Chairman Mao’s body was embalmed after his death, despite his wishes for cremation. His preserved body is displayed in an ornate mausoleum in Tiananmen Square, which was constructed with materials from all over China. Mao’s body lies in state during the day and is taken underground at night. The practice of preserving state figures has been around for thousands of years, and Mao’s body joins the ranks of other preserved leaders such as Lenin, Kim Il-sung, Stalin, and Ho Chi Minh.
Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and Chairman of the Central Committee from 1945 until his death in 1976, was one of the most influential political figures of the modern era. Her body was embalmed after her death and is now on permanent display in Tiananmen Square.
Chairman Mao’s corpse was preserved despite his own feelings before his death. He famously once said: “To chant ‘long life’ is to contradict natural laws. Everyone must die… after people die, they shouldn’t be allowed to take up more space. They should be cremated. I will take the initiative. We should all be burned after death, turned into ashes and used as fertilizer.” Given his feelings about bodies taking up space, it’s quite a twist of fate that Mao’s corpse takes up more space than most bodies on earth. After his death of a heart attack in 1976, a cult of personality arose around him, and the display of his remains forms a central focus of that cult.
Preserving the president’s corpse was no easy task for the Party after his death, as China at the time lacked the expertise or technology to embalm a body to the level needed to ensure its longevity. As China split with the Soviet Union, industry experts had to turn to Vietnam. The Vietnamese communist regime had already acquired intelligence and supplies from the Soviets to preserve their key leader, Ho Chi Minh, even though he did not wish to be embalmed. Chairman Mao’s body is displayed in an ornate mausoleum. The mausoleum itself is a marvel of design and furnishings.
People from all over China took part in its design, and it famously uses parts from all over the country: pine from Shaanxi, rock from Mount Everest, pine from Jiangxi, quartz from the Kunlun Mountains, sawdust from Xinjiang, porcelain from Guangdong, granite of Sichuan and even Taiwan Strait land. More than 700,000 people took part in the construction, symbolically lifting a brick or putting something in its place.
Upon entering the mausoleum, one sees a huge statue of Mao sitting in an armchair, in imitation of the famous Lincoln Memorial. Chairman Mao’s body lies in state inside a huge crystal sarcophagus and is constantly surrounded by flowers. His body lies in a state during the day, so that visitors can parade and say thanks, pay their respects or just watch, and at night his body is placed in an elevator and taken underground in a sealed chamber. earthquake.
The practice of keeping state figures preserved for posterity has been around for thousands of years, with the most notable cases being those of the ancient Egyptians. Only in recent years, however, have they been able to be sufficiently well preserved to be exhibited in their entirety. Chairman Mao’s body joins the ranks of Lenin, Kim Il-sung, Stalin and Ho Chi Min as the leaders whose remains have been fully preserved for viewing.
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