Chapter 27 The vast palace villa complex 1961

Journalist: “You have enjoyed the pleasures of an uncrowned emperor all your life, probably no emperor in the past or present can match, especially the pleasure of enjoying the special train of the palace villa, no one in the past or present can match.”

Mao: “Yes. I since the Jiangxi Jinggang Mountain era, even in difficult material conditions, but also examining my public residence, and more than one. The old saying that a cunning rabbit has three caves, and pay special attention to my personal safety, the back of the public house must build a secret escape route, so that the front door of an accident, I have a back door to escape.”

Journalist: “When did your formal enjoyment of the palace villa begin?”

Mao: “It should be in the spring of 1949, after the peaceful liberation of Beijing, that I relocated to the Shuangqing Villa in Beijing’s Western Hills. I lived there for five months before moving into the Chuxiang Study in the Fengze Garden of Zhongnanhai. Over the next few years, new residences were constructed for me in Beijing, including Building 1 of the New Six Courtyards, Building 1 of Yuhua Villa on Yuzhongshan, Building 12 at Diaoyutai, Hall 118 of the Great Hall of the People, and the swimming pool at Zhongnanhai. The villa at Miyun Reservoir in Beijing had been prepared for me, but I never visited it.”

Journalist: “You are the party chairman, the state chairman, the chairman of the military commission, the three positions, busy with official business, every day to deal with official business, how can go everywhere every day to play in the mountains?

Mao: “I do not go to court to deal with official business, I am free to go alone, no one can restrain me. In the Ming Dynasty, the Wanli Emperor suspected that he was too much restraint, and did not go on strike to protest, I am freer than the Wanli Emperor of Ming Dynasty, I go everywhere by train special train, Liu Shaoqi they deal with official business in Beijing, at any time telegram to ask me, I send the highest instructions on the special train.”

Journalist: “You often go everywhere, not in Beijing, you are not afraid of the power to fall away? Besides, what do you want in Zhongnanhai beautiful girls, cultural and industrial groups, at your beck and call, is not very comfortable?”

Mao: “I am not afraid of losing power, no one dares to take the initiative without asking me, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai do not dare.

I want to what the beauty, with the summons is not false, but I still think the old stay in Zhongnanhai restraint, I like to enjoy the flavors of various places.”

Journalist: “The country has built dozens of Xing Gong villas for you, how many have you been to? Which ones are your favorite?”

Mao: “more than 50 palace villas have been made public, I have been to 30, have not been to more than 20, some remote and poor provinces, even if all ready, I do not want to go, I am not helping the poor, I go of course to the emperor to enjoy. I often go to Hangzhou West Lake, Wuhan East Lake, Changsha Rong Garden, Shaoshan Dripping Cave, Guangzhou South Lake, Beidaihe and Shanghai.”

Journalist: “Shanghai has moved a lot of works for you, right?”

Mao: “Yes, the original I went to Shanghai to me to live in the downtown Hartung Hotel, the hotel is luxurious enough, but the city I recruit young women news is easy to leak, sometimes I live on a special train, Shanghai Ke Qingshi I do not get off the panic, talk to me about preparing to build another palace, I nodded in agreement, he quickly began work, codenamed ‘414 National Defense Project’ of the western suburbs The hotel, together with the gardens, covers an area of more than 1,000 acres, and is classified as a restricted area, surrounded by a power grid and hidden secret sentry, and is constructed by engineers at night, with many decorative materials bought from Hong Kong. When I arrived in Shanghai in 1961, Ke Qingshi cautiously accompanied me on a tour, and I said coldly, ‘What’s the use of planting this huge lawn?’ Ke Qing Shi was so nervous that he decided to eradicate the lawn overnight and transplant vegetables. He stayed at the transplanting site all night. The next day I woke up to find the lawn had turned into a vegetable patch, and said a word of appreciation before Ke was relieved.”

Journalist: “The country to build dozens of your palace villa, are those your authorizations or the provinces automatically spontaneous?”

