The Mao Case

sturdy, erect / in composure with riotous clouds sweeping past. / What a fairy
     cave it is, born out of the nature! / Ineffable beauty comes at the perilous peak.”
    “In the sixties, the poem was read as a revolutionary stance against imperialism and revisionism — riotous clouds could be symbolic
     of the reactionary force, and also as an example of the closeness between Mao and Madam Mao,” Chen said, taking up a crab
     leg and, like Long, holding it like a piece of chalk. “After the downfall of the Gang of Four, Madam Mao became dog shit,
     and the poem was said to be simply the expression of Mao’s revolutionary spirit — nothing to do with Madam Mao. However, there’s
     a recent interpretation by Wang Guangmei.” Long would not need to be told who Wang Guangmei was — everyone was familiar with
     the wife of Liu Shaoqi, the late chairman of the People’s Republic of China. “According to Wang, Mao invited her to swim.
     Afterward they had lunch together without
waiting for Madam Mao, who was pissed off. To appease her, Mao wrote a poem for her picture.”
    “Yes, I heard about that,” Long said, nodding over the dazzling white meat and the shining scarlet ovary of a female crab
     he had just broken open, “but I doubt it’s reliable. Mao wouldn’t have told others about the occasion. Nor would Madam Mao.
     It is quite possibly merely a guess by Wang, who may still bear a grudge against Mao. And it’s understandable. After all,
     her husband was persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution.”
    “True. But even so, and even though Madam Mao was a shallow bitch, Mao could also have written it as man to woman, in a moment
     of passion. There is need to insist on a political interpretation, right?”
    “That’s right, but what can I do for you, Chief Inspector Chen?”
    “Help me understand the background of these poems, so we’ll have a reliable interpretation. I’ll acknowledge your help as
     a consultant for the project. And I’ll put it in my foreword that my translation is based on your studies.”
    “You don’t have to do that —”
    “Furthermore, I’ll pay you ten percent of the royalty, both here and abroad.”
    “That’s way too much, Chief Inspector Chen. You have to tell me more specifically what you need.”
    “Let’s continue on with that poem for Madam Mao. I’ve heard of another interpretation — an erotic one. In classical Chinese
     literature, a ‘fairy cave’ can be a metaphor for — well, what you know. The journey to the perilous peak is even more loaded
     with sexual suggestions. The fact that it was a poem between husband and wife lends itself to such an interpretation, though
     Madam Mao later used it for her own political gain.”
    “No, that’s not the way to interpret a poem.”
    “But you can’t miss some images. The sturdy and erect pine. And that against the dusk too. As if all those weren’t enough,
     there is the image of flying clouds. You know what cloud and rain mean in classical Chinese literature. Finally there is the
     perilous peak at the end of
poem. Mao wasn’t young at the time. It might not have been so easy for him to reach the peak, you know what I mean.”
    “But that’s almost absurd!”
    “For a romantic poet, after a night of cloud and rain, in the fantastic view of the Lu Mountains — is it so hard to believe?”
    “The poem was written in 1961. Mao and Madam Mao had separate room arrangements long before that. They didn’t live together
     in the Central South Sea. Why, all of a sudden, should Mao have written such a poem for her?”
    “Well, after an unexpected reunion or reconciliation up in the mountains. Mao knew better than to write about such a night
     in an explicit way —”
    “It’s in our poetic tradition to write about a painting or a picture — as a compliment or a comment. People shouldn’t read
     too much into it. That’s really all I can say, I think.”
    “That’s fine, Long. Let’s set this poem aside for the moment and take a look at another one. ‘On the Photograph of a Militia
     Woman.’ Not a difficult poem. Also in the poetic tradition of writing about a picture. During my school years, the poem was
     even made into a song.”
    “Yes, I can still sing it.” Long rose, eager for a change in their discussion.
“Valiant and handsome, she shoulders a five-foot rifle, / in the parade grounds first lit by the sunlight. / A Chinese girl
     with an extraordinary aspiration, / she