Mao offered Kissinger 10 million Chinese women
USAToday‘s "OnDeadline" blog finds some choice morsels from newly released transcripts of Henry Kissinger’s 1973 meeting with Mao: You know, China is a very poor country," Mao is quoted as saying during the exchange. "We don’t have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few ...
USAToday's "OnDeadline" blog finds some choice morsels from newly released transcripts of Henry Kissinger's 1973 meeting with Mao:
USAToday‘s "OnDeadline" blog finds some choice morsels from newly released transcripts of Henry Kissinger’s 1973 meeting with Mao:
You know, China is a very poor country," Mao is quoted as saying during the exchange. "We don’t have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."
The Chinese leader drew laughter when he returned to the proposition a few minutes later. "Do you want our Chinese women? We can give you 10 million." he said, adding: "We have too many women … They give birth to children and our children are too many."
It’s not clear whether Mao is at all serious — he was a pretty crazy dude, after all — but Kissinger’s response is precious:
It is such a novel proposition, we will have to study it.
Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
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