General Discussion

...Now, to be clear: Mao Zedong did not swim across the Yangtze in July of 1966. But his dip near Wuhan was as consequential as many crossings had been, setting the stage for the launch of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

The point of Mao’s swim was to demonstrate his physical prowess and good health, defying rumors that his age and time out of the spotlight suggested he was anything less than a capable leader. The emphasis on physical fitness had deep roots. One of his very first pieces of public writing was “A study of physical education,” an essay in the celebrated magazine New Youth, published in 1917...