(The First: Peng Dehuai Takes the Stand)

The Emperor: What is your name?

Peng Dehuai: My name is Peng Dehuai.

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

Peng: At the 1959 Lushan Conference, I wrote a private letter to Mao Zedong urging him to correct the errors of the so-called “Three Red Banners” and the Great Leap Forward. Mao seized upon it, slandered me as “anti-Party,” mobilized the entire Party to criticize me, removed me as Minister of National Defense, and placed me under detention. During the Cultural Revolution I was dragged out again for brutal struggle sessions. I was broken by torture and died in Sichuan in 1974. My ashes were kept under the alias “Wang Chuan.”

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, are Peng Dehuai’s accusations true? What is your defense?

Mao: Peng Dehuai’s accusations are entirely true—if anything, they do not go far enough.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong admits guilt. Peng Dehuai, do you have further accusations?

Peng: Mao not only destroyed me, he fabricated and struck down a large “anti-Party clique” associated with me. He launched a massive “Anti-Rightist Deviation Campaign,” persecuting ten million people nationwide and implicating tens of millions more.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you respond?

Mao: Peng Dehuai’s accusations are completely true. I assume full responsibility.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong admits guilt. Peng Dehuai, any further charges?

Peng: During the Great Leap Forward and the Anti-Rightist Deviation Campaign, a nationwide famine broke out. Vast numbers starved to death. In 1959 alone, several million died. Mao Zedong disregarded the lives of the people—he did not provide relief or open granaries. Instead, he concentrated the nation’s manpower, material, and financial resources to accelerate the development of the atomic bomb. Hundreds of thousands were mobilized in coordinated efforts, with countless explosive tests. Everything gave way to the bomb. The famine worsened, and by 1962, forty million had died of starvation. In 1964, the atomic bomb test succeeded. Despite backward scientific conditions, 6,000 scientific personnel were harmed by radioactive fallout. When the bomb succeeded, 3,000 song-and-dance performers were assembled to cheer for him. Mao even wrote a poem: “The atomic bomb explodes—its joy is boundless.”

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai accuses you of disregarding human life to explode your atomic bomb. What is your defense?

Mao: Peng Dehuai’s accusations are true. I did not care how many starved to death—tens of millions, even more. The atomic bomb was my lifeline. No matter the cost, no matter how many died.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong admits guilt. Peng Dehuai, any further accusations?

Peng: In 1950 Mao sent me to command operations in Korea. In reality, everything was directed by Mao from Beijing; I merely executed orders. Mao disregarded the lives of soldiers. In the severe Korean winter of minus twenty degrees Celsius, troops were sent into battle without proper cotton clothing or boots. Countless soldiers suffered frostbite or froze to death. Mao used human-wave tactics—knowing we could not win, he still sent soldiers as cannon fodder, until even American machine gunners could not bear to continue firing. I returned to Beijing several times to plead for a change in strategy, but Mao would not budge. Officially, 180,000 deaths were announced; in reality, 400,000 died, with over one million wounded or disabled. Of the entire three-million-strong People’s Liberation Army, nearly all took turns fighting in Korea.

The Emperor: Peng Dehuai accuses you of using human-wave tactics and treating soldiers as expendable cannon fodder. What is your defense?

Mao: Peng Dehuai’s accusations are true. I have always believed China has plenty of people. Even if a million soldiers died, it was nothing; new recruits could quickly replace them. In the Korean War, I intended to defeat the few with the many, using human-wave tactics.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong openly admits the charges. Guilt is established.

(The Second: The Panchen Lama Takes the Stand)

The Emperor: What is your name?

Panchen: I am the Panchen.

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

Panchen: I could not bear to witness the suffering of Tibetans under Mao’s suppression. In 1961, based on my personal investigations, I wrote a “Seventy-Thousand-Character Petition” urging Mao to correct his errors. I was labeled anti-Party and counterrevolutionary, imprisoned for ten years, and endured endless torment. Only after Mao’s death was I released. In 1989, after returning to Tibet, I died of a heart attack at the age of 51.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, what is your defense?

Mao: My persecution of the Panchen is true. I admit guilt.

The Emperor: Panchen, Mao admits persecuting you. Do you have further accusations?

Panchen: Mao committed immense crimes in Tibet. In 1956, during the so-called socialist transformation, unrest erupted among more than 500,000 Tibetans, with 60,000 engaging in armed uprising. Mao sent troops for brutal suppression, even deploying bombers. Thousands died. Mao ruthlessly destroyed Tibetan religion. More than 2,500 monasteries were reduced to just over 70. The number of monks fell from 110,000 to just over 7,000. In 1959, large-scale unrest broke out again in Lhasa. Mao once more suppressed it mercilessly. The Dalai Lama fled with 600 followers; tens of thousands followed him into exile in India.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, do you contest these accusations?

Mao: The Panchen’s accusations are entirely true.

The Emperor: Panchen, any further charges?

Panchen: Mao’s successors have continued his repression of Tibet. After Mao’s death, more than one hundred monks have self-immolated in protest. Religious persecution continues, and the Dalai Lama remains unable to return to Tibet.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, are these accusations about your successors true?

Mao: They are true.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong admits full responsibility for crimes in Tibet.

(The Third: Zhang Wentian Takes the Stand)

The Emperor: What is your name?

Zhang Wentian: My name is Zhang Wentian.

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

Zhang: At the 1959 Lushan Conference, when Peng Dehuai wrote to Mao, I supported him and spoke for three hours criticizing the Great Leap Forward as disastrous to the nation. Mao labeled me part of an “anti-Party clique.” From then on, I vanished from political life. During the Cultural Revolution in 1966, I was subjected to sixteen struggle sessions. I was physically exhausted and suffered repeated heart attacks. In 1969 I was exiled to Zhaoqing in Guangdong under armed guard, my name changed to “Zhang Pu.” Zhang Wentian disappeared. I died in custody in 1976. The ashes of “Zhang Pu” left no trace.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you respond?

Mao: Zhang Wentian’s accusations are completely true.

The Emperor: Zhang Wentian, Mao admits your accusations. Any further charges?

Zhang: Historically, from 1936 during the Long March until 1943, when I formally stepped down as General Secretary, Mao held military power. He called the shots and treated me as a puppet. Whatever he wanted done, however meetings were to be held, he instructed me to preside. I was merely the convener. Everything was manipulated by him. In reality, I only managed a small central research group of four or five people. I was forced to make countless self-criticisms—long written confessions against my conscience, again and again. Mao never let me go for a lifetime. He persecuted people until their death.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong, are these accusations true?

Mao: Zhang Wentian’s accusations are entirely true. When I targeted someone, I never let go—I persecuted them until death.

The Emperor: Mao Zedong admits all charges.

NEXT: The Great Trial Day Six