Late leader Mao Zedong's birthplace in Shaoshan, Hunan Province was tranquil
yesterday as the nation prepared to mark today's 110th anniversary of the birth
of the founder of the People's Republic of China.
A visiter looks
at photos of late leader Mao Zedong at a exhibition in Shanghai,
Tuesday, December 23.
But appearances can be
deceptive, as Shaoshan railway station has been seeing an increase in passengers
arriving from all over the country, coming to visit the late leader's native
place.
Mao (December 26, 1893 - September 10, 1976) was the founder of the Communist
Party of China and led the nation's first generation of leaders after the
People's Republic of China was founded in 1949.
"Many people are now showing interest in learning more about the great man,''
said 65-year-old He Bingyu, a retired worker from the station.
"The 21-kilometre-long railway quickly become one of the busiest of its kind
in China after it was completed in 1967. The trains were always crowded with
visitors to the residence,'' he recalled. "As a result, one more train had to be
added to the original two to share the load.''
A similar situation has occurred at the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall on the
Tian'anmen Square in Beijing.
An official at the hall refuted reports that the influence of Mao among young
Chinese has largely diminished and almost all visitors to the hall are about or
below middle age.
"There are lots of young people, not necessarily organized by their schools,
visiting the hall to show their respect to the great man, who has led the
country from war and poverty to independence and prosperity," he said.
The official's words were echoed by 20-year-old Chen Di from Southwest
China's Chongqing.
Though no adorer of Mao like her father and grandfather, Chen has found
occasions to turn to Mao's famous "little red book.''
A computer science student at the University of Wales in Britain, Chen said
Mao's instruction to "study hard and make progress every day'' was worth
following.
Acknowledging that she had never memorized Mao's quotations, Chen said that
Mao's teachings, still inscribed on a few school walls in China today, was
impressed in her mind as a schoolgirl.
"As a student from China, I hope my efforts can help me win respect from my
foreign teachers and schoolmates,'' she said. "This quotation of Mao's is just
what I need now. I feel encouraged every time I think of it.''
In the 1960s and 70s, China witnessed large-scale admiration for Mao, which
sociologist Yu Ping interpreted as god-like worship.
"Mao's teachings were printed into handy, little red pamphlets for the whole
country to study and even to learn by heart," he said.
MAO: Influence lives on
With a circulation of approximately 5 billion copies in different languages,
the little red pamphlets, called the "Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong," were
an international best seller in the 1960s.
Yu believed Mao's military, philosophical and literary teachings still
influence China.
For example, many foreigners have learned through their personal experience
of the influence of Mao on modern China's economic and social development.
Gerhard Wahl, a German maglev expert, said China's current economic success
was an invaluable legacy from Chairman Mao and other late Chinese leaders.
Wahl, a 64-year-old expert from Germany's Siemens AG company, has served as
the chief German co-ordinator for the construction of the maglev line in
Shanghai, which is soon to go into operation following a one-year trial.
"I heard of Mao when I was a middle school student, but I know more about Mao
and China during my three years of work in China,'' Wahl said.
Wahl said that he knows little about Mao's political thought but he regarded
Mao as a man of "integrity, strong will and fearless of difficulties.''
He valued Mao's dauntless spirit that is critically important for a nation,
saying that the spirit could not be discarded and ignored.
