Legends of the Great Helmsman keep growing bigger in his home town
The sight of a bust of Mao Zedong being worshipped alongside deities at shrine in local homes and restaurants is a startling reminder to visitors that they are in Shaoshan , birthplace of the late Chinese leader still affectionately referred to as Chairman Mao 37 years after his death.
The sight of a bust of Mao Zedong being worshipped alongside deities at shrine in local homes and restaurants is a startling reminder to visitors that they are in Shaoshan, birthplace of the late Chinese leader still affectionately referred to as Chairman Mao 37 years after his death.
Visitors to this small city in central Hunan province quickly discover how enthusiastic locals are to share their tales of Mao's super-nature powers they believe can still work magic in people's lives, good or bad.
That the leading figure of the atheist Communist Party is increasingly deified in China is one of the great ironies in a country where many are either lost in an increasingly material culture while others desperately seek spiritual guidance.
Mao Taozhi, a local businesswoman, recalls how locals were stunned to see the sun and the moon at the same time at about 10.30am on December 26, 1993 - Mao's 100th birthday.
As incense burned in front of a bronze Mao statue on her home alter, Mao described how locals were even more startled to wild azaleas, which usually blossom in March, in full bloom on a freezing winter's day.
"People outside of Shaoshan might dismiss such stories as superstition, but everyone here witnessed the events," she said. "We can't explain it, but they really happened on his birthday."
Locals revered Mao for all good he did for the country and people, she said.
But, when asked how she felt about the decade-long Cultural Revolution that Mao launched in 1966 and brought the country to the verge of collapse, she said he was not necessarily aware of what was happening at the time.
Local taxi driver Wang Xinliang told how local people still revered the Great Helmsman because they still feel connected to him and were mesmerised by so many tales of him over the years.
According to one legend, he said, the truck transporting the six-metre bronze statue of Mao a foundry in Nanjing to Shaoshan broke down in Jinggangshan , Jiangxi province, one warm August night in 1993. Despite spending hours trying to fix the brand new truck, mechanics couldn't get it to start.
But when the driver gave it another go the following morning, the vehicle restarted as if nothing had happened, which prompted workers to say that the late chairman wanted to stay the night in Jinggangshan, a revolutionary base where he was once based.
Yang Qijuan, a retired teacher, told another popular tale about Mao. As the story goes, when former president Jiang Zemin travelled to Shaoshan to unveil the giant bronze statue in December 1993, he slipped and stumbled onto his knees when he first tried to removed red silk veil from the statue. It then came off smoothly after Jiang followed advice to bow three times in front of the statue.
"It looked like an accident," Yang said. "But we prefer to believe it was a spell from Mao telling Zhang to show respect."
