The Hindu : Chairman Mao is still revered

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003

International

International

Chairman Mao is still revered

By Amit Baruah

BEIJING June 23. The Great Hall of the People dominates Tiananmen Square in the heart of this historic capital city. The Indian tricolour flutters along with the Chinese red flag as the Indian and Chinese Prime Ministers, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Wen Jiabao, hold their first-ever meeting inside the Great Hall of the People.

As this correspondent saunters towards the mausoleum of late Chairman Mao Zedong, overlooking Tiananmen Square, life in SARS-affected Beijing is almost normal. As traffic is thin, residents say, movement is much easier.

Modern Beijing has all the flashiness of a western city. As the Prime Minister's delegation drove from the airport to their hotel, they could not have missed the impressive expressways and infrastructure that the Chinese have created.

Outside the Mao mausoleum, there is a short line of people wanting to get inside. It is almost as if these people are on a pilgrimage. As I join the crowd waiting to go inside, it is clear that these are not people from Beijing; most of them seem from outside. Their "less flashy" attire would suggest it.

As this correspondent goes in (one renminbi is quickly exchanged for a flyer), the crowd separates into neat lines of two. Two guards stand near Chairman Mao's embalmed body as we file past the body of the great helmsman. Free markets may be in, but Chairman Mao's mausoleum is still a spot that attracts some people. The flyer describes the late communist as China's most important leader — even as his portrait adorns currency notes here.

A short, but impressive guard of honour was accorded to Mr. Vajpayee by the Chinese Government before he commenced talks with his counterpart, Mr. Wen, a short distance from the Mao mausoleum. As China marches forward in the direction of free markets and free trade, some Chinese still revere their late supreme leader. Even if it is part of a pilgrimage.

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