Review: 'The Dragon and the Snake' by M.A. Gates and E.B. Geelhoed

From 1974 for five years, American diplomatic interests in China were represented by the United States Liaison Office (USLO). Established after Nixon's famous visit to the People's Republic in 1972 and the 'Shanghai Communiqué' that resulted from it, the USLO prepared the way in Beijing for the normalisation of Sino-American relations in 1979-1979. Between May 1976 and April 1977, the Chief of the USLO was Thomas Sovereign Gates Jr., best known for his tenure as Secretary for Defence under President Eisenhower. 'The Dragon and the Snake' is an account of Gates' time as USLO Chief, written from the perspective of his wife, who was with him throughout his time in Beijing.

May 1976 to April 1977 was, as the book jacket suggests, a time of much “turmoil” in the PRC. The death of Premier Zhou Enlai in the preceding February and the decline of Chairman Mao Zedong throughout 1976 sparked off an intense period of factional struggle, with radical and moderate elements in the Chinese Communist Party vying to to position themselves to take over on Mao's death. The Chairman's passing in the early days of September led to a month of political conflict between supporters of Hua Guofeng, the extreme Maoists (led by the 'Gang of Four') and those allied to Deng Xiaoping and other long-time revolutionaries. This eventually resulted in the Gang's arrest on October 6th 1976, sparking off a six-month period that would see Deng rehabilitation and the beginnings of his rise to prominence.