"Chairman [Mao] was very strict with his descendants, and he himself was also very incorruptible. Look at our family, among all those descendants of Chairman, can you find anyone who is an official or does business? You can find none! Why? Because Chairman had set a good example." more ›

"This is how a free and democratic New China will be. All governments at various levels all the way to the central government will be elected through popular, fair and anonymous voting. They will be responsible to the people that elected them. It will be a fulfillment of Sun Yat-Sen's Three Principles of the People, of Lincoln's idea of government of the people, by the people, for the people; and Roosevelt's Four Freedoms. This will guarantee the independence, solidarity and unity of the nation, as well as its cooperation with the democratic nations of the world." more ›

Mao Xinyu (毛新宇), the PLA general who is famous for being the grandson of Chairman Mao and little else, has a new part-time gig -- teaching at the Guangzhou University Songtian College. The general will be the new brainwasher instructor for 66 students in Mao Zedong Thought (is anyone surprised?), which, far from dying out, has been enjoying something of a resurgence with the revival of the left in recent years. more ›

In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of well... whatever catches their fancy that week. This week: Three costume ideas to get your communism on for our Shanghaiist Communist Party Party tomorrow! more ›

Online rumors are claiming that Mao Zedong may not have been the author behind the little red book. The Communist handbook may have actually been written by Mao's secretary Hu Qiaomu and other individuals, reports The Independent: "It is rumoured that two reports detailing the ghostwriters' activities were filed with the Central Committee in 1993 and in 1995. So vocal have the sceptics become that a website, which is affiliated to the People's Daily newspaper, ran a statement denying the rumours, quoting a spokesman from China's ideological heavyweights - the Party Literature Research Centre, the Party History Research Centre and the Party School of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China. The spokesman said Mr Hu had spoken on many occasions of how Mao would help him edit the articles and how he had learnt his poetic style from the Chairman."
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Taking a gander at the various viewpoints on China's recent large-scale campaigns, Jeffrey Wasserstrom finds similar threads through the old leaders much more than they mirror anything Mao Zedong did. more ›

The Economist has posted an interview with "Mao's translator," Sidney Rittenberg (李敦白). Arriving in China in 1944, Rittenberg befriended Mao, Zhou Enlai and other top Communists. During his long involvement with the Chinese Communist Party, Rittenberg was imprisoned twice. The first time in 1949, after being falsely fingered as a "spy" by Joseph Stalin, he spent six years in solitary confinement and the second time in 1968, for ten years when labelled a "May 16^th element" (五一六分子). more ›

Zhejiang car maker Geely is in the headlines this week for its acquisition of the loss-making Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo. The deal could turn out to be a win-win situation -- Geely could turn around the Swedish premium brand on the back of rising demand from a strong Chinese market, and Volvo, with its reputation for safety could help lift Geely's brand in global markets.
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A Danish-Norwegian artist's latest project involves her baby dressed up as the "most evil historical figures of the 20th century." Among the costumes include Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein and... Chairman Mao. more ›

Ah, Mao Zedong, so much about your life has been written in the annals of history. But there's always room for a little more, right? While you may have known that Mao loved spicy food because of his Hunanese roots, did you know that red braised pork (hongshao rou) was his favorite dish? Or that his consumption of the spicy meat is considered to be the the "'brain food' which provided Mao with the wits to defeat his enemies?" more ›

• Changsha sculptors are carving a giant 100-foot-tall statue of Mao ZeDong out of granite, but many are complaining it doesn't look like Mao. Netizens say it reminds them of the Sphinx while one British paper has drawn a comparison to Lord Byron. [Telegraph]
• Even more than wanting to see the pictures from Taiwan's largest gay parade ever, you probably want to hear what Chinese netizen reactions were on it. Lucky we have Chinasmack, eh? [Chinasmack]
• Get to know a little more about the "Father of Chinese Aerospace" (aka "Rocket King") Qian xuesen, who helped launch the P.R.C.'s missile program after, ironically, leaving the U.S. over accusations of having Communist ties. He passed away this weekend. [Wall Street Journal]

