Amazing Mao

I REFER to the article on Mao Zedong (Sunday Morning Post Magazine, December 19).

The report talks of an old Chinese tradition of taking concubines which, as the Bible testifies, is not a practice restricted to China.

''When King David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, 'Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherishhim, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat'. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king,and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.'' 1 Kings 1:4 However, if Mao managed to be sexually active from 1954 until his death in 1976, he would have had good reason to praise traditional Chinese medicine. Dr Li Zhisui, who practised western medicine, did not mention his contribution to Mao in this respect.

In fact, a very popular branch of Chinese medicine is acupressure massage, which could be carried out by young peasant girls if a specialist in this field were unavailable. I think the shortcoming of Dr Li's unique story is that it fails to explain Mao'samazing sexual vitality.

Y. C. YEUNG Boundary Street