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CHRONOLOGY
1949 Communists take over Beijing in January. Li Zhisui returns there in June at the invitation of Fu Lianzhang and begins work in the medical clinic at “Labor University.” People's Republic of China (PRC) is established on October 1. Mao leaves for Moscow.
1950 Mao and the General Office move to Zhongnanhai. Li Zhisui is put in charge of the Zhongnanhai health clinic. The new government begins carrying out land reform and enters the Korean War.
1952 China carries out the “three-anti” campaign, against corruption, waste, and bureaucratism. Li Zhisui treats Mao's son Mao Anqing and meets Jiang Qing. Dr. Li is voted a model worker and is admitted into the Communist party.
1953 Korean War is concluded. China begins introducing agricultural cooperatives.
1954 Wang Dongxing appoints Dr. Li to serve as Mao's personal physician. Zhongnanhai carries out a purge of counterrevolutionaries, and many doctors are dismissed.
1955 Li Zhisui meets Mao Zedong and is invited to join him for May Day celebrations atop Tiananmen. Dr. Li administers his first physical examination of Mao. Many cooperatives that had been amalgamated into larger collectives are abolished by Deng Zihui, to Mao's great consternation. Mao begins writing Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside.
1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin in February, and Mao is angry with both Khrushchev and Chinese leaders who had suggested supporting Khrushchev. Mao swims in the Pearl, Xiang, and Yangtze rivers and launches the 100 Flowers movement, calling on intellectuals to criticize the party, following the Eighth Party Congress. Jiang Qing leaves for the Soviet Union, and Dr. Li leaves Mao's service to study neurology.
1957 Jiang Qing returns from the Soviet Union. Dr. Li is called back to Mao. The anti-rightist campaign is launched in June. Dr. Li goes with Mao to Moscow.
1958 Party rectification continues in Zhongnanhai with the Black Flag Incident. Mao launches the Great Leap Forward. Khrushchev makes a secret visit in July and August. Rural people's communes are formed, the movement to establish backyard steel furnaces spreads, and Mao orders the shelling of Quemoy and Matsu.
1959 Widespread food shortages plunge China into famine. Mao's train and villas are secretly bugged, and Peng Dehuai writes a letter to Mao criticizing the Great Leap Forward, for which he is purged. Lin Biao is appointed to succeed Peng as minister of defense, and Dr. Li is hospitalized with ulcers. Mao resigns as chairman of the republic.
1960 Famine continues. Wang Dongxing returns to Group One.
1961 Famine continues. Party leadership begins remedial measures as Mao retreats, apparently depressed, seeking solace in female companionship. Female companion reveals that Mao's train is bugged, leading to numerous dismissals.
1962 Liu Shaoqi blames the famine on man-made disasters. Communes are restructured. Mao's support within the party wanes. Lin Biao praises Mao. Mao begins counterattack by arguing that classes continue to exist even under socialism. Kang Sheng is put in charge of purging the party, and Jiang Qing makes her first public appearance. Socialist education campaign begins.
1963 Jiang Qing begins criticizing capitalist influences in art and culture. Socialist education campaign in the countryside continues.
1964 First edition of the “little red book” of Mao's quotations is published as Lin Biao pushes the cult of Mao. Mao abolishes the Bureau of Health, and Dr. Li moves out of Zhongnanhai.
1965 Deng Xiaoping convenes meeting aimed at eliminating corruption among rural cadres, while Mao argues that the contradiction in the countryside is between socialism and capitalism. Dr. Li prepares report of Mao's criticisms of the medical profession calling for doctors to work in the countryside. Mao sends Dr. Li and Wang Dongxing to participate in the socialist education campaign in rural Jiangxi. Yang Shangkun is dismissed as director of the General Office and replaced by Wang Dongxing.
1966 Dr. Li returns to Mao's service. Literary attacks continue, and members of the Beijing party committee are purged. Jiang Qing and Lin Biao form an alliance. Central Cultural Revolution Small Group is formed. Mao Zedong swims in the Yangtze and returns to Beijing to launch the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, greeting millions of Red Guards in Tiananmen Square. Purges continue. Country begins descent into turmoil.
