Mao Zedong joins the pantheon of China's folk gods
Well, I guess there were gods of disease and plague, too ...
Come on, make a wish to Chairman Mao," said a woman to her two young children as they bowed to a 6m bronze statue of Mao Zedong in his home village of Shaoshan.
"We come here every year to pay our respect -- Chairman Mao is a great man," said the woman in her thirties, one of hundreds of tourists who flock daily to the birthplace of Mao, who died 30 years ago on Sept. 9, to pray at his statue, believing his divine power can grant them peace and protection.
Mao, architect of the Cultural Revolution that killed millions and took China to the brink of collapse, is still revered by many across China as a god-like figure.
At a family-run restaurant in the southern village, relatives played mahjong next to a life-sized bronze statue of Mao beneath a poster depicting the "great leader" speaking to the patriarch during a visit in the late 1950s.
Asked why the family offer incense to the figure, one woman said: "It is a show of respect -- after he died, he became a god and so are his parents."
Rest of the story here
Come on, make a wish to Chairman Mao," said a woman to her two young children as they bowed to a 6m bronze statue of Mao Zedong in his home village of Shaoshan.
"We come here every year to pay our respect -- Chairman Mao is a great man," said the woman in her thirties, one of hundreds of tourists who flock daily to the birthplace of Mao, who died 30 years ago on Sept. 9, to pray at his statue, believing his divine power can grant them peace and protection.
Mao, architect of the Cultural Revolution that killed millions and took China to the brink of collapse, is still revered by many across China as a god-like figure.
At a family-run restaurant in the southern village, relatives played mahjong next to a life-sized bronze statue of Mao beneath a poster depicting the "great leader" speaking to the patriarch during a visit in the late 1950s.
Asked why the family offer incense to the figure, one woman said: "It is a show of respect -- after he died, he became a god and so are his parents."
Rest of the story here