Tidbits From the World

The first time I saw Tian’anmen Square was in a taxi that was taking me to a hospital (where a sick traveller needed me as a translator). Then, as we were riding, all of a sudden, it appeared right next to me to the right side of the taxi.

I felt so excited! I had that strange feeling that always comes to me when I visit a famous place for the first time. It’s as if I was entering the TV, the photo, the magazine, the book or any other image from which I’d always known this place. I was finally there, I could see it in 3D, see all the parts that are usually omitted in photographs, and I could answer such trivial questions as “what stands in front of Tian’anmen Gate?” Now I just had to turn my head and I could see. (I didn’t take a picture of it, so if you want to see it, you need to come there!) I had that same feeling before, when I first came to Manhattan, when I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Red Square and the Ermitage as well as other less famous places, but equally important to me, which I had known only through photographs before seeing them in person.

Before I left Beijing, I visited the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. I had already visited the Mausoleum of Lenin two years prior, so I could notice a few differences between both.

First of all: queues. Visitors to Lenin’s Mausoleum form a relatively long queue which moves slowly.

However in China, the queue is incredibly long, but moves fast. It takes around half an hour to get from the starting point of the queue to the end, at the entrance to the Mausoleum. I estimated that any time there are about 5000 people queuing. They come from all over China: grand parents and their grand children, parents and their children, tour groups, foreign tourists,…

The Mausoleum of Mao is much bigger and more imposing than Lenin’s. It was built in 1976-1977, after the death of the Chairman. The intention was probably to build a more imposing Mausoleum which would surpass Lenin’s in all aspect. It was built during the Sino-Soviet Split after all.

“毛主席纪念堂” (Máozhuxi Jìniántáng) = Temple to the Memory of Chairman Mao (litteral translation).

Inside, there are two rooms (in Lenin’s Mausoleum there is only one open to the public). In the first room there is an immense statue of Mao, sitting and smilling, showing a sympathetic, paternal and reassuring face. Thereafter we enter the second room where Mao’s body is lying. He lies in an open coffin. Over him, there is a red flag with yellow hammer and sickle printed on it. You can see this symbol at the base of the coffin too. A glass dome is placed on top of the coffin, so we see Mao through this glass. All we see of Mao is his head. His eyes are closed, as if he were asleep; his sparse, grey hair are combed in the same way as in the 70s. Behind him stand four armed guards. Mao’s coffin is located inside a room with glass walls. Visitors walk outside the room and see Mao through the glass wall, at approximatively 3 metres from the corpse.

As in Lenin Mausoleum, one cannot bring a camera inside, nor can one take a photo with his cellphone. You need to deposit your bag in a building located a little far away from the Mausoleum. Also, you need an ID proof to enter (ID card for the Chinese, passport for the foreigners). This rule is often heard from the speakers around the Mausoleum, but only in Chinese. The first time you see the rule written in English is at the entrance to the Mausoleum, that is after queuing for at least half an hour. If you can produce an ID card at the entrance, you will be denied entry. One also has to wear if not formal clothes, at least “respectful” clothing.  Men cannot wear sandals and women cannot be too sexy.

That was my last tourist activity in China before departure.

On the cone: “和谐社会” (héxiéshèhuì) Harmonious Society.

October 1st was party time in China! This year was the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. An impressing parade took place on Tian’anmen Square. For those who miss the good old days when the Soviet military would parade on the Red Square in the USSR, October 1st was the time or never to witness such a display of military might, of soldiers marching in perfect unison, of communist rhetoric being displayed as art, a show that only communist nations know how to do, as one Chinese told me: ” Only the Soviets, the North Koreans and us can do that!”.

I could not go to Beijing for the celebrations, so I watched the parade on television. On the picture, you can see a huge portrait of former president Deng Xiaoping, probably moved by a car, and behind him there was his slogan: “Pushing reform and opening up”. Four of the presidents, from Mao to Hu Jintao had their portrait displayed on the square and “their” slogan was closely following behind. Mao’s slogan was “The Chinese people have stood up!”; Jiang Zemin’s was: “Adhering to the important thoughts of the three represents”; and finally that of the actual chairman, Hu Jintao: “Implementing scientific outlook on development”.

Hu Jintao’s portrait.

And Hu Jintao himself, in a Mao suit.

Thousands of children (30000 according to a professor) were holding big cards, some were red, some were yellow or other colors. By flipping the cards to the correct color, the children would form words and slogans. Here: 社会主义好 (Communism is good).

“富强民主文明和谐” Prosperous and Powerful Democracy, Civilized and Harmonious Society.

“时刻准备着” Semper Paratus (Always Prepared).

“明天更美好” Tomorrow will be even more beautiful.

At the end of the parade, about thirty floats passed by, each one representing one province. There was Shanxi, Sichuan, Guangdong… and the very last province that everyone thought had been forgotten…: on the picture you can see the characters “Tai” and “Wan”.

On Taiwan’s float, there was some symbols of the “Rebel Island”, one of them the Taipei 101 tower, that was once the highest standing building in the world.

“Russia is probably the country [among the countries in the former Soviet Bloc] which least looks communist”. This is what I was told by a fellow tourist in Moldova, who thought that Russia, being the richest country in the former USSR, would be the most “capitalist-looking” of all the countries in the former USSR (strictly in an esthetical and superficial point of view).

But as I was visiting Russia, that supposition proved false. It is still possible to find a lot of statues of Lenin in Russia, which is impossible to see in countries in the former USSR (where Vladimir Lenin is considered as a ruthless dictator).

Vladimir Lenin’s bust in Leningradskaya train station in Moscow.

The oldest statue of Lenin that is still standing in Russia.

A statue of Karl Marx and the motto of the former Soviet Union (Workers of the world, unite!) in Moscow.

A slogan on top of an old building. “Glory to labor!” in St-Petersburg.

University of Moscow, a building with a typical stalinian architecture.

Another Stalinian building in Moscow.

The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, looks like the buildings that one finds in Moscow.

In China, the Communist Party is still ruling the country, therefore the country is still officially communist. One cannot really find statues at the effigy of old leaders, but at the Tian’anmen Square in Beijing, there is one portrait of Mao.

Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China.

An old slogan written during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s in a hutong (typical historical area in Beijing). It reads “The ideas of Chairman Mao will survive during the eternity!”