Feature: Chairman Mao's legacy to hometown is nostalgia boom
By Chris Gill
interfax.cn
Shaoshan. September 11. INTERFAX-CHINA - Chairman Mao’s legacy lives on in China, and nowhere is this more apparent than in his hometown of Shaoshan, in the inland province of Hunan, a fertile green province that peaked in power and influence during the Han dynasty. In China’s recent economic boom Hunan has been something of a backwater, but with China’s current emphasis on development of the inland regions it is catching up fast, quickly shedding the ideological dogma that was Mao's legacy in his later years.
Centenary plate featuring Mao's portrait by US journalist Edgar Snow.
According to a local official surnamed Ge, who grew up in Shaoshan, the city formerly had a TV factory, but the city of 100,000 now looks to "red tourism" as its main industry, with millions of visitors a year. Mao’s ancestral home is now a popular destination for tour groups, especially during the 3 "golden week" public holidays.
A dusty town in the valleys close to the Xiangjiang river, Shaoshan looks similar to the thousands of other small towns in China, and Mao's legacy has not made much obvious difference. Motorbike riders in straw hats dominate the roads, carting pigs in side panniers, and local vendors sell the same collection of metal bars, noodles and cigarettes that predominate across the country, as well as the ubiquitous Mao memorabilia. A local official said that the average monthly income of the predominantly agrarian residents was "above average" at around USD 100 per month.
Tang Rui Ren. Image: Interfax
Tang Rui Ren is the 76 year-old proprietor of "Mao Jia Fandian" (Mao’s home restaurant) and has done better than most. She used to live next door to the Mao family home, and Mao referred to her as "young grandmother". A photo of herself with Mao dominates her restaurant.
"Eight generations of my family lived next door to Mao’s house," she said. After 1979 she moved her restaurant to away from Mao's residence, and business boomed. "There weren't so many clients before we moved, but now we are very busy, and we can't find enough waiters," Tang said.
She now has 109 restaurants across China, employs 1,900 staff largely consisting of laid-off workers, and paid more than RMB 5 mln (USD 617,000) in tax last year, she said. Some of her family have emigrated to Australia and Tang is proud of her association with Mao.
"Hong Shao Rou is our most popular dish - it was Mao's favorite food," she said. "It makes you good looking and is good for the skin," Tang added.
Recent celebrity visitors to her restaurant have included Yang Liwei, the Chinese astronaut who recently went into space on Shenzhou 5.
The statue of Mao that stands at the foot of the hill where he grew up is now the center of a local tourist industry that sees millions of visitors a year. The statue was cast in Shanghai, and local officials said that on its journey to Shaoshan the spirit of Mao caused the convoy to stop at night so he could rest, the truck carrying the statue mysteriously breaking down in the evening then restarting again in the morning without any maintenance. It also serves as a shrine visited by Party cadres from around China, and local businessmen also visit the statue to pray for success of new business ventures.
Mao in bronze. Image: Interfax
A cornucopia of Mao memorabilia is on sale throughout the town of Shaoshan. Pens, tie pins, key rings, statuettes, plaques, musical lighters, DVDs, pins, badges, car ornaments, lucky pigs and other items are churned out of local factories at a greater rate locally than during the heyday of Mao's power.
Mao’s favorite photo of himself, taken by US journalist Edgar Snow in 1936, and the first photo in which he wore a hat, appears everywhere, on plates, 3D keyrings and hand-tinted gold-framed wall hangings.
A large museum has been built near to Mao’s ancestral home, where he grew up - with a number of livestock - in a large mud brick building. The museum offers a selective reading of Mao's legacy, skipping over his 'mistakes' and focusing more on his private life. It features a selection of more than 2,000 personal items shipped to the museum from the Zhongnanhai leader compound in Beijing. Alongside Mao's swimming trunks, dressing gown and jacket is the chair he sat in when he met Richard Nixon. A record player which he used to listen to Hunan opera takes pride of place, and even his car ?a Soviet gift - is on display.
The tragic history of Mao's relatives dominates a wing of the museum. His family had six members who were "revolutionary martyrs", not including the small children he lost. Both his brothers died young in revolutionary activities and his son was killed in the Korean War. Wives were lost to civil war adversaries and other family members were killed by his ideological foes. One of his small sons was lost in the streets in Shanghai. The museum guide was not able to add any more details. "He was lost, he was very young," the guide said.
Having spent lavishly on the museum, local officials have made an interactive display of the battles with the KMT, 3D renderings of the first meeting of the Communist Party in Shanghai and Mao's revolutionary activities in Shaoshan, where ?according to the official line - he first came upon the theory that the peasants should lead the revolution.
Despite a painstaking step-by-step introduction to Mao’s life, there is a jump from 1962 to his death on the September 9, 1976, at ten past midnight. "In 1962 he began making mistakes," the guide said. The only events from these years that are depicted in the museum are China's first nuclear missile test and China's first satellite launch. No mention is made of the Great Leap Forward or Cultural Revolution.
Mao’s death is presented via a collection of sad relics, such as his last comb, his slippers, his patched dressing gown and a jacket that had to be cut from his body.
"Mao used to work from 3pm, until 10 am the next morning. At 10 am he would have his dinner and then sleep," the museum guide said. "He only drank in the winter when it was cold, and he wasn't a good drinker," the guide said, pointing to a display of Mao’s personal bottle of Maotai, a Chinese liquor.
One of the most poignant photos in the display is a picture of Mao when he returned to his hometown in 1959, after more than thirty years. "He thought he wasn’t a good son," the guide said. The photo shows a sombre Mao bowing to his parents' tombs with a bare wooden wreath. "There were no flowers at that time," the guide said. Mao’s mother died in 1919 and his father in 1920.
On Mao's second visit to his hometown in the 1960s a large complex was built for his ten-day stay, and included a large "anti-aircraft cave", pointing to his growing paranoia of an attack by his enemies.
The displays of Mao's life are all dominated by a sign "China only had one Chairman Mao". But now his legacy is represented in a growing list of Maos - branded products coming out of his former home. Mao gongjiu ?a liquor, and Mao gongcha, a tea, Maoti - a special Mao font for Chinese characters, as well as Tang Rui Ren’s chain of Mao restaurants, all pointing to an inheritance he could never have imagined during his long stay in power.
Tourism is fuelled by the endless procession of officials and dignitaries bowing to his statue in Shaoshan and presenting him with all the trappings of ancestor worship. Flower displays cost around RMB 200 (USD 25). For an extra fee two guards can be paid to march ceremoniously to the statue and place the flowers.
As the son of a well-to-do peasant Mao left his one-storey home to liberate his country in the cause of communism. "The peasants now have two storey homes," one local official said. |
