While Westerners are immersed in the joys of the Christmas holidays, villagers at Shaoshan in Hunan Province are traditionally celebrating the birthday of Ma Zedong, the greatest man who ever emerged from their small village.
Dec. 26 this year is the 109th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China.
People in Shaoshan, Mao's hometown, placed various offerings including firecrackers and food, at the former house of the late leader and in the memorial park to Mao Zedong. Foreigners who happened to be visiting also offered bunches of flowers to remember the great man of Chinese history.
Since China introduced the policies of reform and opening up, Shaoshan has witnessed rapid economic development and become a well-off village in Hunan Province, central China.
Currently, the annual income per capita in the mountain village of only 1,287 residents has reached 5,200 yuan (USD628). In addition, 95 percent of villagers have moved into two-storied houses.
Mao Yushi, secretary of the Shaoshan branch of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said though villagers are having a comfortable life now, they still remember their great leader. On Mao Zedong's birthday each year, villagers always voluntarily hold big ceremonies.
"No matter what age we're marching toward, people in Shaoshan will never lose their love and admiration for Mao Zedong," he said.
"Without Mao Zedong, Chinese people in the old society would not be liberated, let alone the improvement in the living standards. Liberation is an important basis of the present comfortable life."
In the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, Mao Zedong's thought to build a prosperous and powerful country are still the "spiritual impetus driving Shaoshan villagers and all Chinese," said Bian Cuiping, secretary of the CPC committee of Xiangtan City, which has Shaoshan under its jurisdiction.
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2002)
