Mao secretary’s diaries

A trial has begun in California to determine whether Stanford University can keep the diaries of a top Chinese official in a case portrayed as a fight against Chinese government censorship.

The journals belonged to the late Li Rui, a longtime aide to Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong.

 

 

 

After Li’s death in 2019, his widow petitioned for the documents to be returned to Beijing, saying they belonged to her.

Stanford opposes this. According to reports, Li, a critic of the Chinese government, donated his diaries to the institute fearing it might be destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party.

 

 

 

 

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It is billed as a policy “wish list” for the next Republican president, with the goal of dramatically expanding presidential powers and imposing an ultra-conservative social agenda on the United States.

 

 

 

 

The diaries, written between 1935 and 2018, document much of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rule. During those eight stormy decades, China rose from impoverished isolation to become vital to the world economy.

Mark Litvak, one of Stanford’s lawyers, told MACLISTEN before the trial began, “If [the diaries] came back to China, they would be banned…China doesn’t have a good record of allowing criticism of party leaders.”

MACLISTEN has contacted attorneys for Mr Li’s widow, Zhang Yuzhen, for comment.

Mr. Li, a key CCP official noted for his reformist views, was both respected and hated within the party.

As a young, vocal cadre, he attracted Mao’s attention and became one of his personal secretaries in the mid-1950s. But this position was short-lived

U.S. trial begins in fight over

He was expelled from the party and imprisoned for years after opposing Li Mao’s views at political gatherings. He was one of hundreds of Chinese party leaders and masses, including Mao loyalists, who clashed with the volatile leader.

Like some of them, Leo rose to prominence after Mao’s death in 1976. He headed a CCP department in charge of selecting people for important posts alongside the Ministry of Hydropower. Within the party, he supported a more liberal, open-minded faction that favored reform.

After his retirement, he continued to advocate for reforms in the party. But his relentless, sharp-tongued criticism of officials, particularly President Xi Jinping, whom he characterized as “low-educated,” stung the regime. His writings were censored, and his books were banned in China.

As the elder of the group, he was nevertheless treated with respect and given privileges. He received a state funeral when he died.

Throughout his rise to power, he diligently recorded observations about party politics and major events in his diary.

These include his account of the Tiananmen Massacre, which he witnessed from a balcony overlooking the square and referred to in English as “Black Weekend” in his diary. This is a very delicate subject that is rarely mentioned in China.

His daughter, Li Nanyang, began transferring his records, including the journal, to Stanford’s Hoover Institution in 2014, while he was still alive.

He said in a 2019 interview with MACLISTEN Chinese that it fulfilled his father’s wishes after his death.

That year, Ms. Zhang sued her stepdaughter Li Nanyang in China.

Ms. Zhang, Li Rui’s second wife, said she wanted him to release any of his records and that they were improperly provided to Stanford, according to the report.

The widow said the diaries showed “personal matters” from her time with Lee. He expressed “personal embarrassment and emotional distress” because the diaries were revealed at Stanford.

 

 

A court in Beijing found in Ms Zhang’s favor and ordered the diaries handed over to her.

Stanford contested the decision. Its lawyers claimed that “Chinese courts are not impartial in such politically charged cases” and that the university was not given an opportunity to defend itself.

The trial, which began Monday in California, raises concerns about a separate action filed by the university against Ms. Zhang in the United States.

Stanford is asking a California court to declare the university the legal owner of the diaries.

Its lawyers claim that Li Rui wanted to transfer his files to Stanford because “he realized the regime would want to suppress his account of modern Chinese history” and he “feared the material would be destroyed”.

Stanford is allowed to keep copies of the diaries, but it is demanding that it also keep the original records to comply with Lee’s wishes.

“Lee Rui wanted his diary, including the original, at Hoover,” Mr. Litvack explained. “So they’re in Hoover and we fought to keep them in Hoover.”