Burning Mao
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 05.14.07 | 6:14 PM ET
You have to hand it to Chinese authorities. Just a day after the giant must-see portrait of Mao Zedong hanging in Tiananmen Square was damaged when a man threw a burning object at it Saturday, they replaced it with an identical portrait. Which makes you wonder: Just how many giant Mao portraits do they have waiting in the wings? It’s downright Warholesque. According to Reuters, a man from Xinjiang has been held in the case. (Something tells me he hasn’t read China’s current best-selling book.) If he’s convicted of vandalizing the portrait and punished like one man who attacked the painting in 1989, he could go to prison for years.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Confucius Craze’ Sweeps China
* China to Female Taxi Drivers: No Chunky Earrings!
* Beijing Visitors May Get Some ‘Mixed Elbow with Garlic Mud’ After All
Photo by yeowatzup via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Jim Benning is the editor and co-founder of World Hum.
Marilyn Terrell 05.17.07 | 8:10 AM ET
Mao’s gigantic portrait above the Tiananmen Square gate gets replaced every year just before National Day, October 1, so it’s always fresh and shiny: http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/May/168779.htm