In January-April 1961, when Mao Zedong traveled south for inspection, he discovered hidden eavesdropping devices installed on his special train. Upon learning of this situation, Mao became furious and demanded a thorough investigation.
The incident spread to Zhongnanhai, triggering a major uproar. During the Cultural Revolution, “eavesdropping” became one of the important charges against some of the toppled high-ranking CCP officials.
According to Mao’s personal physician, Li Zhisui, in February 1961, shortly after the Chinese New Year, Mao traveled by special train to Guangzhou. Accompanying him were not only female train attendants but also two female secretaries, and a teacher from a nursery school where he had a dance partner at a ball in Zhongnanhai.
As the special train left Hangzhou and headed towards Wuhan, passing through Changsha, the train stopped at an airport on the outskirts of Changsha. Mao summoned the First Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, Zhang Huaping, and several other provincial party officials to have a conversation on the special train.
While Li Zhisui, the nursery school teacher, and the two female secretaries took a walk beneath the special train, a recording technician from Zhongnanhai, Liu, joined them. They were walking and chatting casually when Liu said to the nursery school teacher, “Today, I heard you talking.” The teacher asked in surprise, “What did you hear me say?” Liu smiled and said, “You were urging Secretary Zhang to wake up and dress before he saw Chairman in the sleeping car, right?” He then added, “What else did you hear?” with a playful smile and said, “I heard everything.”
The nursery school teacher’s face turned pale, and she quickly walked back to the train. After Mao finished talking to Zhang Huaping, she immediately reported to Mao that there were recording devices installed on the train. Mao was furious and immediately instructed Wang Dongxing, responsible for his security, to investigate the matter.
Upon arrival in Wuhan, Wang Dongxing, along with the recording technician Liu and an electrician from Meiyuan Guesthouse, rushed to the train to remove the recording equipment.
Next, the recording machine, tapes, wires, various small speakers were placed on a conference table. Mao ordered Wang Dongxing, Kang Yimin (Deputy Director of the Central Office Secretariat), Mao’s secretary Luo Guanglu, and recording technician Liu to stand behind the table and took several photos as evidence to document the “eavesdropping.”
On the evening of April 26, 1961, while conducting research in Baoding, Hebei Province, Yang Shangkun, the Director of the Central Office, suddenly received a call from Gong Zirong, Deputy Director of the Central Office, informing him that Chairman Mao was furious about the installation of recording devices on the special train and demanded Yang Shangkun to return to Beijing the next day.
That night, Yang Shangkun wrote in his diary, “My mind is in a mess, and I didn’t sleep well all night.”
Upon returning to Beijing, Yang Shangkun met with Kang Yimin, Deputy Director of the Central Office Secretariat, and Ye Zilong, Director of the Central Office Secretariat and Mao Zedong’s secretary, to discuss the recording issue.
On the afternoon of May 2, Yang Shangkun reported the “recording incident” to Premier Zhou Enlai, who had just returned to Beijing. In his diary that day, Yang Shangkun wrote, “Feeling uneasy, unable to sit or lie still.”
On the evening of May 8, Yang Shangkun wrote a letter to Mao, admitting his negligence in checking the recording equipment and requesting to be disciplined for the incident.
On the morning of May 20, the Central Secretariat held a meeting. Afterwards, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Zhen, and Yang Shangkun discussed how to handle the recording issue. Three handling opinions were proposed:
1. Tian Jiaying, Mao’s secretary, was appointed as Deputy Director of the Central Office to strengthen leadership;
2. The Central Secretariat approved the “Decision on Recording and Documentation Issues,” outlining five regulations prohibiting recordings at all levels of the party, government, and military;
3. Following Mao’s instructions, the Central Secretariat criticized the Central Office Secretariat and disciplined three officials – Ye Zilong, Kang Yimin, and Wu Zhenying.
Ye Zilong, Mao Zedong’s secretary, had been conducting research in Henan and Xinyang since the end of 1960. Although not directly involved in the eavesdropping incident on the special train, as the head of the Central Office Secretariat, he received a severe warning and punishment.
Kang Yimin, the secretary to Premier Zhou Enlai and Deputy Director of the Central Office Secretariat, was not present on the special train at the time of the eavesdropping incident but still received a serious warning and punishment.
Wu Zhenying, the secretary to President Liu Shaoqi and Deputy Director of the Central Office Secretariat, was also given a disciplinary warning.
After the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in May 1966, more people were affected by the eavesdropping incident. The first target was the former Director of the Central Office, Yang Shangkun.
During the Cultural Revolution, the first anti-party group overthrown by Mao was known as the “Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang Anti-Party Group,” with Yang Shangkun being referred to as Yang. On May 24, 1966, the CCP Central Committee issued a “Statement on the Errors of Lu Dingyi and Yang Shangkun,” listing Yang Shangkun’s first offense as disregarding the central directives prohibiting the installation of eavesdropping devices and secretly recording speeches by Chairman Mao and the Standing Committee, stealing party secrets.
Before this, Yang Shangkun had already been transferred out of Zhongnanhai.
On October 29, 1965, Yang Shangkun wrote in his diary, “At 10:30 am, Zhou, Deng, and Peng called me for a conversation, which was unusual and worth remembering, something to never forget!” He also wrote, “Didn’t sleep well at noon, and was restless in the afternoon.” The diary for the 30th indicated, “Feeling uneasy, couldn’t focus on anything, barely looked at some documents.” On the 31st, he wrote, “Lack of spirit all day, couldn’t focus on anything.”
