BEIJING — She wrote about desiring him: of wanting to kiss his eyes, his cheeks and his mouth a hundred times.

She said she was going crazy because he had not written for a while.

She said in the letter that he belonged to her.

It is unusual for the intended recipient, Mao Zedong, worshiped by many Chinese people as half emperor and half deity, to be portrayed by the state media as an object of romantic desire in such explicit terms. As it turns out, it may be too much for some Chinese people.

The letter was written in 1929 by Mao’s first freely chosen wife, Yang Kaihui, a prominent Chinese revolutionary, and was broadcast by China Central Television on the show “Trust in China.” It was the latest manifestation of how the state propaganda machine has been trying to win the hearts and minds of its people.