UTAH here we come
16 years ago
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Tiananmen Square and Mao's Mausoleum, Beijing
A hundred thousand people wait in a creeping line every day to see Mao's formaldehyde-preserved body in the immense mausoleum on the edge of Tiananmen Square. That hundred thousand included Stirling, Sofia, Jacek and Isabel on Saturday, October 19th. I'm glad they all had the cultural experience, but I stayed outside, in part to carry prohibited backpacks and cameras and facilitate their entry, more because I don't want to participate in any sort of veneration of Mao. My staying outside counts nothing against the destruction and incomprehensible death and fear that Mao inflicted on China, nothing for anyone but me.
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I am not convinced that Mao's body really is inside that building. The "body" glows a fluorescent orange and looks more like a nuclear reactor than it does the remains of a human being. I could not believe how many people dropped to their knees, offered flowers, and cried at the entrance of the mausoleum.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to the Valle de los Caídos next week with the giant cross and church that was built by Republican prisoners of war as a monument by Franco to himself and his soldiers. It is filled with fascist statues and Franco's tomb is smack dab in the center of the nave and the transepts. I always like I can't breathe inside, so I'm hoping to stay outside this time.
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