¹ Turner, Bryan, The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory, London: Sage, 2008, p. 41Google Scholar.

² Hubei Provincial Archives, SZ133-2-652-005, ‘Hengdu Changjiang youyong jingsai shidu fang'an [Rehearsal Plan for the Swimming Contest Across the Yangtze River]’, 5 July 1966.

³ Mao was born on 26 December 1893. To be specific, he was five months short of being 73 years old in July 1966.

⁴ ‘Mao zhuxi changyou Changjiang [Chairman Mao Swims in the Yangtze River]’, People's Daily, 25 July 1966, p. 1.

⁵ The Times, 26 July 1966, p. 1.

⁶ Baozi, Gu, Mao Zedong zhengzhi shenzhou youshi shi, Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2013, pp. 141–150Google Scholar; Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao, Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution, trans. Kwok, Daniel W. Y., Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1996, p. 45Google Scholar.

⁷ Heng, Liang and Shapiro, Judith, Son of the Revolution, New York: Knopf, 1983, pp. 43–44Google Scholar.

⁸ ‘Genzhe Mao zhuxi zai dafeng dalang zhong qianjin [Striving Forward in Winds and Tides under the Leadership of Chairman Mao]’, People's Daily, 26 July 1966, p. 1.

⁹ ‘Zai youyong zhong xue hui youyong’, People's Daily, 17 August 1966, English translation in Peking Review 36, 2 September 1966, pp. 24–25; Yan and Gao, Turbulent Decade, pp. 62–63.

¹⁰ One notable example is Adolf Hitler's use of the ancient Greek sculpture The Discobolus of Myron (the discus thrower) to exemplify his ideal image of the Aryan race in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. See Squire, Michael, The Art of the Body: Antiquity and its Legacy, London: L.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2011, pp. 19–23Google Scholar.

¹¹ Mao was not the only political leader who created an athletic image for himself, though. Gail Bederman's study explains that US President Theodore Roosevelt consciously portrayed himself as a virile and manly hunter in order to convey a masculine image to his people. See Bederman, Gail, Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880–1917, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996, pp. 177–178Google Scholar, 211–213. I am grateful to Dr Elsa Devienne for drawing my attention to this study.

¹² Swimmer Lu Da'an, a Guangxi native who had the luck of being chosen to swim with Mao Zedong across Yongjiang (a tributary of the West River) in Guangxi in 1959, escaped to Hong Kong in 1962, where he told reporters that Mao was ‘just an old fellow who can swim’ and who ‘got tired a few minutes after getting in the water’. Lu commented further on Mao's unprofessional swim stroke, describing it as a combination sidestroke/doggy-paddle style. See Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 11 August 1962, p. 5; 12 August 1962, pp. 1, 4; 13 August 1962, p. 5; 19 September 1962, p. 4. Lu left Hong Kong for Taiwan shortly thereafter.

¹³ Bourdieu, Pierre, ‘Program for a Sociology of Sport’, Sociology of Sport Journal 5 (1988), p. 161CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴ Pye, Lucian, Mao Tse-tung: The Man in the Leader, New York: Basic Books, 1976, p. 122Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Barmé, Geremie, Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, pp. 24–25Google Scholar.

¹⁶ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael, Mao's Last Revolution, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006, p. 86Google Scholar.

¹⁷ Zedong, Mao, ‘Tiyu zhi yanjiu [A Study of Physical Education]’, in Collected Works of Mao Tse-tung (1917–1949), Arlington, VA: Joint Publications Research Service, 1978, pp. 4–13Google Scholar. Mao published this article under the pen name ‘Twenty-eight-stroke student’. ‘Twenty-eight-stroke’ refers to the number of strokes required to write his name. See Pye, Mao Tse-tung, pp. 255–256.

¹⁸ Snow, Edgar, Red Star over China, New York: Grove Press, 1973, p. 147Google Scholar.

¹⁹ According to Mao's private doctor, during his visit to Lankao County, Henan Province, in August 1958, Mao thought of swimming in the Yellow River, which is the second largest river in China and has been regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Mao sent officials to test the water, who ‘sank in mud up to their knees at every spot they tested. Mao gave up his plan to swim’. Zhisui, Li, The Private Life of Chairman Mao, New York: Random House, 1994, p. 269Google Scholar.

