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Anchee Min's (1957- ) Becoming Madame Mao (1999) is a fictional biography of Jiang Qing, narrated by Jiang from her prison cell just before she commits suicide. Raised by her grandparents, Jiang (her childhood name was Yunhe) becomes entranced when her grandfather takes her to a Chinese opera. Determined to be an opera star, she runs away from home and joins an acting company. She marries a Communist Party official, joins the party herself, and is imprisoned, released only after she signs a paper denouncing the party. She changes her name (to Lan Ping) and wins the part of Nora in a Shanghai production of Henrik Ibsen's (1828-1906) A Doll's House. When the Japanese capture Shanghai, she travels to Yenan, the headquarters of Mao's Communist forces. She and Mao meet and fall in love, and after Mao disposes of his third wife, they marry.
The Cultural Revolution occupies a significant portion of the novel, it being the highpoint of Madame Mao's public life. Newly empowered by her husband, she uses her position not only to advance the revolution but to settle old scores with enemies and friends that she is jealous of or threatened by. She operates from her old Shanghai base to produce operas and films strictly adhering to the party line. At the same time she plays an influential role in the actions of the Red Guard. As the revolution proceeds, she manages to antagonize just about everyone but a few associates, relying on Mao to bail her out. Although he supports her in general, he manipulates her, alternatively fueling and frustrating her ambition.
Sections of the novel employ a first-person narrative, in which Jiang generally represents herself as the servant, if not the slave, of her husband, committed to carrying out his wishes even at the expense of neglecting her children and her life: "I live to please Mao. . . . I can't live without Mao's affection." But contradictions to this self-effacing claim occur throughout the novel. The other ingredients that go into the making of Madame Mao are the narcissism of the actress and the power drive of the politician. She overplays her role, expecting Mao to name her his successor. But it is clear that the fox has used her as a lightning rod, drawing negative criticism away from himself. On his death, she is imprisoned, ready to play the final act of her role as tragic heroine. What she fails to see is that the role she has been playing is not of a diva but of a Lady Macbeth. The novel is not a sympathetic portrait of Madame Mao, but, to its credit, she emerges, not as a monster, but as a badly flawed human being. One might find a moral of sorts in Madame Mao's life, contrasting her to another actress who became the wife of a dictator, Eva Peron. Equally devoted to her husband's regime, Evita nevertheless maintained a genuine commitment to the cause of the poor and the women of Argentina. Her loyalty to them inspired a devotion that has continued into the 21st century, while Madame Mao is reviled in her native country.
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