Mao: On the surface, it may appear that the provinces and regions acted voluntarily, but in reality, it was either my direct or indirect instructions. If I opposed it, who would dare to go against my holy intentions? In 1959, when I stayed for two days at Villa No. 1 in Songshan near my hometown of Shaoshan, I felt it was not good enough. So I told Zhou Xiaozhou, the provincial party secretary, to build a grass shed for me at Dishing Cave. Despite the severe famine and economic difficulties, Zhou understood my intention and allocated a huge amount of funds to initiate the construction of the 203 Defense Project (codename). A 5-square-kilometer area surrounding the cave was designated as a restricted zone, and all farmers were forcibly relocated. Substantial investment was made to build dedicated asphalt roads. The construction of Dishing Cave Project lasted for three years, guarded by a whole military unit. It wasn’t until 1966 that I found time to stay there for 11 days. During the Cultural Revolution, an underground palace was also added for protection against atomic bombs. The money spent on Dishing Cave could have been used to alleviate famine and help the starving population in Hunan. It could have saved the lives of 2 million people, but I did not care about the deaths caused by hunger.”

Journalist: “Many of the palaces and villas built for you in various provinces were built during the famine against the odds.”

Mao: “Yes, I want to build a ‘straw hut’ of the holy will spread, the provinces heard the wind and did not dare to slow down, who dare not for me to build a palace villa, into a political issue of not supporting the leader, and then difficult to rank the first appropriation on. Many remote provinces, also know that I 99% will not go, but also to repair the show, and with a good reception team, ready to welcome all the preparation.”

Journalist: “In addition to your favorite garden-style palace villa, is fond of your train special train. Modern aircraft and fast and comfortable, why do not you enjoy the special plane?”

Mao: “I am afraid that the plane will crash, not as safe as the special train. Train special train feet on the ground, dozens of accompanying attendants, male and female service personnel, young female attendants on the 18, special train has everything. Together with more than 200 guards, 10 special trains 300 people, the action schedule erratic, said to start on the start, the national train immediately give way to adjust the number of cars, I do not care about the railroad scheduling chaos, only concerned about my safety and speed first. Some gardens and palaces have been especially built rail spur. Qianlong seven to Jiangnan, a lifetime of seven times. I went to Jiangnan hundreds of times, said to come, said to go.”

Journalist: “You spotted Zhang Yufeng on your special train, right?”

Mao: “Yes, Zhang Yufeng is one of the hundreds of young waitresses I saw, she was the luckiest. The other women were discarded after I played with them and were not allowed to marry, and were sent to a forest area in the northeast to mix with loggers and live together.”

Journalist: “Is your discipline too inhumane? Qing dynasty emperor palace maids, serving in the palace to 35 years old, they were released to return to the people, married and had children to live normally, your discipline is too cruel, right?”

Mao: “I do not care cruel or not, to maintain the image of my great leader first, the special train and the villa inside the secret, absolutely can not be revealed.”

Journalist: “Reporter: Some experts and professors who study the imperial palaces of past emperors give them grand names, which are highly elegant and respectable. The common people admire them. However, many of your palaces are referred to by code names, and some are disguised as defense projects, extremely mysterious and secretive. It makes outsiders unable to understand, as if they are hidden rat nests. You seem to be like a rat, constantly moving between many hidden nests, and outsiders cannot figure it out. Emperor Qianlong’s travels to the south were grand and open. Why do you choose to be so secretive, as if you cannot be seen like a thief?”

Mao: “I am the uncrowned emperor, no crown on his head, the head of the Communist Party can only mysteriously engage in underground activities, said like a mouse scurrying around is not uncommon. The secret is not good enough to deceive the people, so we have to use code names to cover up, is not visible, not to see the sun.”

Journalist: “Check through the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign countries, no emperor has you such a huge group of palaces and villas, you are fighting for the workers and peasants under the banner of the world, so that the masses of workers and peasants die like ants, you alone dominate dozens of palaces, the sky, the emperor enjoy, you are the first great sinner in ancient and modern China.”

