His public statement:
Note: the anecdote is sourced from “Mao” by Michael Lynch, a biography I have not read.
This is a really insightful view into Mao’s life and totally counter to the idea we’re sold of him as an uncaring father and a totally cold, calculating larger-than-life narcissist.
This was portrayed very movingly in The Battle at Lake Changjin.
Soldier tasked with keeping records of deaths in the company: “Deputy commander Deng, we don’t have any information on Secretary Liu. Who was he? What was his full name?”
We then cut to a shot of Mao, clearly heartbroken and without his perennial cigarette, walking back and forth in his garden.