A Good Visit with Chairman Mao

A visit with Mao Tse-tung, who rules nearly a quarter of humanity, remains one of this world's most intriguing human encounters. Gerald Ford, who is the world's most powerful man, was anxious to meet the Chairman, but he was not even certain Mao would see him in Peking. Nothing had been asked or promised when Ford embarked on his journey to China.

The tip-off that the President of the U.S. would get an audience came after the steamed Wuchang fish course during the big banquet held in the Great Hall of the People the night he arrived. Ford had finished his toast to the Chinese and was moving along the head tables clinking glasses. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger trailed in his wake. When they reached Mao's grandniece, Wang Hai-jung, a vice minister who arranged Kissinger's meeting with Mao in October, Kissinger leaned over to her and said: "I suppose you are going to ask us to make a formal request to see the Chairman." He got a smile. "Put your mind at ease," said Madame Wang. Mao summoned them the next day.

Secret Service agents were not allowed to accompany the Americans. The visitors were taken by Chinese escorts in Chinese limousines for the ten-minute drive to the plain, yellowish home of the Chairman. Ford's car was driven into a carpeted portico. The Americans walked down a long hallway where Mao's famous Ping Pong table stands. Part way down the hall, the party was directed left into Mao's study. He was sitting in a light green overstuffed chair. A nurse helped the 81-year-old Mao stand up and he greeted the Ford family first. He was dressed in a blue-gray tunic and black slippers. His hair was gray but his face was tanned (one American wondered silently if he used a sun lamp in the chilly climes of Peking). His handshake was firm, his voice low and rumbling (somewhat like Kissinger's without the German accent).

The greetings to the family and other Ford aides finished, Mao walked a few steps to the center of a semicircle of chairs and was helped back down by his nurse. Those who remained for the business meetings were directed to the proper chairs. On Mao's right was his interpreter, American-born Nancy Tang; next on the right was Vice Premier Teng Hsiao-ping, who chain-smoked through the meeting. The other Chinese were on Teng's right.

Ford was given the chair on Mao's left. Then came Kissinger and the other Americans. Three huge floor lamps with green shades bathed Mao in light from behind. Red velvet drapes were pulled over bookshelves and windows.

Mao bantered for a few minutes. Much of it was about Kissinger, whom he called an "old friend." The "Doctor," Mao said, was becoming almost Chinese. Then for the new visitors' benefit he repeated an exchange that he had previously had with the Doctor. Mao said he told Kissinger that God had summoned him (Mao); Kissinger answered that Mao should not respond. If Mao and God ever got together, Kissinger told the Chairman, it would be too potent a combination. Then Mao said that such statements from the Secretary constituted interference in Chinese domestic affairs. Everybody in the room chortled with Mao.

Green tea was on the tables in front of the men. Mao sipped his as he talked; Ford stoked up his pipe. Mao dominated his side of the talk. The other Chinese said very little. Mao rested his head back against his chair and when he talked, he would roll it toward his interpreter and speak directly at her instead of at the Americans. She listened and watched his lips closely. His difficulty in forming words is apparently the result of strokes. Sometimes Miss Tang did not understand what Mao said. She would repeat the sentence and he would nod if she got it right. Other times she had to write the words down and show them to Mao for verification.

Mao's hands were steady. He often gestured, sometimes smacking one fist into his other palm. Twice he had coughing bouts and picked up small squares of gauze to daub his lips. He used no notes, charts or maps and talked through the entire hour and 50 minutes. He was informed and up to date, moving the discussion through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He dwelt on the major forces at work, the people and events, his concern about the Soviet Union. If his mouth would not always obey his commands, the Americans detected nothing wrong with his mind.

Had Ford been satisfied with his discussions with Teng? Mao asked at one point. Ford replied, yes, he had. The Chairman showed knowledge of, but no curiosity about the U.S. He was coldly practical about America, and sometimes hinted his appreciation of its power. He was also realistic about the power of the Chinese. More than once he mentioned "the need to fire empty cannons" in the diplomatic world of rhetorical threat and counterthreat.

Mao employed the Socratic device of questioning to focus on his points. Sometimes he talked in parables, sometimes he quoted Chinese proverbs. They all made points. Though there was no agenda and Mao brought up subjects as if they had just popped into his mind, he had in fact prepared meticulously. The whole week's work in Peking was directly keyed to Mao's thoughts, it turned out, even down to precise phrases.

Mao was not threatening or angry. He did not speculate on what the future might hold for himself or the world, but he left no doubt that in his mind China, for all its problems, was the center of the world. The vast differences in the social systems of the U.S. and China came up now and then, but this slid by almost unnoticed because of the unusual coincidence of the two countries' other interests around the globe. Some of the Americans were startled at how closely Mao's idea of the state of the world fitted with theirs. In spite of that, they came away wondering if America might have remained the target of Mao's wrath, as it was for so many years, had there been no falling out with the Soviet Union.

After nearly two hours, the Chairman asked: "Do you think we've talked enough?" With that signal, his guests got up, the nurse helped Mao to his feet and the Americans started to leave, after shaking hands. But one of the Chinese halted them. "The Chairman wants to walk you to the door," he said. Mao and Ford went into the hall with the Ping Pong table and on out to the front door. In that singular house in that faraway land, it was a special gesture by this living legend.

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