Guess who's turning 121 today!
That's right, the waxy corpse of China's former Great Helmsman/Leader/Teacher/Supreme Commander, Saving Star of the Masses and Reddest Red Sun in Our Hearts Chairman Mao Zedong!
Merry Maomas, everyone!
Nearly 100,000 worshippers reportedly gathered last night at China's Bethlehem, Mao's fabled Hunan birthplace of Shaoshan, to celebrate what they're calling the "People's Holiday."
There, in the appropriately named Mao Zedong Square, throngs of pilgrims harked back that silent night in December 1893 when a red star shone across the land, proclaiming the birth of a new savior and beckoning the Three Wise Men Marx, Engels and Lenin.
Doubling up at China's Santa Clause as well, a Mao look alike was on hand to give out presents to everyone on his good list. Good boys and girls each received what looks like a bit of wood, while those on his naughty list got a lump of coal life in prison.
Coming so soon after Hunan students demonstrated against Christmas, exhorting their compatriots to boycott festivities and not celebrate "Western holidays," it's a stroke of luck that such a wholesomely Chinese substitute exists so close to that devilishly American celebration of the birth of a Palestinian Jew.
'Tis the season for xenophobia and personality cults.
[Images via Sina]
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