One report we've enjoyed is Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera's highlight on the Long March (on Youtube, unfortunately), when Mao led his forces on a strategic military retreat through China away from the pursuing Kuomingtang forces. The march, which started in Jiangxi, helped propel Mao Zedong to the forefront to the party. more ›

• China's censorship arms race escalates [RConversation] "Last week the China Digital Times reported that the photo above (click here to view full size original) has been making the rounds in Chinese blogs and chatrooms. It is an image of a "computer science float" for Thursday's National Day parade, onto which somebody has photoshopped a screenshot of the Internet Explorer error message familiar to anybody who has ever tried to access a blocked website in China: "This page cannot be displayed." As the 60th birthday of the People's Republic of China approaches, Internet users in China are complaining that the Internet has become even more difficult to use than ever before. Not only has the number of blocked websites increased, but the most popular censorship circumvention techniques and technologies have come under attack."
• 'City of Life and Death' wins Spanish film award [AP] "Chinese director Lu Chuan's film "City of Life and Death" has won the top prize at Spain's San Sebastian Film Festival. The movie, a sensitive and balanced depiction of a traumatic moment in China's history known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking, deals with a six-week period in 1937-38 following the Japanese capture of the Chinese city of Nanking."
• Mao's revolution at 60: He wouldn't recognize it [The Globe and Mail] "This Thursday, as tanks and missiles roll through Tiananmen Square in Beijing and fireworks explode overhead to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Communist China, a retired factory worker will gather with her children and grandchildren in this historic city on China's booming east coast, and sigh a little - regret mixed with relief - at what those six decades have brought them."

• Grameen China & Alibaba’s True Ambition [CNReviews] "Grameen Trust of Bangladesh and Alibaba Group just announced the launch of the Grameen China initiative, that will be run by the Grameen Trust, with an initial charitable gift of $5 million from Alibaba Group. The New York Times highlighted this gift as a sign of a shift by Chinese corporations toward charitable giving… While altruism may be a motivating factor, Alibaba also stands to gain unique insights into serving the very poor by partnering with the Grameen Trust. I believe that this announcement represents an important strategic thrust-not just corporate philanthropy-that belies Alibaba’s intention to be the dominant B2B trading platform serving small and medium sized businesses (SMB/SMEs) globally."
• Can China's Economic Recovery Last? [Newsweek] "In response to the economic crisis, China deployed massive fiscal boosts, aggressive expansions of credit, foreign-exchange interventions, and tax rebates for the export sector. The short-term results have been impressive. The Asian Development Bank projects China's GDP to grow by 8.2 percent in 2009 and 8.9 percent in 2010—up significantly from forecasts made earlier in the year. The result: job creation. As The New York Times pointed out last week, the image of workers streaming back into Chinese factories stands in sharp contrast to the United States, where the unemployment rate continues to march toward double digits. During this week's G20 summit in Pittsburgh, China will have more weight to throw around on everything from climate change to macroeconomic imbalances. How should we interpret China's swift recovery from the financial crisis and what it means for the future? Here the consensus breaks down into different camps."
• "The Chinese people have stood up": The famous Mao slogan, that he never even used [SCMP] "The slogan is a manifesto of the "Chinese dream", which aims to bring back the power and prosperity that the country had historically enjoyed. The propaganda machine has created many slogans in the past six decades, but this is one of the few that struck, and remain in, the hearts of ordinary people… Yet there is one problem. Mao did not say it in Tiananmen Square. He did not say it on October 1, 1949, either. And some historians say that - like "Let them eat cake", which Marie Antoinette never said, and "Play it again, Sam", which Humphrey Bogart never said - Mao never said the quote attributed to him."

