ir personal strength and the mismanagement of the government by Chiang Ching and her allies. After Mao's death, however, Chiang Ching and "The Gang of Five" were supplanted, imprisoned themselves - but the Chinese economy was in a shambles, the Party a nest of yes-sayers and inefficiency. Those same yes-men looked to Deng to establish a new personality cult form of leadership. Instead, he brought in the West to a degree Mao would never have condoned; he refused positions of power, preferring to work behind the scenes. It was necessary, he knew, to fight the Cult of Mao and its legacy with an opposite form
...