Mausoleum of Mao Zedong
Listed under People in Beijing, China.
26/12/1893 – 09/09/1976
Chinese communist leader. Like Lenin, Chairman Mao's corpse has been embalmed and is on display in a vast purpose built mausoleum which visitors can enter daily. At the time of Mao's death the Chinese didn't have the technology to preserve his body indefinitely, however they copied the soviet technology.
Written by 
World Reviewer Staff.
Comments, reviews and questions by other travellers
Who's been here
Similar Experiences
Marilyn Monroe's grave
01/06/1926 - 05/08/1962 Blonde bombshell and screen legend.
Grave of Elvis Aaron Presley
08/01/1935 – 16/08/1977 'The King', singer, actor, hip swiveller and pop culture icon.
Grave of Ernest Hemingway
21/06/1899 – 02/07/1961 Nobel and Pulitzer prize winning author of (among others) 'The Old Man and the Sea', 'For Whom the B…
Related links
- Beijing travel guide
- North Central China travel guide
- China travel guide
- China travel specialists
- The best People
Poor Mao...
Poor Mao... He only ever wanted to be cremated but instead he was preserved after death, his corpse rolled out for people to look at twice a day, though there are very strict rules about taking photos or video - so much so that you're not even allowed to bring in a handbag, let alone a snack for while you're waiting in the queue, mad up of the interested and the devoted come to visit him and gaze on the waxy, carefully lit corpse. Dare I say it but there is some speculation that it is not actually Mao's body on display but a wax replica, which is why you're chased though so quickly...
There are signs telling visitors that Mao's embalming was the people's wish and that volunteers built the great mausoleum, but if you do a bit of research you'll find that they potentially just passed a few bricks around each in a human chain and didn't actually save any of the cost of its construction. Slap bang in the middle of Tiananmen Square it takes up a lot of the open space, especially when you include the perimeter fence and guards which keep you about 30 meters from the building's facade.
If you want more Mao, his portrait still hangs on the front wall of the Forbidden City, about 100 meters behind the mausoleum, though they have 10 copies of it at any time just in case anyone does anything untoward to it.