1967 Fighting breaks out in many parts of China as result of the Cultural Revolution. Mao puts Wang Dongxing and the Central Garrison Corps in charge of restoring order to factories and universities in Beijing. Dr. Li's relations with Jiang Qing and Mao deteriorate. Head of state Liu Shaoqi, party secretary-general Deng Xiaoping, and propaganda chief Tao Zhu are “struggled against” inside Zhongnanhai.
1968 Jiang Qing accuses Dr. Li of trying to poison her. Mao expresses discontent with student rebels and calls upon worker, peasant, and soldier teams to take over factories and schools. Liu Shaoqi is expelled from the party.
1969 Ninth Party Congress is held in April, officially reversing many of the principles of the Eighth Party Congress. Mao is enshrined as the supreme leader and “Mao Zedong Thought” is made the country's guiding ideology. Lin Biao is designated Mao's successor and “closest comrade in arms.” Skirmishes between the Soviet Union and China break out on the northeast border. China is mobilized for war. Mao begins talking about negotiating with the United States and expresses dissatisfaction with Lin Biao.
1970 Dr. Li is sent into exile in Heilongjiang in June. Second Plenum of the Ninth Party Congress is held in August-September, and Lin Biao maneuvers to reinstate the position of chairman of state and to have himself appointed to succeed Liu Shaoqi. Mao objects. Dr. Li returns to Zhongnanhai in November. Mao is seriously ill with pneumonia, and Mao blames his illness on Lin Biao. Mao meets with Edgar Snow in December and says he is willing to invite Nixon or any other high-ranking American official to meet with him in Beijing.
1971 Mao's distrust of Lin Biao continues. Kissinger makes a secret visit to Beijing in July. In August and September, Mao tours the country, meeting with regional commanders to shore up support against Lin. Mao returns to Beijing on September 12. Lin Biao, with his wife and son, flee by plane, heading toward the Soviet Union. Plane crashes in Outer Mongolia and all on board are killed. Mao's health takes a turn for the worse.
1972 Mao becomes seriously ill in January and refuses medical treatment, suggesting privately that Zhou Enlai should succeed him. Medical treatment finally begins on February 1. Nixon arrives on February 21 and meets Mao Zedong. Joint communiqué is signed in Shanghai. Zhou Enlai and Kang Sheng are diagnosed with cancer. Mao begins rehabilitating purged party officials.
1973 Deng Xiaoping returns to Beijing, referred to as vice-premier. Zhou Enlai comes under attack by Jiang Qing and her faction. Mao begins to have difficulty speaking.
1974 Jiang Qing continues attacks against Zhou Enlai. Mao criticizes his wife, saying it would be better for them not to see each other. Mao's health continues to deteriorate, and in July he is diagnosed as having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
1975 Deng Xiaoping is formally instated as a vice-chairman of the party. Mao's health continues to deteriorate while many refuse to believe he is ill. Doctors face interference in treating him. Politburo is formally informed of his illness. Zhou Enlai's health declines.
1976 Zhou Enlai dies on January 8. Massive popular demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in April. Deng Xiaoping is purged again, and Hua Guofeng is appointed to succeed Zhou. Mao suffers heart attacks in May and June. Zhu De dies in July, and Beijing is hit by a major earthquake on the night of July 27–28. Mao dies on September 9. Xu Shiyou accuses Jiang Qing and Mao's medical staff of poisoning him. Jiang Qing and three of her allies are arrested as the Gang of Four on the night of October 6.
1977 Dr. Li is sent to Jiangxi for labor reform.
1978 Deng Xiaoping returns to power.
1979 Dr. Li returns to Beijing and is criticized for his relationship with Wang Dongxing.
1980 Dr. Li is appointed deputy vice-president of the Chinese Medical Association. Wang Dongxing is removed from all party and state posts.
1988 Dr. Li and his wife, Lillian, arrive in the United States.
1989 Lillian Wu dies on January 12.
1995 Dr. Li dies on February 14.