²⁰ Central Daily (Nanjing), 25 October 1933, p. 2:3; 26 October 1933, p. 2:3; 27 October 1933, p. 2:3. The garrison headquarters in Wuhan also held an annual cross-Yangtze swimming contest from 1934 to 1936. The contestants (49 people in 1934 and 176 people in 1936) were mainly soldiers deployed at the garrison headquarters. The swimming contests could be seen as the Wuhan Garrison Headquarters’ propaganda attempt to demonstrate the physical prowess of the military men. Wuhan Municipal Archives, File no. 104-1-53, Juxingcheng Bank (1934), p. 15; File no. 104-1-87, Juxingcheng Bank (1936), p. 91. And, in September 1947, the Social Bureau of the Nanjing government organized a swimming competition across the Yangtze River in Nanjing. Nanjing Municipal Archives, File no. 10030071188(00)0013.

²¹ Renzhong, Wang, ‘Mao zhuxi diyici zai Wuhan you Changjiang’, in Zhonggong Hubei shengwei dangshi ziliao zhengbian weiyuanhui ed, Mao Zedong zai Hubei, Beijing: Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe, 1993, p. 8Google Scholar; Li, The Private Life of Chairman Mao, p. 299. For a general description of Mao's swims in different rivers in his entire life, see Xuezu, Bian, Zhongliu jishui: Mao Zedong youyong jishi, Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 2013Google Scholar.

²² See ‘Hengdu Changjiang de diyige nü qingnian youyongyuan [The First Female Swimmer Swims Across the Yangtze]’, People's Daily, 3 June 1956, p. 3; ‘694 ming yundongyuan youyong hengdu Changjiang [694 Swimmers Swim Across the Yangtze]’, People's Daily, 25 June 1956, p. 1.

²³ In 1957, Mao publicly criticized Deng Tuo for being ‘incompetent’. Wu Lengxi, who was also criticized by Mao during his tenure as editor-in-chief of People's Daily, was markedly more willing to echo Mao's policies during the Great Leap Forward. See Jia Yanmin, ‘Ershi shiji 50, 60 niandai Mao Zedong dui Remin Ribao de jici piping’, Twenty-first Century Online, vol. 64 (July 2007). http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/21c/media/online/0702016.pdf (accessed 8 May 2019).

²⁴ Deng Tuo had been attacked by several newspaper articles since 8 May 1966. In one of the articles, Deng was vilified as ‘the leader of the evil “Three-household Village” established by himself together with Wu Han and Liao Mosha. He was also the leader of the minority faction of anti-CPC and anti-socialist activists’. These articles were republished on the People's Daily on 16 May 1966. See Angang, Hu, Mao and the Cultural Revolution, vol. 1, Honolulu: Enrich Professional Publishing, 2017, pp. 170–172Google Scholar.

²⁵ Shiming, Bi, ‘50 niandai Zhongguo xin tiyu sixiang he shoudao de ganrao’, Tiyu wenshi 6 (1998), pp. 4–5Google Scholar.

²⁶ ‘Mao zhuxi hengdu Changjiang’, Xin Tiyu, 21 July 1957 (vol. 108), centre page. The picture, taken by Hou Bo, does not specify when the swim took place. As available sources show that Mao went to swim in the Yangtze in September rather than July in 1957, it is safe to postulate that the picture was taken during one of Mao's three swims in 1956. The reason why the picture was not published earlier is not known.

²⁷ ‘Huaqing jiexian, zhanwen lichang, fanji youpai fenzi [Draw a Clear Line, Stand Firm, and Counter-Attack the Rightists]’, Xin Tiyu, 21 July 1957 (vol. 108), p. 3.

²⁸ This was in line with Daniel Leese's observation that there was a significant increase in media coverage of Mao after the Chengdu conference in March 1958, in which Mao managed to justify personality cults by making a distinction between proper emulation and blind worship of political leaders. See Leese, Daniel, ‘The Mao Cult as Communicative Space’, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions 8:3 (September–December 2007), pp. 626CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 630.

