As the people filtered toward the glass case, a glowing orange ruptured the darkness of the room. All eyes focused on Mao's face. It looked like a doll's with enough luminous, peachy makeup to plaster over 34 years of slow decomposition. Even his body seemed small and harmless. Who would expect that the figure once ruled the world's most populous country, instituted sweeping reforms, and instilled fear in many?
Viewing the body of Mao has thus-far been the highlight of my day.
Lauren, Jane, Alysha, Kelsey, Andrea, Jason, and I awoke at 3:30 this morning to experience the raising of the flag and playing of the Chinese national anthem in Tianamen Square at daybreak. After scaling a gate to exit our university and waking up a taxi driver who slept in the back seat of his cab, we sped to the scene of the ceremony. A few hundred people beat us. We jockeyed for positions with good views, but ended up watching the events unfold through the digital camera screens of people in front of us who filmed the tradition (enjoyable, but not worth the early wake up).
Afterward we wandered in search of breakfast food and diversions to kill time before the 8 a.m. opening of the Mao Mausoleum. We found diversions mostly in the form of the adorable Chinese puppies locals walked in the park!
By 8 a.m. we returned to the mausoleum for the viewing. We all felt glad we waited downtown to see Mao's preserved body, and glad that we can choose cremation for ourselves. :)
2 comments:
When I read 'Mao Zedung'in your blog, I wondered if he was the Mao Tse-tung that I remembered from Chinese historical events (now history). Checking out Wikipedia, I saw his picture and confirmed that they were indeed the same person. But then why the name change? In fact, this likely explains why a number of Chinese names seem to be different than I learned.
Well, it's all in the transcription. Using the Pinyin transcription method: Máo Zédōng; using the Wade-Giles method: Mao Tse-tung,
Pinyin IS the most common standard for representing Standard Mandarin in the Latin alphabet today.
Wade-Giles WAS the main system of transcription in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century, used in several standard reference books and in all books about China published before 1979.
You learn something new everyday.
Us commies love our leaders. Even after they pretty much uprooted the country's cultural foundation and tore its economy asunder.
Like they say, "Communism: it's a party!"
Post a Comment