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From Chairman to god: Milking the Mao
cash cow
By Wong Kwok Wah
SHAOSHAN, China - The cold front which crawled
over the central part of Hunan province was very timely.
Last Thursday's weather would have been described by the
poets as "miserable wind and bitter rains". And
Shaoshan, the birthplace of the late Chinese leader Mao
Zedong, saw no reason to celebrate.
"The number
of visitors has been dropping over recent years,"
complained a taxi driver from Changsha, the provincial
capital. It is advisable for individual travelers to
hire a taxi for a day trip to what was the Mecca of
China in the days of Mao Zedong, as public transport
between Changsha and Shaoshan is infrequent and
uncomfortable and stops early in the afternoon. Tens of
thousands of enthusiasts made the pilgrimage during
Mao's years, but the figure has dwindled recently.
"The past week saw a small return of business,"
said the taxi driver. "Thanks to the party congress." As
he recalled, on November 8, when the 16th Communist
Party Congress began, several "cadre-looking" men from
the northeast hired his service and said they chose that
particular day for a pilgrimage. "They said they were to
burn incense for Chairman [Mao]."
The cadres
were certainly not there to celebrate anything. Nor were
most of the residents and party members of Shaoshan and
environs in festive mood. A few scattered red banners in
the city of Xiangtan, under which Shaoshan is a village
township, were the sole advertisement for the ongoing
party congress. Nothing was seen at all extolling the
"Three Represents" theory of the then incumbent party
chief, Jiang Zemin. The atmosphere was completely
different from that of the provincial capital 100
kilometers away, where banners of celebration
hung at every street corner.
For the man in
the street in either Xiangtan or rustic Shaoshan, the
most significant symbol of the party congress was the
final retirement of their townsman Hua Guofeng, Mao's
designated successor who reigned between 1976 and 1978.
"Jiang is far meaner than Deng Xiaoping,"
murmured an aged news hawker at Xiangtan. "When Deng
overthrew Chairman Hua, he made it clear that Hua should
forever be treated with honor and be a member of the
Central Committee for life. Now Jiang has taken away
this honor just bluntly. He did not even bother to pay a
courtesy call. We Xiangtan folks are very unhappy."
As for village folk living around the former
home of Mao in Shaoshan, their greatest fear was that
Mao's importance would be minimized as Jiang resolutely
diluted the revolutionary character of the party. The
fiscal implications of fewer and fewer visitors to
Shaoshan were stark.
At least the local
government is sincere in maintaining the historical
position of the late chairman. A theme park on Mao is
being developed, with the aim of bringing back pilgrims.
Yet the local government may find it difficult to sell
Mao's image and concepts when the whole country has
taken a capitalistic turn.
The local peasants
are much smarter. They have chosen to ignore theories
and concepts, and to immortalize Mao as a deity instead.
Religious rites have been conducted to sanctify
souvenirs, ensuring buyers of Mao's protection and
guidance. Visitors are also encouraged to offer wine at
the tombs of Mao's grandparents. For a price of 10 yuan
(US$1.20), one can inhale the "spiritual air" before the
tombs and get oneself "totally refreshed".
The
scene was funnier at the joint tomb of Mao's parents.
Despite a notice forbidding the burning of incense and
stepping on the tomb, local grannies were selling
bunches of incense for half a yuan. Incense burners were
also encouraged to spend a minute standing at the center
of the circular tomb to listen to the resonance effect.
"There was no resonance before 1993. That year the
bronze statue of the Chairman was erected and afterwards
this resonance began. The Chairman is now back in
Shaoshan."
Perhaps this was the last thing Mao
would have predicted for himself, having spent his whole
life leading the country in an atheist revolution.
Back in Changsha, a few cadres were noticed
wearing Mao breast-pins as they watched the TV news
about the party congress having concluded. It was, they
said, a special day when Mao should be particularly
remembered. They did not say why.
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co
Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
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