²⁹ ‘Mao zhuxi sidu Changjiang [Chairman Mao's Four Swims Across the Yangtze]’, Xin Tiyu, 6 July 1958 (vol. 131), pp. 16–17; ‘Mao zhuxi duanlian shenti de gushi [Stories of Mao's Body Training]’, Xin Tiyu, 21 September 1958 (vol. 135); 6 October 1958 (vol. 136); 6 November 1958 (vol. 138); 6 January 1959 (vol. 142); 6 February 1959 (vol. 144).

³⁰ Xin Tiyu, 21 September 1958 (vol. 135), inside cover page. Mao mentioned the lotus pond in his interview with Edgar Snow, but it was not about swimming. He said that, after a fierce argument with his father, he decided to leave home. He threatened to jump in the pond when his father was chasing him. Snow, Red Star over China, pp. 132–133.

³¹ For example, chubanshe, Hunan renmin (ed.), Mao zhuxi sanci du Changjiang [Chairman Mao's Three Swims Across the Yangtze], Changsha: Hunan renmin chubanshe, 1959Google Scholar; chubanshe, Sichuan renmin (ed.), Mao zhuxi hengdu Changjiang [Chairman Mao Swimming Across the Yangtze], Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1960Google Scholar.

³² The Poems of Mao Zedong, trans. Willis Barnstone, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008, pp. 82–85; Meisner, Maurice, Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, New York: The Free Press, 1988, pp. 181–182Google Scholar.

³³ ‘Mao zhuxi sidu Changjiang [Chairman Mao's Four Swims Across the Yangtze]’, Xin Tiyu, 6 July 1958 (vol. 131), pp. 16–17.

³⁴ Bo, Hou and Xiaobing, Xu, Dai chibang de sheying ji, Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 1999, pp. 222–223Google Scholar. Hou was introduced to photography in Yan'an in the early 1940s by her husband Xu Xiaobing, a renowned photographer and documentary filmmaker for the CCP. One of Hou's famous works was the founding of the PRC (1949). For Hou's life, see Lee, Lily Xiao Hong, Stefanowska, A. D., and Wiles, Sue (eds), Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, vol. 2, The Twentieth Century, 1912–2000, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 2003, pp. 215–218Google Scholar.

³⁵ ‘Youxiu yundongyuan tan “qingchun wansui” [Outstanding Athletes Talk about “Long Live Youth”]’, People's Daily, 1 February 1960, p. 8.

³⁶ ‘Mao's 3 Swims Across Yangtze Merely an Exercise in Ideology’, New York Times, 24 August 1957, p. 1.

³⁷ Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, vol 3, Statesman, 1953–1964, trans. George Shriverp, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007, p. 456.

³⁸ Yueran, Li, Waijiao wutai shang de Xin Zhongguo lingxiu, Beijing: Jiefangjun, 1989, pp. 175–176Google Scholar; Lüthi, Lorenz M., The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008, p. 94Google Scholar.

³⁹ Hubei Provincial Archives, SZ133-2-652-005, ‘Hengdu Changjiang youyong jingsai shidu fang'an [Rehearsal Plan for the Swimming Contest Across the Yangtze River]’, 5 July 1966.

⁴⁰ Yu Wei and Qian Sijie, Kuaimen xia de hongse shunjian, Beijing: Tuanjie chubanshe, 2014, pp. 211–213. According to Wu Lengxi, Mao's keen supporter, Chen Boda, took control of the People's Daily on 31 May 1966. Wu did not mention his own role in the publication of the news of Mao's 1966 Yangtze swim. See Lengxi, Wu, Yi Mao zhuxi: Wo qinsheng jingli de ruogan zhongda lishi shijian pianduan, Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 1995, pp. 153–154Google Scholar.

⁴¹ Mao had arrived at Wuhan when the eleventh Cross-Yangtze Swimming Contest Commander Headquarters was drawing up this plan, though it is not known what role, if any, Mao played in it. Mao spent 12 days in Dishuidong located in Shaoshan, Hunan, his hometown, from 17 to 28 June 1966. During his stay at Dishuidong, Mao's thoughts were consumed with the question of how to proceed with the Cultural Revolution, as shown in his letter to his wife Jiang Qing. It is of interest to note that, according to the memoir written by Mao's bodyguard Zhang Yaoci (1916–2010), Mao asked Zhang whether the lake nearby was suitable for swimming. Zhang told him the lake water was clear and was safe for swimming, but Mao eventually did not go to swim there. See Yaoci, Zhang, Zhang Yaoci huiyi Mao Zedong, Beijing: Zhonggong zhongyang dangxiao chubanshe, 1996, pp. 39–45Google Scholar.

