Zhi-Sui Li

About the Author

Zhi-Sui Li was a distinguished Chinese physician whose life intersected profoundly with the tumultuous history of modern China. Born in Beijing in 1919, he pursued medical studies in Australia and later returned to serve as the personal physician to Mao Zedong from 1954 until the Chairman's death in 1976. During these two decades, Li witnessed the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party's highest echelons, observing Mao's personal habits, political maneuvers, and the human frailties behind the revolutionary facade. After defecting to the United States in 1988, Li chronicled his extraordinary experiences in his groundbreaking memoir, offering an intimate and unvarnished portrait of one of the 20th century's most influential figures. His work remains a vital historical document, blending medical insight with political revelation, and continues to illuminate the complexities of power and ideology in Mao's era.