For decades, Chairman Mao has been very busy, but he always finds time, even a minute, to study. His former residence in Zhongnanhai is a sea of books. Books are everywhere on the bookcase, desk, dining table and coffee table in the bedroom. All the beds are occupied by books except the place where one person lies.
In order to study, Chairman Mao spent all available time. A few minutes before swimming, I sometimes have to read some famous poems. After swimming, I forgot to rest, so I picked up the book again. He never wastes even a few minutes in the toilet. The book Selected Works of Zhaoming, the second edition of Song Xichun, and some other books and periodicals were completed intermittently by this time. Read a little today and a little tomorrow.
Chairman Mao often takes a box of books with him when he goes out for meetings or inspections. The train shook and bumped on the way, and he completely ignored it. He always keeps reading with a magnifying glass in one hand and a page in the other. In other places, like Beijing, there are books on the bed, desk, coffee table and dining table, which seem to be free.
Although Chairman Mao was seriously ill in his later years, he still insisted on studying. He reread a hardcover Complete Works of Lu Xun and many other books and periodicals published before liberation and brought to Beijing from Yan 'an.
On one occasion, Chairman Mao had a fever of over 39 degrees, and the doctor forbade him to read. He said sadly, I have loved reading all my life, and now you don't let me study, and you make me lie here all day eating and sleeping. You know how hard it is for me! The staff had to put the books they had taken next to him, and he smiled happily.
Study hard and read again and again
Chairman Mao has never opposed the reading method that only seeks quick results. When he read the complete works of Han Changli's poems, except for a few chapters, he carefully pondered and studied them one by one, from vocabulary, sentence reading, chapters to the meaning of the full text. He can recite most of Han Ji's poems fluently through repeated reading and reciting. He read novels such as Journey to the West, Dream of Red Mansions, Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms in primary school and reread them in the 1960s. He has seen more than ten different versions of A Dream of Red Mansions. In the fifties, sixties and seventies, he read Selected Works of Zhaoming several times at school. There are three extant versions of his annotation.
He has read many books on Marxism-Leninism and philosophy. Li Da's History of the Communist Party of China and Outline of Sociology have been read ten times each. He has studied the Manifesto, Das Kapital and Selected Works of Lenin. Many chapters and paragraphs also have notes and sketches.