In a televised 1980 tribunal, an unrepentant woman screamed revolutionary slogans and told the court she had simply been Chairman Mao's loyal enforcer, his dog who bit whoever he pointed her toward. This deep dive traces the turbulent trajectory of Jiang Qing, known as Madame Mao. We analyze the mechanics of her survival and ruthlessness, setting the ideology aside.

We follow her from violent childhood poverty through serial reinvention as a Shanghai actress, her marriage to Mao under a 20-year political ban, and the way that suppression became a pressure cooker that fueled her later reign during the Cultural Revolution.

• The abusive, impoverished childhood that sharpened her survival instincts
• Reinventing herself repeatedly on the stages of 1930s Shanghai
• The Politburo's 20-year ban that only deepened her resentme ...