Mao: “Yes, I do not care about the people’s lives, starving people report 1959 Zhou Enlai showed me, I said burned, Zhou also agreed to do so. Since then I do not care how many people died, the report I never read again. I remembered a secret clause in the Sino-Soviet treaty in 1950, Stalin thought there were too many Chinese people and wrote that the number should be reduced by 100 million. Although Stalin later died, no one chased to achieve, I think the famine starved to death tens of millions, just to cash in on reducing the population, reduce food consumption, let me relax, only Liu Shaoqi have that compassion.”

Remark:
A list of Mao’s palace villas that Mao often lived or lived in
1. Beijing Shuangqing Villa, March – August 1949
2. Zhongnanhai Fengze Garden, August 1949 – August 1966
3. Beijing New 6 Building 1, built in 1952
4. Hall 118 of the Great Hall of the People
5. Yuquanshan Building No.11953, built in September 1954
6. Diaoyutai Building 12
7. Zhongnanhai swimming pool, September 1966 – September 1976
8. Beidaihe Villa Building 1, built in 1954, 1955 – 1958
9.Beidaihe Lotus Hill Villa, build in 1959, 1959 permanent residence after
10. Harbin Yi Yuan Street No.1, February 1950, lived
11. Shanghai Hongqiao Villa 101
12. Shanghai Hartong Hotel
13. Shanghai Xijiao Hotel (414 national defense project), built in September 1960
14. Hangzhou Xizi Hotel (Wang Zhuang Villa), 1959 onwards, 27 times to live
15. Hangzhou Liu Zhuang villa (5901 project)
16. Wuhan East Lake Meiling Hotel, built in 1953, completed in 1959, 1953-1974, 44 times to live
17. Lushan Meilu Villa, 1959-1961 stayed
18. Lushan He Dong Road No. 175 villa, completed at July 1961, 1970 lived
19. Lushan Lu Lin No.1 villa, 1970 lived
20. Nanjing Yicun No.1 villa
21. Shaoshan Lujiawan Pine Mountain No. 1 Building, built in 1958, 1959.6. lived
22. Changsha RongYuan 1 Building, built in 1952, lived many times
23. Changsha 9 Building 3
24. Shaoshan Dishuidong Building One, built in 1960-1962, lived at June 1966
25. Guangzhou Dongshan Island Villa
26. Guangzhou South Lake Villa Wang Dongxing proposed, 1971-1972 built. Around a reservoir in the north of Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou, the project was huge, including Pine Garden Villa, Chicken Neck Pit Villa and other villa groups of more than 40,000 square meters, more than 10,000 soldiers, several thousand workers construction.
27. Chengdu Jinniu Dam Villa 1958.3. lived
28. Nanchang Nanjiao Binjiang 828 Hotel, built at August 1969, 1971 lived
29. Zhengzhou No. 3 Guest House (5901 National Defense Project Yellow River Welcome Hotel) Building 8, 1964 lived
30. Jinanjiao Hotel (Shandong Diaoyutai), built in the early 1960s
31. Qingdao Jiao’ao Governor’s Residence Villa 1957.7.-8.

Built and ready but Mao did not live
1. Harbin Huantun Hotel
2. Nanjing Xiyuan Hotel
3. Hohhot New Town Hotel
4. Taiyuan Jinci Hotel, Yingze Hotel
5. Lanzhou Ningguozhuang Hotel
6. Xining Shengli Hotel
7. Xi’an Zhangbagou Hotel
8. Changchun Nanhu Hotel
9. Guiyang Huaxi Xishe East Block
10. Lian Bangji Island Hotel
11. Qingdao Badaguan Small Auditorium
12. Hefei Daxianglou Hotel Villa
13. Luhuitou guesthouse in Hainan
14. Beijing Miyun Reservoir Villa
15. Zhejiang Jinhua 512 project villa
16. Guangzhou South Lake Pine Garden Villa Building 7
17. Hubei Xianning Special 1 villa (underground palace against atomic command)
18. Liaoning Friendship Hotel Villa
19. Nanjing Purple Mountain State Guesthouse Villa
20. Kunming Zhenzhuang Yingguo Villa
21. Nanning Jiangdong Mingyuan, Jiangxi Xiyuan, two villas

Insufficient Information
It is believed that Baotou, Anshan, Xinjiang also have Yingmao Hotel villas, information is not available