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Did you know that Chairman Mao drank a refreshing draft of Coke before stepping up to declare the birth of a nation on October 1st 1949? (A shameless advert taken in a Macdonald’s in Beijing, as is obvious from the reflection.) 中国人民从此喝起来了?

I’m back from a red weekend in Mao’s hometown of Shaoshan and neighbouring metropolis Changsha, in south-central Hunan province. (I had a bet with myself on Twitter as to how many statues of Mao I would see: the bet was 10, the result – cheekily including large busts – 7.) Here, in celebration of the absence of chou dofu from Beijing’s streets, is a mini photo essay of ‘things Mao’.

Pilgrims (mostly on day trips organised by their work units) queue to see …

… Mao Zedong’s childhood bedroom in Shaoshan.

The pilgrims must then dare to walk through the communist tunnel …

… to reach the Mao museum and read a testimonial by the maker of Mao’s pajamas that Mao refused shiny new pajamas even when he was leader of China, continuing to use his shabby old pajamas because he was still one of of the common folk. I’m not sure if I should admit such a private feeling on my blog, but when I read this, I cried.

The lowest form of wit aside, pride in local boy Mao was palpable in Changsha. Most bus drivers I saw had little busts of the chairman in their front windows for good luck (this is rare in Beijing). After all, Mao did come from working all night at this study desk in Changsha in his youth …

… to founding the nation 60 years ago. (A painting from the Hongse Jiyi – ‘red memories’ – exhibit in the Hunan provincial museum.)

And the Chinese people have in those 60 years come from gun-wielding revolutionaries (according to another painting in the exhibit) …

… to cigarette dragging lunch-breakers in an ever more comfortable and strong China. Mission accomplished?

This Shang dynasty light sabre is on display in Kunming. The museum claims it once belonged to Luke Skywalker’s great granduncle, who was of Chinese descent and settled in a village near Lijiang in approximately 1800BC.

First, a quote from monk Gyelse Togme’s book The 37-fold Practice of a Bodhissatva, which I stumbled across a mountain-top Buddhist monastery – evidently untouched by tourism – in Qinghai last January:

When encountering objects which please us, / To view them like rainbows in summertime, / Not ultimately real, however beautiful they  appear, / And to give up grasping and attachment is the practice of a Bodhissatva.

Now, a photo I took in Yunnan’s all-too touched by tourism Shangri La monastery over my summer holidays, of a business minded monk reading a novel on his break in his shiny new trainers:

… And a money minded kid by Tagong monastery, Sichuan (beginning to feel the tourist touch, but not half as bad as Shangri La), who asks me for money in payment for me taking his photo:

This at the request of his mum who then crooned at me to take her picture too. These people are not Bodhissatvas but they are without doubt practicing Buddhists. Object away to my pick-and-choose photos. My point is only that as much spiritual dignity is lost in the touristisation of Tibet and material benefit is gained.

I would say Gyelse Togme is spinning in his grave, but he’s been reincarnated, right? Errr … anyway, Gyelse Togme – animal, human, ghost or god that he now is – is probably spinning.