The Claws of the Dragon: Kang Sheng-The Evil Genius Beh… (2024)

a goldmine of information as I research for my novel-in-process ... Kang Sheng was evil, and he achieved power by shockingly evil means ... it was never clear to me, however, whether Kang was leading Mao, as Byron suggests, or whether Mao was using Kang ... perhaps both were true ... interesting choices ahead for me as I wrote my historical novel

John Byron and Robert Pack have created a very readable biography of Mao’s (sometime) right hand man. The books title also refers to him as “The evil genius behind Mao and his legacy of terror”. This may give the impression that Kang Sheng spent most of his career at Mao’s side which was not the case. Though Kang may qualify as “evil”, his “genius” was not all encompassing.

Kang joined the Chinese Communist Party in the rough and dangerous 1920’s when Communist and Kuomintang agents played out a ruthless spy game in cities like Shanghai. He eventually became Mao’s secret police chief when the CCP hierarchy was based Yana an. He carried out massive purges that removed political rivals but there is little evidence that he found or neutralized any actual agents of the Kuomintang or pro-Japanese puppet regimes (despite his many accusations to the contrary). He was actually demoted after World War II and missed out on many great triumphs of the CCP such as the victory in the Civil War. He had to wait until the beginning of the Cultural Revolution to clear a new path to the CCP leadership.

Kang Sheng’s “genius” seem to be in his ability to pick political “winners” and discard “losers” before these changing situations became clear to others. He then produced the incisive public justifications that would be needed to purge the enemies of his new patron and terrify everyone else into submission.

Pack and Byron’s sources are a collections books, magazine articles, intelligence reports, and dispatches. This makes for quite a salacious read at times but the authors are careful about which stories about Kang seem plausible and which are actually over the top.

Came into this one having read relatively widely around the topic of inner Chinese politics before, during and after the communist revolution and find the general topic and sustained ambiguity of characters such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Lin Biao et al. insatiably fascinating. I hadn't heard much about Kang Sheng before though while there are interesting revelations in the book surrounding his back door Stalinist dealings and all-round opportunist political grafting (particularly around the time of the Cultural Revolution) I found this one a little arduous and anti-climatic in general; namely let down by misplaced sweeping rhetoric at the end of each chapter which attempt to summarise what is generally a well-researched and complex work (if a little off-piste at times) about a very complex character. In fact, I think I may have learnt more about Jiang Qing and the Lin Biao incident in this book more than anything else. Still, the "legacy of terror" by this "evil genius" (the book is equally let down by Michael Bay-esque buzzwords throughout) certainly is something to reflect on when looking at how modern Chinese politics works with regard to inner sectarianism among the very highest echelons right down to grass roots policy and convenient propagandist fear mongering.

Fills an important gap in available histories of 20th Century China. Provides great insights into popular topics such as the Gang of Four, relationship between Chinese CP and the Soviet Union, and the role of the CP and KMT in World War II. Well worth the time to read.