now frozen ground. The corpses of Lin and his wife were boiled in a huge pot and the skeletons taken to Moscow, where Lin's was checked against old Russian medical records and X-rays from his earlier visits, and a squeamish Yuri Andropov and Brezhnev were finally satisfied that it really was Lin.
*Among those detained was Lin Biao's daughter Dodo.