Why was Yang Shangkun so unsettled? Because he had been removed from his position as Director of the Central Office he had held for 20 years and had to leave Zhongnanhai, where he had spent 16 years, to become the Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee.
On May 22, 1966, in Guangzhou, Yang Shangkun was informed that he had been relieved of his duties as Deputy Secretary of the Central Secretariat, removed from the position of Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and reassigned as Deputy Secretary of the Zhaoqing Prefectural Committee. Due to health issues, on May 28, he was further reassigned as Deputy Secretary of the Linfen Prefectural Committee in Shanxi.
After being in Linfen for just over a month, on July 3, 1966, the CCP Central Committee announced that he would be subject to “guardian review,” leading to a 12-year imprisonment.
Ye Zilong spent more than seven years undergoing “guardian review,” confined in the Beijing Wulie District. Kang Yimin and Wu Zhenying were also transferred out of the secretariat, sent to study sessions for criticism, had their homes searched, and were sent to supervise labor at a school in Jiangxi’s Jinxian County until their rehabilitation in 1979 when they returned to Beijing.
The eavesdropping incident implicated many officials from the central to local level, including Xu Zirong, Deputy Minister of Public Security, Di Fei, Director of Division Twelve of the Ministry of Public Security, Ding Zhaojia, Deputy Director of Division Twelve of the Ministry of Public Security, Huang Chibo, Director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, Wang Fang, former Director of the Zhejiang Public Security Department, Xie Ziqun, Director of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, Zhu Hanxiong, Deputy Director of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, Su Hanhua, Deputy Director of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, Wang Zheng, Party Committee member of the Communication Troop of the General Staff Department, and Li Wu, Deputy Director of the Central Broadcasting Bureau.
According to Mao’s personal physician, Li Zhisui, Kang Yimin, Deputy Director of the Central Office Secretariat, flew from Beijing to Wuhan. Kang expressed his dissatisfaction with Wang. Kang said Wang should understand that without the consent of several central leaders, neither Yang Shangkun nor Ye Zilong would have dared to act so boldly. Kang believed Wang did not speak any soothing words or cover up the past in front of Mao.
Wang said no one had informed him about this matter before, and this time it was discovered by Mao, not blaming others. The argument resulted in Wang reporting to Mao, stating that the Secretariat had wanted to retain recordings of Mao’s speeches for writing party history in the future.
After hearing this, Mao became even more enraged and said, “Are they already preparing to present a Khrushchev-style black report?”
One of the reasons for Mao’s anger was his promiscuous private life being eavesdropped on. Yet, the most important reason was his incessant fear since Nikita Khrushchev’s speech at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, criticizing Stalin. Mao harbored a looming shadow over his head, worrying that someone around him might be akin to Khrushchev, secretly collecting his “black material” and plotting a coup, seizing his power, or perhaps, one day facing criticism like Khrushchev.
In November 1959, during a central working conference in Hangzhou discussing Sino-Soviet relations, Mao instructed everyone present not to take notes. When the Deputy Secretary of the CCP Central Committee, Hu Qiaomu, asked if recordings should be made, Mao angrily declared, “Who would dare to record? Anyone who records in the future will be expelled from the Party!”
Mao’s secretary, Ye Zilong, immediately instructed the recording technician to stop recording. Ye Zilong later recalled in his memoir, “After that, the Secretariat no longer arranged for recording technicians to accompany Chairman Mao outside to record.”
On October 23, 1980, the Central Secretariat approved a reexamination report from the Central Secretariat regarding the “Secret Recording” issue in the former Central Office Secretariat. The report stated:
1. Yang Shangkun never engaged in any conspiracy activities related to the recording work of the former Central Office Secretariat. The previous so-called errors attributed to Yang Shangkun on this issue were non-existent, and the Central Committee proposed a thorough rehabilitation.
2. All false accusations imposed on Ye Zilong, Kang Yimin, Wu Zhenying, etc., regarding the recording issue should be overturned and thoroughly rehabilitated.
3. Ye Zilong, Kang Yimin, and Wu Zhenying bore no responsibility for the recordings from January to April 1961, and their punishments at that time were deemed inappropriate, recommended to be revoked.
4. Due to the widespread repercussions of the so-called “Secret Recording” case involving many individuals, the Central Committee suggested forwarding this review report to relevant units to dispel the impact.
Based on the aforementioned review report, Yang Shangkun, Ye Zilong, Kang Yimin, and Wu Zhenying bore no responsibility for the eavesdropping issue in 1961.
So, who decided to install recording devices on Mao’s special train and sent a recording technician from the Secretariat to record on the train from January to April 1961?
It could only be the “several central leaders” higher in the hierarchy than Yang Shangkun. At that time, Yang Shangkun’s superiors included President Liu Shaoqi, Premier Zhou Enlai, CCP General Secretary Deng Xiaoping, and Politburo member Peng Zhen.
The “several central leaders” Mao mentioned were likely referring to Liu, Zhou, Deng, and Peng.
It is well known that the CCP is one of the most surveillance-oriented parties globally, including eavesdropping. This is one of the “weapons” it uses to maintain authoritarian rule.
However, as top CCP leaders, no one wanted others to eavesdrop on them. Mao Zedong was like this, as were Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, and Ye Jianying.
But there’s an old Chinese saying, “To know self but not others is the height of stupidity.”
Mao Zedong was furious about eavesdropping, did everything to prevent it, and severely punished those involved in eavesdropping. Nevertheless, Mao could never have imagined that after his death, Li Zhisui, who had been his personal physician for 19 years, would publish “The Private Life of Mao Zedong,” revealing his little-known secrets witnessed and heard firsthand by the world.
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