“Swimming is a sport that involves struggling against nature. You should go out into the great rivers and seas to train yourselves.”
Chairman Mao swam ahead with light, effortless strokes, then jokingly asked a comrade: “Do you think it’s people who are afraid of water, or water that’s afraid of people?”
The comrade replied, “People are afraid of water, I suppose.”
Chairman Mao laughed and said, “In my view, it’s water that’s afraid of people. Water fears being oppressed by us.”
(Conversation during Chairman Mao’s swim with comrades from the Jiangxi Provincial Song and Dance Troupe in Jiujiang, August 1959)