On Mao, Edgar Snow wrote, “Some people might have considered him coarse and vulgar” He then described how Mao liked to scratch himself and conduct meeting naked when it was hot. He also said Mao occasionally “absent-mindedly turned down the belt in his trousers and searched for some guest”—namely fleas and lice.
In 1972 Mao attended the funeral Marshal Chen Yo in his pajamas. In 1954 he met the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee in pair of trousers that had their backside patched up. According to a biography by historian Chen Jin when Mao was asked why didn’t wear a different pair of pants he replied, “It doesn’t matter. Who will look at my bottom?” Mao had a spittoon at his feet when he met Nixon.
...
Mao was addicted to sleeping pills, and he rarely bathed or brushed his teeth (he rinsed his mouth with tea after he woke up and chewed on the leaves). "He resisted all attempts to get him to see a dentist," Li wrote. "One aide said 'the chairman's teeth looked as if they were painted with green paint'...Mao's teeth were indeed covered with a heavy greenish film. When I touched the gums, puss oozed out. An infection of that sort usually causes considerable pain. Mao hated doctors and illness so much that he often endured pain in silence."
[Source: "The Private Life of Chairman Mao" by Dr. Li Zhisui, excerpts reprinted U.S. News and World Report, October 10, 1994]
