Abide with Mao

A MERE 18 years after the death of Mao Zedong, it was possible for a notable Sinologist to give his book on Chinese reforms the title of “Burying Mao”. And who was to quibble? The point of all the market-led economic change that Deng Xiaoping had promoted seemed to be to put as much distance as possible between his China and the era of Mao’s rule, so full of violence, trauma and human suffering. And yet. With the 40th anniversary of Mao’s death this month, a Sinologist now would think twice before choosing a similar title. “Mao Unburied” is more like it.

For China still struggles to stuff the monster underground. Mao himself said he wanted to be cremated, and liberal intellectuals occasionally petition for his incineration and the return of his ashes to his hometown of Shaoshan. But his corpse still lies at the heart of the Chinese polity, in a glass sarcophagus on Tiananmen Square, attended by streams of visitors. Though most images of Mao have been removed from public places, his picture still hangs on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. It is 14 months in jail for you if you throw a bottle of ink at it. Mao would have been appalled at China’s present materialism. Yet his portrait is also on every banknote. It is as if he is having the last laugh.