Li Rui, a former aide to Chairman Mao, took notes.
In his diaries, he documented the inner workings of the ruling Communist Party, including everything from what he witnessed during the Cultural Revolution to Mao’s swear words.
The diaries are being held by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, but a lawsuit filed in China is now seeking to prevent them from seeing the light of day.
Li, who died at the age of 101 in February, was a personal secretary to Mao Zedong and later a critic…