I'd like to second Peter N-H's comment about many mainland Chinese lying directly to your face. It is amazing how many times this happens, not just with politics but in almost any everyday situation. The delivery guy who is "waiting for the elevator at the bottom floor" who shows up 1 hour later, or the hotel clerk who has "no more rooms available" when the hotel is empty. This is one of the most fascinating things I've found about life on the mainland. I have no idea where this comes from either as other Asian countries have the "face saving" concept but don't have this sort of outright lying that is accepted. I can understand why you might be coy about politics but about the fact that you are going to be an hour late...duh, I'm gonna figure that one out even if you say you're still waiting for the elevator!

Also, the best book I've read about Mao is Li Zhishui's "private life of chairman mao" The Mao book by Jung Chang was on the same level as a book called "Mao, man not God" which I picked up at a Xinhua bookstore and was supposedly written by one of his bodyguard. They came from totally different viewpoints but both struck me as a whole lot of B.S.