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China is so distant, big, and complex that each Marco Polo nowadays tells a different tale. The authors of the three books under review a cool Swedish journalist, a passionate Chinese true-believer, and a philosophical Frenchman give very different impressions of Chairman Mao’s revolution. Unencumbered by first-hand contact ourselves, we Americans can judge only at second-hand whether Mao’s China is working or in deep trouble, expansionist or merely defensive. These questions will become even more interesting if China tries to keep us over the barrel in Vietnam by coming into the war herself.
Hans Granquist has been for many years a correspondent for Swedish newspapers, radio, and television in Hong Kong, and was in China in November and December, 1964, and in April and May, 1966. He finished this book at the beginning of January but has added new material to the English translation from the Swedish, bringing his account up to May of last year. He sees the issues of Mao’s Cult