MAUSOLEUM of MAO ZEDONG , Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
THE CHAIRMAN MAO MEMORIAL HALL
The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (Chinese: 毛主席纪念堂; pinyin: Máo Zhǔxí Jìniàntáng), commonly known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, or the Mao Mausoleum, is the final resting place of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943, and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945, until his death.
Although Mao had wished to be cremated, his body was embalmed, and construction of a mausoleum began shortly after his death. This highly popular attraction is located in the middle of Tiananmen Square. On this site had previously stood the Gate of China, the southern (main) gate of the Imperial City during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The remains of the Great Helmsman, as he is sometimes known, are on display for public viewing. People line up by the hundreds of feet every day to see the former chairman, many paying tribute to him with flowers that can be rented at the entrance on the north side. There is a souvenir shop at the exit on the south side.
CONSTRUCTION
Soon after Mao's death, on September 9, 1976, construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on November 24, 1976, The mausoleum was completed on May 24, 1977.
According to China Pictorial, Issue 9, 1977, people throughout China designed and built the mausoleum. Material from all over China was used for the construction: granite from Sichuan Province, porcelain plates from Guangdong Province, pine trees from Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, saw-wort seeds from the Tian Shan Mountains in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, earth from the quake-stricken Tangshan, color pebbles from Nanjing, milky quartz from the Kunlun Mountains, pine logs from Jiangxi Province, and rock samples from Mount Everest. Water and sand from the Taiwan Straits were also used to symbolically emphasize the People's Republic of China's claims over Taiwan. 700,000 people from different provinces, autonomous regions, and nationalities did symbolic voluntary labour.
EMBALMING
At Mao's death, China did not have the embalming technologies needed to preserve Mao's body for public display. Since it was impossible for China to obtain the necessary technologies from the USSR in the wake of the Sino-Soviet split, China asked for help from Vietnam, which had learned the trade from the USSR when Ho Chi Minh's body was preserved for public display, again contrary to his final wishes. Perhaps reflecting gratitude for Chinese support during the Vietnam War, Vietnam passed on the expertise learnt from the USSR. However, the effectiveness of such practice is subject to debate because there is significant controversy over whether the body is real [citation needed]. Visitors have noted the exceedingly waxy appearance of the corpse [citation needed], as well as the speed at which visitors are ushered through the room [citation needed]. The body is on display for at most a few hours each day - with further restrictions during summer.
CRYSTAL COFFIN
Although the embalming of the body was solved by learning the Soviet trade from Vietnam, displaying the body proved a more difficult problem to solve. Because the crystal coffin for Ho Chi Minh was directly provided by the USSR, Vietnam could not pass on the necessary expertise to China. As a result, China was forced to develop the know-how themselves. This proved to be a much greater task with huge difficulties.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MAUSOLEUM of MAO ZEDONG , Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
THE CHAIRMAN MAO MEMORIAL HALL
The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (Chinese: 毛主席纪念堂; pinyin: Máo Zhǔxí Jìniàntáng), commonly known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, or the Mao Mausoleum, is the final resting place of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943, and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945, until his death.
Although Mao had wished to be cremated, his body was embalmed, and construction of a mausoleum began shortly after his death. This highly popular attraction is located in the middle of Tiananmen Square. On this site had previously stood the Gate of China, the southern (main) gate of the Imperial City during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The remains of the Great Helmsman, as he is sometimes known, are on display for public viewing. People line up by the hundreds of feet every day to see the former chairman, many paying tribute to him with flowers that can be rented at the entrance on the north side. There is a souvenir shop at the exit on the south side.
CONSTRUCTION
Soon after Mao's death, on September 9, 1976, construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on November 24, 1976, The mausoleum was completed on May 24, 1977.
According to China Pictorial, Issue 9, 1977, people throughout China designed and built the mausoleum. Material from all over China was used for the construction: granite from Sichuan Province, porcelain plates from Guangdong Province, pine trees from Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, saw-wort seeds from the Tian Shan Mountains in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, earth from the quake-stricken Tangshan, color pebbles from Nanjing, milky quartz from the Kunlun Mountains, pine logs from Jiangxi Province, and rock samples from Mount Everest. Water and sand from the Taiwan Straits were also used to symbolically emphasize the People's Republic of China's claims over Taiwan. 700,000 people from different provinces, autonomous regions, and nationalities did symbolic voluntary labour.
EMBALMING
At Mao's death, China did not have the embalming technologies needed to preserve Mao's body for public display. Since it was impossible for China to obtain the necessary technologies from the USSR in the wake of the Sino-Soviet split, China asked for help from Vietnam, which had learned the trade from the USSR when Ho Chi Minh's body was preserved for public display, again contrary to his final wishes. Perhaps reflecting gratitude for Chinese support during the Vietnam War, Vietnam passed on the expertise learnt from the USSR. However, the effectiveness of such practice is subject to debate because there is significant controversy over whether the body is real [citation needed]. Visitors have noted the exceedingly waxy appearance of the corpse [citation needed], as well as the speed at which visitors are ushered through the room [citation needed]. The body is on display for at most a few hours each day - with further restrictions during summer.
CRYSTAL COFFIN
Although the embalming of the body was solved by learning the Soviet trade from Vietnam, displaying the body proved a more difficult problem to solve. Because the crystal coffin for Ho Chi Minh was directly provided by the USSR, Vietnam could not pass on the necessary expertise to China. As a result, China was forced to develop the know-how themselves. This proved to be a much greater task with huge difficulties.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia