On the eve of the 130th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth, thousands of people from all over the country spontaneously gathered in the square in his birthplace of Shaoshan, Central China's Hunan Province to commemorate the late leader. The uplifted crowd waved flags, laid flowers, and sang together. Photo: Cui Fandi/GT

Stepping off the train arriving at Shaoshan, central China’s Hunan Province, a bursting passion among the huge crowd was immediately felt. Shaoshan South Railway Station, which is usually not a busy station, was crowded by visitors from all over the country on Monday, a day before the 130th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong. Alongside the roads, many stores and organizations put out slogans to celebrate the day. 

Spontaneous celebrations and commemorative activities organized by the masses began on Monday afternoon. Tens of thousands of people from all over the country flocked to Mao Zedong's birthplace to gather on this special day. A reporter from the Global Times saw visitors of all ages on Mao Zedong Square in Shaoshan, who shared their travel experiences, on-site feelings, and views on the inheritance of Mao Zedong's spirit in the present. They all mentioned, without exception, that they were surprised by the number of young people present at the scene.

In the early hours on Tuesday, the 130th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth, thousands of locals and tourists from all over the country gathered in Shaoshan, Mao’s birthplace in Central China’s Hunan Province to have birthday noodles to commemorate the late leader. Having a bowl of birthday noodles was Mao’s birthday ritual. Giving free birthday noodles to visitors has been carried on for decades in Shaoshan. Photo: Cui Fandi/GT

A long-waited gathering

For many tourists who arrived in Shaoshan on Monday and Tuesday, commemorating the 130th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth in his birthplace was a long-awaited gathering, especially as the past three years' commemorative events were affected by COVID-19 restrictions. Many visitors told the Global Times that they felt this year's commemorative activities were not to be missed. 

A 40-year-old female visitor from Yunnan Province told the Global Times that she set off from a village in the Southwest China’s Province two days in advance to travel to Shaoshan. She took several buses and the entire journey took over 10 hours. 

"It's my first time participating in the commemorative activities for Chairman Mao's birth," said the tourist surnamed Li. "If I hadn’t come, I would have definitely regretted it." 

Li said she was surprised and excited to join tens of thousands of people singing, dancing, reciting poems, and waving flags on Mao Zedong Square at midnight. 

Another impressive point for her was the large number of young people present. "I used to think that only middle-aged people and the older generation felt strongly about Chairman Mao. It wasn't until I arrived here that I realized there are so many young people who respect and remember the stories about Chairman Mao," Li told the Global Times. "Our younger generation is full of vitality and hope." 

This feeling was also shared by a man surnamed Wang from Shenzhen. The 65-year-old Wang told the Global Times that he comes to Shaoshan from Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong Province, every year to commemorate the anniversary of Chairman Mao’s birth, but he has never seen so many young people like this year. 

"This time, there are really a lot of young people," Wang said. "I see the expectations of the new era in these young people and students." 

Speaking of respect and commemoration of Mao Zedong by young people, Wang pointed out that many of Mao's ideas are still worth inheriting today. "Many of Mao's ideas, even when viewed decades after they were proposed, represent the correct direction," he told the Global Times. 

As a young visitor, a 21-year-old college student surnamed Li had heated discussions with the older generation on the square. He defined his feelings for Mao Zedong as "sublime faith." 

"As young people of the new generation, we have never forgotten Chairman Mao's contributions to the Chinese people," Li told the Global Times. "It is our responsibility as young people to inherit the Chairman's revolutionary spirit and become the backbone of China.”  

Some Western media and politicians have interpreted that young people’s worshipping Mao Zedong represents a narrow nationalism. Li believes this is not true at all. 

"Our feelings for Chairman Mao are not narrow worship, but a hope to inherit his ideas: 'the world belongs to the public,' he said. "The ultimate ideal is world harmony. How could this be a form of narrow nationalism?" 