⁴² Tang Xiaohe, a native of Wuhan and a graduate of the Hubei Institute of Fine Art, was at the age of 30 when he created the painting. It took him nine days to finish the painting. See Xiaohe, Tang, ‘Guanyu youhua “Zai dafeng dalang zhong qianjin”’, Wuhan wenshi ziliao 1 (2010), p. 58Google Scholar. The national art exhibition was the first exhibition organized by the government after the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. Submissions were sent by provincial governments to Beijing to be judged by a jury made up of professional artists. It was held annually from 1972 to 1975. Tang's work was considered one of the monumental works of the 1972 exhibition. See Andrews, Julia F., Painters and Politics in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1979, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995, pp. 359–361Google Scholar. The painting was printed in Xin Tiyu, October 1972 (vol. 278), centre page.

⁴³ Hong, Lu (ed.), Zhonghua meishu bainian, 1911–2011, Beijing: Zhongguo Qingnian chubanshe, 2011, p. 110Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ Chang-tai, Hung, Mao's New World: Political Culture in the Early People's Republic, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011, p. 127Google Scholar, 150.

⁴⁵ Shanchun, Yan, ‘Painting Mao’, in Chiu, Melissa (ed.), Art and China's Revolution, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008, p. 98Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Tang, ‘Guanyu youhua “Zai dafeng dalang zhong qianjin”’, p. 58.

⁴⁷ Andrews, Painters and Politics in the People's Republic of China, 1949–1979, p. 360.

⁴⁸ Landsberger, Stefan, ‘Contextualising (Propaganda) Posters’, in Henriot, Christian and Yeh, Wen-hsin (eds), Visualising China, 1845–1965: Moving and Still Images in Historical Narratives, Leiden, Brill, 2012, pp. 386–391Google Scholar. Art scholar Wang Mingxian states that the production figure of Tang's painting might be second only to that of Liu Chunhua's well-known ‘Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan’. See Mingxian, Wang, Xin Zhongguo meishu tushi, 1949–1976, Beijing: Zhongguo Qingnian chubanshe, 2000, p. 128Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ Lu, Zhouxiang and Fan, Hong, Sport and Nationalism in China, New York: Routledge, 2014, pp. 81–85Google Scholar. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics introduced the ‘Ready for Labour and Defence Programme’ (abbreviated as GTO in Russian) in 1931. See O'Mahony, Mike, Sport in the USSR: Physical Culture—Visual Culture, London: Reaktion Books, 2006, pp. 16Google Scholar, 83.

⁵⁰ Tingxi, Chen, ‘Zai Mao zhuxi shenbian de rizi li [The Days when I Was at the Side of Chairman Mao]’, in Sichuan sheng shinian wenxue yishu bianxuan weiyuanhui (ed.), Sichuan shinian sanwen texie xuan, Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1959, p. 14Google Scholar.

⁵¹ Zeng Jingui, ‘Youyong yundong de fengsuo shouhuo [Accomplishments of Swimming Sport]’, Xin Tiyu, 5 October 1954 (vol. 47), p. 19.

⁵² Xiang Sulian youyong dui xuexi [Learning from the Swimming Team of the Soviet Union], Beijing: Renmin tiyu chubanshe, 1955.

⁵³ Chen, ‘Zai Mao zhuxi shenbian de rizi li’, p. 12; Jiang Zhou, ‘Wanli Changjiang hengdu [Swimming Across the Yangtze]’, in Qingchun wansui [Long Live Youth], Beijing: Renmin tiyu chubanshe, 1965, p. 14.

⁵⁴ ‘Lizheng youyong yundong dayuejin [Striving for a Great Leap Forward in Swimming]’, Xin Tiyu, 21 June 1958 (vol. 130), p. 14.

⁵⁵ ‘Dui budui junshi xunlian de ruogan zhishi [Instructions on Military Training for the Troops]’, in Mao Zedong junshi wenji, vol. 6, Beijing: Junshi kexue chubanshe, 1993, p. 400.

