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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2019
Mao Zedong's historic swim in the Yangtze River on 16 July 1966, which heralded a new phase of the Cultural Revolution, was a carefully staged political performance and a notable example of body politics in Communist China. Beginning in the late 1950s, Mao began to broadcast the idea that he was a keen swimmer and to convince the masses to take up swimming. The swim was the climax of those efforts and an integral part of the Mao cult. Swimming in Mao's China offers a useful lens for understanding the close relationship between sports, the body, and politics. Swimming was a means for Mao to mobilize mass support for his political authority and a venue for the masses to practise and perform Maoism. This article examines the constructive process and meanings of Mao's swimming body, and the extent to which the bodies of the populace were regulated through the mass-swimming craze. Drawing on untapped archival materials related to mass swimming in Mao's China, this article argues that swimming both solidified and destabilized the Mao cult and became a venue through which political values were shaped, indoctrinated, contested, and repudiated.
I would like to thank Professor Chang-tai Hung and the two anonymous readers of Modern Asian Studies for their insightful comments and suggestions. The work described in this article was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project No. LU341111).
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12 Swimmer Lu Da'an, a Guangxi native who had the luck of being chosen to swim with Mao Zedong across Yongjiang (a tributary of the West River) in Guangxi in 1959, escaped to Hong Kong in 1962, where he told reporters that Mao was ‘just an old fellow who can swim’ and who ‘got tired a few minutes after getting in the water’. Lu commented further on Mao's unprofessional swim stroke, describing it as a combination sidestroke/doggy-paddle style. See Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 11 August 1962, p. 5; 12 August 1962, pp. 1, 4; 13 August 1962, p. 5; 19 September 1962, p. 4. Lu left Hong Kong for Taiwan shortly thereafter.
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27 ‘Huaqing jiexian, zhanwen lichang, fanji youpai fenzi [Draw a Clear Line, Stand Firm, and Counter-Attack the Rightists]’, Xin Tiyu, 21 July 1957 (vol. 108), p. 3.
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30 Xin Tiyu, 21 September 1958 (vol. 135), inside cover page. Mao mentioned the lotus pond in his interview with Edgar Snow, but it was not about swimming. He said that, after a fierce argument with his father, he decided to leave home. He threatened to jump in the pond when his father was chasing him. Snow, Red Star over China, pp. 132–133.
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37 Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, vol 3, Statesman, 1953–1964, trans. George Shriverp, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007, p. 456.
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41 Mao had arrived at Wuhan when the eleventh Cross-Yangtze Swimming Contest Commander Headquarters was drawing up this plan, though it is not known what role, if any, Mao played in it. Mao spent 12 days in Dishuidong located in Shaoshan, Hunan, his hometown, from 17 to 28 June 1966. During his stay at Dishuidong, Mao's thoughts were consumed with the question of how to proceed with the Cultural Revolution, as shown in his letter to his wife Jiang Qing. It is of interest to note that, according to the memoir written by Mao's bodyguard Zhang Yaoci (1916–2010), Mao asked Zhang whether the lake nearby was suitable for swimming. Zhang told him the lake water was clear and was safe for swimming, but Mao eventually did not go to swim there. See Yaoci, Zhang, Zhang Yaoci huiyi Mao Zedong, Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe, 1996, pp. 39–45Google Scholar.
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55 ‘Dui budui junshi xunlian de ruogan zhishi [Instructions on Military Training for the Troops]’, in Mao Zedong junshi wenji, vol. 6, Beijing: Junshi kexue chubanshe, 1993, p. 400.
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57 This statement was jointly issued by the Physical Culture and Sports Commission, the headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese Army, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. See she, Dagongbao (ed.), Renmin shouce (1965), Beijing: Dagongbao she, 1965, pp. 670–671Google Scholar; ‘Red China Wants Everyone to Swim’, New York Times, 13 June 1965, p. 9.
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61 Hubei Provincial Archives, SZ133-2-647-013, ‘Wuhan shi youyong huodong bangongshi 1966 nian youyong huodong jianbao [Report on Swimming Activities in 1966 by Wuhan's Swimming Activities Office]’, vol. 13, 2 November 1966.
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63 For example, the government reported that 2 million residents took to the water in Shanghai in 1965. Xincheng Swimming Pool, which was one of the major swimming pools in Shanghai, had a total of 700,000 users. See Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-99-28, ‘Guanyu 1957 niandu guanli benshi qunzhongxing youyong yundong de gongzuo baogao [Report on Managing Mass Swimming Activities in 1957]’, 6 May 1957; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-201, ‘Guanyu 1965 nian benshi qunzhong youyong huodong de zongjie he jinnian gongzuo de baogao [Report on Mass Swimming Activities in 1965 and Current Year's Work]’, 17 May 1966; ‘Benshi youyong huodong xunsu guangfan zhankai [Swift Development of Swimming Activities in Our City]’, Wenjiao qingkuang, vol. 7 (24 June 1965), p. 3.
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65 Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-1-906, ‘1965 nian Shanghaishi qunzhongxing junshi yeying he youyong huodong shishi jihua [Implementation Plan for Mass Military Camping and Swimming in 1965]’, 22 June 1965; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B246-2-1121, ‘Guanyu jiaqiang jianghe youyong anquan gongzuo de yijian [Views on Strengthening Safety of Swimming in the River]’, June 1974.
66 Shanghai Municipal Archives, B244-1-11-13, ‘Guanyu qingzhu Mao zhuxi 7.16 changyou Changjiang yi zhounian hengdu Changjiang huodong zhounian gongzuo de baogao [Report on Cross-Yangtze Swimming Activities in Celebration of the First Anniversary of Mao's Yangtze Swim]’, 5 September 1967.
67 Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-1-879-78, ‘Guanyu qunzhongxing qiudu Huangpujiang youyong huodong de baogao [Report on Mass Swimming Across Huangpu River]’, 21 June 1965; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-201, ‘Guanyu 1965 nian’, 17 May 1966.
68 Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-2-57-12, ‘Guanyu jinyibu jiaqiang dui jianghe youyong huodong guanli de qingshi baogao [Request for Instructions Regarding Strengthening the Management over Swimming in the River]’, August 1968.
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74 Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 1 September 1965; ‘Taogang zhe Lie Fu’, Nanfang renwu zhoukan [South People Weekly], 21 January 2006, vol. 3, pp. 43–45.
75 Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 29 May 1962, p. 6; 13 December 1963, p. 5; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-2-57-130, ‘Binhai youyongchang kaifang zhuyi shixiang [Matters Needing Attention Concerning Seaside Swimming Sites]’, 1 August 1968.
76 Liang and Shapiro, Son of the Revolution, p. 211.
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80 The swimmers were affiliated to different swimming organizations and business enterprises, and they entered the water and swam across the river together with members of their own organizations. Personal observation by the author on 16 July 2016, 2:45 to 4:30 p.m.
81 ‘Beijing Makes Big Play to Realize Xi Jinping's Dreams for Soccer Greatness’, South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 8 December 2014. It is of interest to note that, in Taiwan, it was baseball—a sport originated in the colonial period under the occupation of Japan—which later became the national sport under the rule of the Nationalist Party. See Morris, Andrew D., Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011, pp. 79–103Google Scholar.