Another visitor from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region echoed Li’s view. The 32-year-old Tsai set off from Hong Kong on Monday night. As the hotels were full, he had to spend the night on the square with his luggage. However, as he was talking with the Global Times on Tuesday morning, he was full of enthusiasm and very excited. 

"Some people in the West, especially politicians, talk about inclusiveness and love, and advocate the belief in religion, but what they actually do is the complete opposite," Tsai said. "They allow war and slaughter in the name of justice, and interfere in the affairs of other countries. The truth is self-evident."

After the sunrise, thousands gathered at the Mao Zedong Square in Shaoshan, the late leader’s birthplace, laying flowers and singing the song The East Is Red together, as a part of the commemoration of the 130th anniversary of his birth on Tuesday. Photo: Cui Fandi/GT

Fully-packed town

The few hours before and after midnight on Monday are the liveliest hours of the year in the small town, with tens of thousands of people commemorating on the square. Many people told the Global Times that they had participated in the celebrations of the 125th anniversary or the 100th anniversary of Mao’s birth, but none were as enthusiastic as this one.

Mao Yuanju, a tourism practitioner who was born and raised in Shaoshan, told the Global Times that he has rarely, if ever, seen so many visitors in the small town.

“Usually many people come and visit on the anniversary of Chairman Mao’s birth every year in December, but there seems to be more visitors than usual this year,” Mao Yuanju said, referring to the removal of pandemic restrictions which he believes to be the reason of the surge of visitors.

At one of the biggest hotels in Shaoshan, the Jianguo Hotel, which has more than 800 rooms, was fully booked Monday night. The situation was the same for most of the hotels, hostels and homestays in the city.

“The room prices skyrocketed to twice or three times the usual rate, but the hotels were still fully booked months before,” said Mao Yuanju.

The Global Times learned from the local authorities that no extra or larger official celebration or commemorative event was arranged in the city this year compared to previous years, but people from all over the country spontaneously flooded to Shaoshan to commemorate the birth of the late leader. 

“It is out of pure love and respect that the people hold for the chairman,” said a local official. 

From 6 am Monday to 5 pm Tuesday, Shaoshan has welcomed 111,570 visitors, the Global Times learned from local tourism authorities, recording an increase of 712.93 percent from 2022 and 13.92 percent from 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As part of the traditional annual celebrative activities in Shaoshan, nearly 4,000 runners gathered in the city on Monday morning for a health run. Since 1983, Shaoshan has been holding commemorative long-distance running races around December 26th every year. This year marks the 40th consecutive race, making it a renowned national-level mass road race event.

On Tuesday morning at 6 am, before sunrise, thousands of people had already gathered at the Shaoshan Village Committee Square to queue for free birthday noodles. A volunteer on site told the Global Times that hundreds of volunteers had arrived at the square in the early hours to prepare the noodles. "This is a long-standing tradition because Chairman Mao never celebrated his birthday when he was alive. He usually just ate a bowl of birthday noodles," she said. "After his passing, every year on this day, we prepare free birthday noodles for people from all over the country who come to commemorate him, to celebrate and remember him."

"We also hope to learn and carry forward Chairman Mao's spirit of frugality and spend more time doing practical things for the people," said Mao Chunshan, the Party Secretary of Shaoshan Village. "His spirit always inspires us."

After finishing the birthday noodles, the visitors from all over the country once again gathered at Mao Zedong Square. Around 8 am, a flower laying ceremony was held, and everyone present bowed to Mao Zedong's statue. Afterwards, the thousands of people on the square sang the song "The East is Red," a song about Mao, together.

In fact, the bustling voices on the square have not diminished since Monday afternoon. People just kept waving flags, singing songs and discussing about Mao. Many people did not even book accommodation due to their rushed itinerary and the popularity of tourism in Shaoshan. They carried large backpacks or dragged suitcases to take photos on the square. At Shaoshan Railway Station on Tuesday afternoon, many tourists who were leaving Shaoshan to return home made plans to come back to Shaoshan at the same time next year.