⁵⁶ ‘Guojia tiwei guanyu kaizhan youyong, sheji, tongxun, dengshan deng sixiang huodong de zhishi [Instruction from the Physical Culture and Sports Commission to Develop Swimming, Shooting, Signal Communication and Mountain Climbing]’, in Guojia tiwei yanjiushi (ed.), Tiyu yundong wenjian xuanbian, 1949–1981, Beijing: Renmin tiyu chubanshe, 1982, pp. 346–348.

⁵⁷ This statement was jointly issued by the Physical Culture and Sports Commission, the headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese Army, and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. See she, Dagongbao (ed.), Renmin shouce (1965), Beijing: Dagongbao she, 1965, pp. 670–671Google Scholar; ‘Red China Wants Everyone to Swim’, New York Times, 13 June 1965, p. 9.

⁵⁸ Henansheng Nanyang zhuanshu tiyu yundong weiyuanhui (ed.), Wei geming er youyong [Swimming for the Revolution], n.p.: 1967, pp. 36–38. One swimming manual published in Dongguan, Guangdong, in 1972 even provides instruction on practising military swimming in big waves after nightfall. See Dongguanxian youyong bianxie xiaozu, Youyong, n.s.: Guangdong renmin chubanshe, 1972, pp. 71–72.

⁵⁹ ‘Wanli Changjiang hengdu’, China Pictorial, 1964.10, n.p.; ‘Buguan fengchui langda, shengsi xianting xinbu’, China Pictorial, 1965.8, n.p.

⁶⁰ Wanli changjiang hengdu huace bianjizu, Wanli Changjiang hengdu, Beijing: Renmin tiyu chubanshe, 1977, n.p.

⁶¹ Hubei Provincial Archives, SZ133-2-647-013, ‘Wuhan shi youyong huodong bangongshi 1966 nian youyong huodong jianbao [Report on Swimming Activities in 1966 by Wuhan's Swimming Activities Office]’, vol. 13, 2 November 1966.

⁶² Hubei Provincial Archives, SZ139-1-000018-018, ‘Hubei sheng zhua geming cu shengchan diyixian zhihuibu guanyu hengdu Changjiang de baogao [Report on Swimming Across the Yangtze by the Seize Revolution and Promote Production Frontline Command Office]’, 8 July 1967. The cross-Yangtze swim in July 1967 did not take place due to the eruption of armed clashes between rebel groups on 14 July, which left ten people dead and 37 seriously injured. See Shaoguang, Wang, Lixing yu fengkuang: Wenhua dageming zhong de qunzhong, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 132Google Scholar. A cross-Yangtze swim was held in Wuhan on 1 August 1967, in which more than 100 participants out of 50,000 died. See Wuhan difangzhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, Wuhan shizhi: Tiyu zhi, Wuchang: Wuhan daxue chubanshe, 1990, p. 16. No archival materials regarding this tragedy are available for public access at Hubei Provincial Archives and Wuhan Municipal Archives.

⁶³ For example, the government reported that 2 million residents took to the water in Shanghai in 1965. Xincheng Swimming Pool, which was one of the major swimming pools in Shanghai, had a total of 700,000 users. See Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-99-28, ‘Guanyu 1957 niandu guanli benshi qunzhongxing youyong yundong de gongzuo baogao [Report on Managing Mass Swimming Activities in 1957]’, 6 May 1957; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-201, ‘Guanyu 1965 nian benshi qunzhong youyong huodong de zongjie he jinnian gongzuo de baogao [Report on Mass Swimming Activities in 1965 and Current Year's Work]’, 17 May 1966; ‘Benshi youyong huodong xunsu guangfan zhankai [Swift Development of Swimming Activities in Our City]’, Wenjiao qingkuang, vol. 7 (24 June 1965), p. 3.

⁶⁴ Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-1-908, ‘1965 nian qunzhongxing junshi yeying he youyong huodong de qingkuang huibao [Report on Mass Military Camping and Swimming in 1965]’, 18 September 1965; ‘Benshi youyong huodong’, Wenjiao qingkuang, vol. 7 (24 June 1965), p. 1; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-201, ‘Guanyu 1965 nian’, 17 May 1966.

