Mr. Mao’s vacation by the sea

Ln summer, Beijing is sweltering in the sweltering heat. In the northeast of China, only the coast of the Gulf of Bohai, at the entrance to the Yellow Sea, then reserves a little freshness, and even some violent storms. That of 1^er August 1955 is remembered. After a first night of showers, Chairman Mao Zedong, 62, got up at dawn. The day before, he had pronounced one of the philippiques of which he had the secret, cursing the comrades who urged him to slow down the forced collectivization of agriculture. This would soon lead to the deadliest famine in history. Despite the storm, Mao decided to relax by swimming on the beach of Beidaihe, the small seaside resort where the highest leaders of the Par…