Reddit mentions of The Private Life of Chairman Mao

Little known fact: because Mao had fallen out with the Soviets by the time of his death, the Chinese could not get the embalming know-how from the USSR. Instead, the Chinese tried to get the knowledge secondhand from the Vietnamese.

Basically, nobody knew what the fuck they were doing, and the hours and days immediately following Mao's death were a clusterfuck for all involved. The ordeal is detailed in the opening chapter of The Private Life of Chairman Mao.

I saw Mao's (alleged) corpse in person in 2008. It's either a poorly embalmed corpse, or a poorly done wax sculpture. Either way, it looks like shit.

Its from the memoirs of his personal physician, Mao had very poor personal hygiene and the doctor had to regularly treat him for venereal diseases spread by sleeping with multiple partners

http://www.amazon.com/The-Private-Life-Chairman-Mao/dp/0679764437

Yeah his doctor's book The Private Life of Chairman Mao is really explicit about this.

>Mikulski and the rest of the Senate may be surprised to learn that they were repeating 60-year-old justifications of Chinese medicine put forward by Chairman Mao. Unlike Mikulski, however, Mao was under no illusion that Chinese medicine—a key component of naturopathic education—actually worked. In The Private Life of Chairman Mao, Li Zhisui, one of Mao’s personal physicians, recounts a conversation they had on the subject. Trained as an M.D. in Western medicine, Li admitted to being baffled by ancient Chinese medical books, especially their theories relating to the five elements. It turns out his employer also found them implausible. 

>”Even though I believe we should promote Chinese medicine,” Mao told him, “I personally do not believe in it. I don’t take Chinese medicine

Https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-origins-mao-invented-it-but-didnt-believe-in-it.html

http://www.amazon.com/The-Private-Life-Chairman-Mao/dp/0679764437

This is a good source to brush up with.