Chairman Mao Memorial Hall

The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (), also known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, is the final resting place of Mao Zedong, who became leader of the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War and held that position until dying in 1976. Mao's embalmed body is publicly displayed inside.

The memorial hall began construction shortly after his death. It is located in the middle of Tiananmen Square in Beijing on the previous site of the Gate of China, the southern (main) gate of the Imperial City during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Background

Mao had signed a pledge to be cremated, consistent with the principles of the Communist Party. His body was instead preserved and is displayed at the Memorial Hall. The historical consensus is that there are not reliable records demonstrating how Party leadership reached the decision to preserve his body.

History

The memorial hall began construction soon after Mao's death on September 9, 1976. On September 14, 1976, the State Planning Commission of China organized designers from more than ten units in eight provinces and cities in China to gather at the Qianmen Hotel in Beijing to start the site selection and scheme designs of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. The planning and design leading group consisted of Zhao Pengfei, Yuan Jingshi, Shen Bo, etc., who participated in the design from the China Academy of Building Research, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Planning, Beijing Municipal Architectural Design and Research Institute, Tsinghua University, Tianjin University, Shanghai Municipal Civil Architecture Design Institute, Guangdong Provincial Architectural Design and Research Institute, Guangzhou Municipal Architectural Design and Research Institute, Nanjing Engineering Institute, China Architecture Northwest Design and Research Institute, Liaoning Provincial Architectural Design and Research Institute, Heilongjiang Provincial Architectural Design and Research Institute, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Basic Construction Engineering Corps Design and Research Institute. After the study by the experts and leaders concerned, it was recognized that the better location options were Fragrant Hills, Tiananmen Square and Jingshan.

On October 8, 1976, the Decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council of the People's Republic of China, and the Central Military Commission on the Establishment of a Memorial Hall for Chairman Mao Zedong, the Great Leader and Tutor, was issued.

On October 15, 1976, the Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute set up the Planning and Design Group of the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao. On November 6, 1976, the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee reviewed the plan of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. On November 9, 1976, Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall Project Command was established, with Li Ruihuan, then deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee, as the chief commander. The Ninth Office of the State Council ("Ninth Office") was specially set up to coordinate the construction of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall, and Vice Premier Gu Mu was in charge of the leadership of the Ninth Office and the construction of the Memorial Hall. Xiao Yang, the former director of the Beijing Glass Factory, and Han Boping, the former vice mayor of Beijing, were members of the Ninth Office, and together they were responsible for the work of the equipment group of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. On November 24, 1976, the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee finalized the plan of Chairman Mao Memorial Hall and the foundation stone of the Hall was laid. Hua Guofeng, then the Chairman of the CCP Central Committee, Premier of the State Council, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony and laid the soil for the cornerstone of the Memorial Hall.

People throughout China were involved in the design and construction of the memorial hall, with 700,000 people from different provinces, autonomous regions, and nationalities doing symbolic voluntary labor. Materials from all over China were used throughout the building: granite from Sichuan province, porcelain plates from Guangdong province, pine trees from Yan'an in Shaanxi province, saw-wort seeds from the Tian Shan mountains in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, soil from quake-stricken Tangshan, colored pebbles from Nanjing, milky quartz from the Kunlun Mountains, pine logs from Jiangxi province, and rock samples from Mount Everest.

On May 24, 1977, the construction of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall was completed. On August 22, 1977, the delegates to the 11th CCP National Congress visited Mao Zedong's remains, and the communiqué of the 1st Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the CCP was published on the same day. On August 31, 1977, President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia went to visit Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall to admire the remains of Mao Zedong. On September 9, 1977, the CCP Central Committee, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission held a "Commemoration of the First Anniversary of the Death of the Great Leader and Mentor, Chairman Mao, and the Inauguration of Chairman Mao Memorial Hall" on the North Square of Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall". Since then, representatives from all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government have come to pay their respects.

The memorial hall was closed for renovations for nine months in 1997 before reopening on January 6, 1998. After that, the CCP Central Committee has held commemorative activities here on the occasion of the 90th, 100th, 110th and 120th anniversaries of the birth of Mao Zedong.

Design

The building's design is intended to incorporate traditional Chinese aesthetics without invoking the themes of imperial tombs. Gu Mu instructed the architects that the design should glorify revolutionary achievement.

The Mausoleum incorporates materials from throughout China.

Sculptures

The North Hall contains the alabaster seated statue of Chairman Mao Zedong. Chairman of the CCP Central Committee Hua Guofeng, Vice Chairman Ye Jianying and other central leaders personally reviewed the draft and selected the plan for the statue of Chairman Mao. In the creation of the statue, there were always two options for the seated figure, with or without crossing the legs. The central government chose the option of crossing the legs. After the statue was made, someone thought that the cross-legged statue was vivid and friendly, but it did not harmonize well with the solemn atmosphere of the Memorial Hall. The Central Committee studied and discussed these views and decided to rebuild a flat-legged statue to replace the cross-legged one. However, the implementation of this decision was very cumbersome, and finally Deng Xiaoping decided that there was no need to replace it, so the statue remained cross-legged.

There are four sculpture groups in the square, all of which are made of clay, one on each side of the east and west sides of the main gate in the north, and one on each side of the east and west sides of the back gate in the south. The sculpture on the east side of the north gate shows the democratic revolution. The sculpture on the west side of the north gate represents the socialist revolution and industrial construction. The two sculptures on both sides of the south gate represent the inheritance of the will and the continuation of the revolution.

Visits

The memorial hall today remains a popular destination in Beijing, and is often visited by foreign dignitaries and Chinese Communist Party officials. Foreign heads of state, such as Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited the memorial hall during their state trips to China.

On 29 September 2019, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping along with other Politburo members of the Chinese Communist Party visited the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.

See also

* Mao Zedong's Former Residence and Memorial Museum in Shaoshan
* Mausoleum of Hua Guofeng
* Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall in Huaian
* Memorial to Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao
* Deng Xiaoping's Former Residence and Memorial Hall in Guangan
* Zhu De Memorial Hall
* Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery
* Kumsusan Palace of the Sun
* Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
* Lenin's Mausoleum
* Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

References

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1977 establishments in China
Buildings and structures completed in 1977
Buildings and structures in Beijing
Dongcheng District, Beijing
Mao Zedong
Mausoleums in China
Tiananmen Square
Tourist attractions in Beijing