(First: Zhang Guotao takes the stand)

The Great Emperor: What is your name?

Zhang Guotao: My name is Zhang Guotao, former commander of the Fourth Red Army.

The Great Emperor: What accusations do you bring against Mao Zedong?

Zhang: During the so-called “Long March” (in reality, a wandering flight), I was deceived by Mao Zedong into taking dangerous routes, which cost my force of 80,000 men half its strength. After reaching Gansu and Shaanxi, Mao again tricked me into leaving the main body, stripping me of command. He then ordered my troops on an expedition to Xinjiang—a road to death—where they were annihilated by the Ma warlords. Of more than 20,000 men, scarcely any survived. The remaining few hundred in northern Shaanxi were buried alive on Mao’s orders. In Yan’an, I became isolated and was repeatedly denounced in meetings. Unable to endure the humiliation, I seized an opportunity to escape from Yan’an and began a new life.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you answer these accusations?

Mao: Zhang Guotao’s accusations are untrue. His Fourth Red Army was the result of his own split from the central leadership. The deaths of tens of thousands are not my responsibility.

Zhang: In fact, it was Mao Zedong who split the Red Army, pulling forces away on his own authority, coercing the Party center, and dividing the leadership. Later he split the Fourth Red Army and sent it west to die, destroying tens of thousands of Red soldiers.

The Great Emperor: Zhang Guotao, you say you found new life in your later years. Please explain.

Zhang: In my youth I was ignorant and deceived by Stalin. I helped found the Chinese Communist Party and rebel. I went to Moscow for training and was sent back to incite peasants to revolt, building up an army of 80,000. Mao Zedong deceived me and dismantled and destroyed that force. I escaped alone from peril, wrote memoirs, and eventually went to Canada. I repented of the sins of my earlier life, turned to God, and found new life.

The Great Emperor: You are the only Communist leader who repented and gained new life. May God bless you.

(Second: Liu Zhidan takes the stand)

The Great Emperor: What is your name?

Liu Zhidan: My name is Liu Zhidan, founder of the Red Army in northern Shaanxi.

The Great Emperor: What grievances do you bring? What accusations against Mao Zedong?

Liu: The Jiangxi Red Army led by Mao Zedong fled to northern Shaanxi and found refuge. Soon he displaced us and sought sole domination. He killed me and other Red Army leaders.

The Great Emperor: How did Mao Zedong cause your death?

Liu: In early 1936, Mao assigned me to lead troops into Shanxi to “raid sheep”—to seize grain and property. In April he ordered me to Sanjiaokou in Zhongyang County to command operations. From a hill 250 meters from the front, I observed the battle with binoculars. Suddenly a bullet pierced my heart from behind. I died instantly.

The Great Emperor: Who was with you?

Liu: Two men. One was a special agent from the security bureau appointed by Mao; the other was my bodyguard. I suspect the special agent carried out the killing. Mao announced publicly that I had been killed by enemy machine-gun fire. My wife’s request to see my body was denied.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, tell the truth—how did Liu Zhidan die?

Mao: What Liu says is correct. The special agent I sent shot him. The accusation is true. I admit my guilt.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong admits his crime. Liu Zhidan, do you have further accusations?

Liu: Yes. My two closest associates also died mysteriously. Yang Qi died in March, Yang Sen in May, and I in April. Mao falsely reported that all of us “died in battle.”

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, how did they die?

Mao: They were secretly executed on my orders. I intended to eradicate Liu Zhidan’s influence and dominate northern Shaanxi alone.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong fully admits guilt. Liu Zhidan, anything further?

Liu: More than twenty years after my death, in 1962, someone sought to write a novel titled Liu Zhidan. It touched a nerve with Mao. He ordered many to be labeled a “counter-Party clique.” Many were denounced, imprisoned, persecuted to death. He linked me with Peng Dehuai and branded us the “Northwest Anti-Party Clique,” implicating 60,000 people.

Defense Lawyer: The persecution of the so-called “anti-Party clique” was indeed a miscarriage of justice, but it was handled by Kang Sheng, not personally by Mao Zedong.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you respond?

Mao: The Liu Zhidan and Peng Dehuai “anti-Party clique” case was managed by Kang Sheng, not by me personally. Why should it be laid at my door?

The Great Emperor: Kang Sheng was your wolfhound. A wolfhound follows its master’s commands. Even if you did not act personally, you instigated and authorized it. There is no need for further argument.

(Third: Snow takes the stand)

The Great Emperor: What is your name?

Snow: My name is Edgar Snow. I am an American.

The Great Emperor: What accusations do you bring against Mao Zedong?

Snow: Mao Zedong deceived me. I was misled into writing books for him and promoting him worldwide.

The Great Emperor: How did Mao deceive you?

Snow: In September 1927, Mao was arrested by a local militia in Hunan. When I interviewed him in Yan’an in 1936, he fabricated a story: that he was organizing troops for Jinggangshan when he was captured, that he planned to bribe his escorts to escape, that he broke free two hundred yards from headquarters and fled across fields, evading search parties through the night, crossing mountains barefoot, aided by a kind peasant, until he rejoined the peasant uprising forces with only two copper coins left.

I believed this account and published it. In reality, shortly before the Mid-Autumn Festival that year, Mao was stopped in town because he carried a heavy bundle and behaved suspiciously. Militia suspected weapons, but found over a hundred silver dollars and letters. He claimed to be a businessman and was taken in for questioning, where they learned he was a Communist leader. He informed on several comrades, who were then arrested. Because he cooperated and had local ties, the militia chief confiscated the silver dollars, left him a few coins, and released him to teach. He later fled to Jinggangshan.

Based on his fabricated story, I wrote Red Star Over China in 1936, which was published internationally and had wide propaganda impact. In 1965 and 1970 I visited Beijing again and learned the truth about the famine that killed tens of millions and the deaths and persecutions during the Cultural Revolution. I came to see Mao’s true face and deeply regretted promoting him. I died in Geneva in 1972, leaving half my ashes to be buried at Peking University, where I had taught. I loved China. Later my wife, dissatisfied with the bloody suppression of the Tiananmen student movement, went to Beijing to request the return of my ashes. She was refused and humiliated. I was deeply angered.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you respond?

Mao: I do not admit deceiving Snow. There is no proof that I was a traitor; the dead cannot testify. That episode of my history cannot be used as evidence of crime. I had him write a book to promote me internationally. His book was indeed effective—many Americans were deceived. Chinese youth were also misled and flocked to Yan’an, strengthening my power. If he wrote a book that deceived people, that responsibility is his, not mine. As for his wife’s matter, it occurred years after my death and is not my responsibility.

NEXT: The Great Trial Day Three