Mao Zedong proposed sending 10 million women to the United States during talks with top US envoy Henry Kissinger in 1973, according to newly released documents.
The Communist Party chairman said he believed such emigration could kick-start bilateral trade, but could also 'harm' the US with a population explosion similar to that of China, according to documents on Sino-US ties between 1973 and 1976 released by the US State Department on Tuesday.
In a long conversation that stretched past midnight at Mao's residence on February 17, 1973, he referred to the dismal trade between the two countries, saying China was a 'very poor country' and 'what we have in excess is women'.
He first suggested sending 'thousands' of women, but as an afterthought proposed '10 million', drawing laughter at the meeting, also attended by premier Zhou Enlai .
Dr Kissinger, who was president Richard Nixon's national security adviser at the time, told Mao that the US had no 'quotas' or 'tariffs' for Chinese women, drawing more laughter.
Dr Kissinger then tried to highlight to Mao the threat posed by the Soviet Union and other global concerns of the era.
But Mao dragged the talks back to the topic of Chinese women.
