Ping Pong Diplomacy: Growing up in Chairman Mao’s inner sanctum

Sirin Phathanothai was the daughter of a high-ranking Thai government advisor. As an 8-year-old child in the 1950s, together with her 12-year-old brother, she was given by the Thai Government to China as a diplomatic goodwill offering, to be brought up as the ward of Premier Zhou Enlai. For 13 years, Sirin had a unique upbringing in the heart of the leadership: holidays with Chairman Mao and pool parties in the leadership compound; but she also experienced the most turbulent years of Chairman Mao’s rule. She was caught up in the Cultural Revolution, vilified and persecuted by Red Guards, and forced to denounce her family. Sirin escaped China to Britain following a private request from Zhou Enlai to Edward Heath. This evening, Sirin tells her remarkable story.

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