Lin Piao, Mainland China's most powerful soldier and second most powerful politician, is the man officially slated to succeed Mao Tse-tung as Party leader and ideological authority. The report covers Lin Piao's life and thought, with a comprehensive collection of his writings from 1932 to 1949. These writings, until now uncollected and largely untranslated, provide a perspective on his views that could enable American decision makers to assess what the Lin Piao regime will mean to American policy and interests. (Author).

Lin is a very important figure on the Chinese political scene not only because of his role in the events of the last year but also because of his innate political strength, his background, and his recent experiences and responsibilities. Yet we know very little about the man. He rarely appears in public. He is said to be chronically ill. His personality draws a near blank for the Western expert on China. It is true that his biography and chronology are fairly well known, but even here there are large empty spaces. His writings are very few in comparison to such other Chinese Communist leaders as Mao and Liu Shao-ch'i and even those examples that we have are mostly administrative orders issued under his name or general propaganda statements with little unique content.