⁶⁵ Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-1-906, ‘1965 nian Shanghaishi qunzhongxing junshi yeying he youyong huodong shishi jihua [Implementation Plan for Mass Military Camping and Swimming in 1965]’, 22 June 1965; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B246-2-1121, ‘Guanyu jiaqiang jianghe youyong anquan gongzuo de yijian [Views on Strengthening Safety of Swimming in the River]’, June 1974.

⁶⁶ Shanghai Municipal Archives, B244-1-11-13, ‘Guanyu qingzhu Mao zhuxi 7.16 changyou Changjiang yi zhounian hengdu Changjiang huodong zhounian gongzuo de baogao [Report on Cross-Yangtze Swimming Activities in Celebration of the First Anniversary of Mao's Yangtze Swim]’, 5 September 1967.

⁶⁷ Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-1-879-78, ‘Guanyu qunzhongxing qiudu Huangpujiang youyong huodong de baogao [Report on Mass Swimming Across Huangpu River]’, 21 June 1965; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B3-2-201, ‘Guanyu 1965 nian’, 17 May 1966.

⁶⁸ Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-2-57-12, ‘Guanyu jinyibu jiaqiang dui jianghe youyong huodong guanli de qingshi baogao [Request for Instructions Regarding Strengthening the Management over Swimming in the River]’, August 1968.

⁶⁹ Russell Baker, ‘Observer: When Chairman Mao Jumps’, New York Times, 18 August 1966, p. 33.

⁷⁰ Shaoguang, Wang, Failure of Charisma: The Cultural Revolution in Wuhan, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 279–281Google Scholar.

⁷¹ ‘The Faces Behind the Hong Kong Facts’, New York Times, 3 April 1960, p. SM28.

⁷² New York Times, 31 May 1962, p. 4. For the riots in Macau in December 1966, see Clayton, Cathryn, ‘The Hapless Imperialist? Portuguese Rule in 1960s Macau’, in Goodman, Bryna and Goodman, David (eds), Twentieth Century Colonialism and China: Localities, the Everyday, and the World, New York: Routledge, 2012Google Scholar. However, some mainlanders seemed to lack the latest knowledge about the political changes in Macau. It was reported in July 1968 that five fugitives reached Macau and, to their despair, found themselves handed over by police to the PRC officials in Macau for repatriation back to China. See Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 26 July 1968, p. 5; 30 July 1968, p. 6.

⁷³ ‘Chinese Refugees Swim Across a Perilous Bay to Hong Kong’, New York Times, 22 June 1972, p. 2; ‘Flow of Refugees to Hong Kong from Mainland China Is Rising’, New York Times, 12 September 1971, p. 6; ‘Veterans Who Fled Mainland for Hong Kong in 1970s Tell Their Stories’, South China Morning Post, 6 January 2013.

⁷⁴ Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 1 September 1965; ‘Taogang zhe Lie Fu’, Nanfang renwu zhoukan [South People Weekly], 21 January 2006, vol. 3, pp. 43–45.

⁷⁵ Hong Kong Kung Sheung Yat Po, 29 May 1962, p. 6; 13 December 1963, p. 5; Shanghai Municipal Archives, B126-2-57-130, ‘Binhai youyongchang kaifang zhuyi shixiang [Matters Needing Attention Concerning Seaside Swimming Sites]’, 1 August 1968.

⁷⁶ Liang and Shapiro, Son of the Revolution, p. 211.

⁷⁷ Xing Lu, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture, and Communication, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2004, p. 133; Daniel Leese, Mao Cult: Rhetoric and Ritual in China's Cultural Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 203–204.

⁷⁸ Esherick, Joseph W., Pickowicz, Paul G., and Walder, Andrew G. (eds), The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006, p. 18Google Scholar.

⁷⁹ Leese, Mao Cult, pp. 24, 258.

⁸⁰ The swimmers were affiliated to different swimming organizations and business enterprises, and they entered the water and swam across the river together with members of their own organizations. Personal observation by the author on 16 July 2016, 2:45 to 4:30 p.m.

⁸¹ ‘Beijing Makes Big Play to Realize Xi Jinping's Dreams for Soccer Greatness’, South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 8 December 2014. It is of interest to note that, in Taiwan, it was baseball—a sport originated in the colonial period under the occupation of Japan—which later became the national sport under the rule of the Nationalist Party. See Morris, Andrew D., Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011, pp. 79–103Google Scholar.