"'At official dinners he made me sit beside him and treated me like his son, sometimes feeding me with his chopsticks.
"'I was afraid that since he coughed so much I would catch something. He was no doubt a great revolutionary, but at the same time, his behaviour was often that of a peasant.'"
Change Mao's name and you would have a scene out ot Bananas! or Zelig.
I always wondered how many chinese grandmothers with palsy have blinded their grandchildren while feeding them with chopsticks?