Lineage lovers take heed: another Mao has been added to the political mix! According to Singtao News, Mao Xinyu, the grandson of Mao Zedong, has become the youngest general in the Military at the ripe age of thirty nine. Besides being the youngest man to be appointed to such high office, he is also the first general to be born after 1970, which seems to explain his Aretha Franklin-eqsue hand movements. more ›

Today was the opening of "建国大业," which seems to have changed its English-language name at some point from "The Great Cause of China's Foundation" to the less bumbling, but also less fun title of "The Founding of a Republic." The movie began showing on theaters everywhere at 2pm today, according to Sina. more ›

Gosh, is there anything we love more than old photographs of China? Chopsticks Café & Bar up in Beijing is organizing an exhibition featuring photos from 1890 to the 1960s. The pictures were organized by the two owners of Beijing postcards, who gathered them over the course of a decade from both private collections abroad and from Chinese flea and antique markets. more ›

Yes, it's been a very serious day, which means we need to wash it down tonight with something a little more silly - like this ad about making money multiply. Hopefully you're already at home because this vid could be considered a little NOT SAFE FOR WORK. Those crazy German ad companies - what will they think of next? Also, watch for a Chairman Mao cameo near the end. All we can say is... Don't do it! He'll either confiscate or tear up any money babies you make after the first one! more ›

... and spotted doing menial tasks like sweeping the roads, picking up the trash, cooking and putting up pictures of Chairman Mao. No, really, it's just the Red Laowai in his latest incarnation. Tired of singing Chinese commie propaganda songs, he became Jay Chou for a while before donning on his uniform again to become Comrade Lei Feng, the soldier in whose footsteps the youth of China have been indoctrinated to follow. In this latest... more ›

We didn't know whether to laugh or to cry when we saw this one — a shirtless white guy with a picture of Mao Zedong in the background singing patriotic songs such as “My China Heart"《我的中国心》, "Without the Communist Party, there is no New China"《没有共产党就没有新中国》and "Oriental Red"《东方红》which can be best described as a love song to Chairman Mao. He looks like he's got a chest that would make the ladies swoon and the guys jealous, but apart from that — boy, does he make our hair stair on end! more ›

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's meeting with the Dalai Lama [Reuters]:

"It's gross interference in China's internal affairs. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition... This disgusting conduct has seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and undermined Sino-Canadian relations... The Chinese side demands the Canadian side ... correct its mistaken conduct, immediately adopt effective measures to eliminate adverse impact (from the meeting) and stop winking at or supporting anti-Chinese activities by Tibetan forces."

In this day and age, you can define "torture" however you want to, and for a long time, we considered the practice of inputting Chinese characters on a Mac to fulfill our definition. OS X has a built-in simplified Chinese input that does the job, but doesn't really hold a candle to any of the Windows XP input methods—and when Sogou came out with their input method, and Google copied it, we considered that battle to be over. more ›

The Chinese Communist Party, the world's largest political party with some 64 million members opened its 17th Party Congress yesterday. With over 2,200 delegates from all over the nation, the congress was opened by parliament chief Wu Bangguo with the national anthem, followed by a moment of silence marked for Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun and other "martyrs of the revolution" before President Hu Jintao began addressing the party. A great sense of expectation there as you can see on the video now that the party has just begun, but as the days go by, we will no doubt see more and more of these scenes instead. more ›

Are there any Living Buddhas among the enlightened readership of this blog? You have been informed: With immediate effect, all your reincarnations must receive government approval, and if not, they will be deemed "illegal or invalid" by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). more ›

Chinese cash helps former Portuguese colony overtake US city's gaming revenues. more ›

Remember that Chairman Mao bag that you...your "friend" bought the first time you came to China? These bags are found all over China and they are easy to spot. The bags are dark green with a red star or red portrait of Chairman Mao on the flap. Usually, the bags will contain some quote from Mao's The Little Red Book (the second best selling book in the world, by the way), written in red Chinese... more ›

This is a snippet from Reuter's report on yesterday afternoon's case of vandalism in Beijing's Forbidden City. more ›

Here at Shanghaiist, we think the Letters from China blog has been busy carving their own blogging niche by reporting on yet another novelty condom available here in China. Not content with sharing the news that police warrant card and Lei Feng frangers were to be found in China, they have now identified the big bopper — Chairman Mao condoms: more ›