The Private Life of Chairman Mao

The Private Life of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician is a memoir by Li Zhisui, one of the physicians to Mao Zedong, former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, which was first published in 1994. Li had emigrated to the United States in the years after Mao's death. The book describes the time during which Li was Mao's physician, beginning with his return to China after training in Australia, through the height of Mao's power to his death in 1976 including the diverse details of Mao's personality, sexual proclivities, party politics and personal habits. The book was controversial and ultimately banned in the People's Republic of China. The archive about Mao is strictly confidential and controlled by General Office of the Chinese Communist Party.