After Chairman Mao passed away in 1976, the body was preserved forever in Tiananmen Square, Beijing for future generations to admire.
However, as more and more people go to Tiananmen to pay tribute to the chairman, rumors of the chairman's body shrinking gradually began to spread in society.
In this regard, Ms. Xu Jing, who is responsible for the protection of the Chairman's body, said: "This is because the crystal coffin that preserves the Chairman's body is large, and the light and angle problems in the coffin, bringing everyone the illusion that the Chairman's body has not changed in size and length."
As soon as this statement came out, people dispelled their inner worries and doubts.
However, the height issue of Chairman Mao’s life once again became a doubt in people’s hearts.
Because the official has never announced the specific height of the chairman for his privacy protection, and there are many different opinions on the chairman's height.
So, what is Chairman Mao’s real height?
Chairman Mao’s height debate
In 2009, an article titled "To compare height with a great man" triggered heated discussions in the society.
The article talks about Chairman Mao’s height issue. The author denied the statement that the chairman was over 1.8 meters tall in society, indicating that Chairman Mao’s true height is only about 1.75 meters tall.
This statement suddenly aroused everyone's doubts and dissatisfaction, and some even raised the matter to the level of "disrespect" to Chairman Mao.
But the author of this article is Zhang Lifan, the son of Mr. Zhang Naiqi, a famous patriot in our country.
Zhang Lifan said reasonably in the article: "When my father was writing his memoirs, I often asked him about the past. Once, he accidentally asked about the height of the chairman, and his father replied without raising his head, '1.75 meters taller than me.'"
Zhang Lifan naturally believed in his father's words. This was not only because Zhang Naiqi often met Chairman Mao because of work, but also because Zhang Naiqi received pilot training in his early years and had a very accurate grasp of visual data.
The outside world's comments on Zhang Lifan's article are mixed. In order to prove his correct view, he spent time and effort to find hundreds of photos of Chairman Mao during his lifetime and posted a post to analyze and compare it.
Zhang Lifan first found more than 300 photos of Chairman Mao and Chinese and foreign celebrities, and screened out those photos of the chairman who were too young and too long.
Then, the photos in the photo are relatively blurry, uneven, relatively uneven, and relatively unrighteous, and not straight enough, and not parallel enough. All the remaining people with no clear height in the photo are also screened out.
Finally, Zhang Lifan got only two photos that could prove the chairman's height.
One is a photo of the Chairman and the US Ambassador Hurley during the Chongqing negotiations, and the other is a photo of the Chairman and Luo Ruiqing.
Hurley is 6 feet 2 inches tall, about 1.88 meters.
From the photo of the Chairman and Hurley, it can be seen that Chairman Mao has not yet reached the height of Hurley's brow bone in height, and it is estimated that it is about 10 cm to 12 cm shorter. The speculation result of is roughly similar to what Zhang Naiqi told Zhang Lifan .
At the same time, the photo of the chairman and Luo Ruiqing seems to prove this statement again.
Chairman gave Luo Ruiqing a nickname "Luo Changzi", which means that Luo Ruiqing is very tall.
According to Luo Ruiqing's son Luo Yuan, Luo Ruiqing's height is indeed in his early 1.8 meters.
"When the central leaders took photos, my father was generally not placed by the chairman because he was much taller than the chairman." Luo Yuan said.
It can also be seen from the photo of the two that Luo Ruiqing is about half a forehead taller than Chairman Mao, about 5 cm tall, and is obviously higher than the Chairman from his shoulders.
Based on this inference, Zhang Naiqi's statement to his son was once again confirmed.
These are the evidence listed by Zhang Lifan in the article.
's article is logically rigorous, with pictures as testimony, and the original words of Luo Yuan and others are supported by it. Chairman Mao's height problem seems to be finalized, and many people also believe in Zhang Lifan's words.
However, at this time, another objection voice circulated on the Internet, saying: "Chairman Mao's body is 1.78 meters long, how can it be only 1.75 meters tall?"
In this regard, Zhang Lifan's explanation is: "Considering the stiffness of the body, bone changes caused by anticorrosion treatment, a series of chemical reactions and physical reactions, the length of the chairman's body does not represent the real height."
Moreover, the length of the human body when lying flat is already longer than the height, because people have to bear certain pressure when standing.
Zhang Lifan's explanation has once again been recognized by everyone.
But not long after, another article on the Internet about the height of the chairman once again made people's hearts shake.
This person is Miao Deyu, known as the "poet child" in the liberated area.
Chairman Mao’s height is no less than 1.8 meter
Miao Deyu expressed his point of view: "Chairman Mao’s height is no less than 1.8 meter !"
He said that in many descriptive records in the past, Chairman Mao seemed to be about the same height as many people, similar to Liu Shaoqi, similar to Chiang Kai-shek , and similar to Stalin.
Based on these "almost" inferences, Chairman Mao's height was also set in the range of 1.72 to 1.75 meters.
But how much difference is "almost"? This is a question that needs to be investigated.
Sometimes, when two people stand together, they are one or two centimeters apart, they are called similar, and sometimes they are about 5 centimeters apart. After all, the height measured by the visual is related to the figure, clothing and other factors of the observer.
Although Chairman Mao looked about the same height in his photo with everyone, as long as he carefully observes, he will find that the chairman's height is actually higher than most people.
Chairman Mao is about the same as Liu Shaoqi, but as long as you know them, Chairman Mao is still higher.
The main basis for the similarity between Chiang Kai-shek and Chairman Mao was a photo of Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek during the negotiations in Chongqing.
But Chiang Kai-shek's height is somewhat confusing. Many people said that in order to highlight himself, Chiang Kai-shek quietly stood on tiptoe when taking photos. Some people think that Chiang Kai-shek's body was in front of his body when taking photos, which gave people the illusion of tall figure.
However, even so, it can be clearly compared from the photo of Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek that Chairman Mao is slightly taller.
As for comparison with Stalin, Stalin took a step forward when taking a photo with Chairman Mao in order to cover up his height flaws, so that he seemed to be about the same height as the Chairman.
So in summary, the chairman's real height is several centimeters taller than the above people.
In addition, Miao Deyu also listed a photo of Chairman Mao and the central leadership during the political consultation meeting .
In the photo, the chairman's height is obviously higher than most of the people present. Shen Junru next to him has not reached the chairman's shoulders yet, Li Jishen has only reached the chairman's chin height, and Zhu De is also a hat lower than the chairman.
So according to Miao Deyu's point of view, what is Chairman Mao's height?
He has no specific data source, and he can only refer to it by his own and others' heights.
According to Miao Deyu, he first met Chairman Mao when he was seventeen years old, at the venue of the first delegation congress in the country.
Miao Deyu was 1.78 meters tall, but when Chairman Mao walked to him, Miao Deyu needed to raise his head a little before looking at the Chairman.
Miao Deyu met Chairman Mao for the second time in 1955. He was received by Chairman Mao as a young activist in socialist construction in . Chairman Mao took a group photo with cadres at the department level and above.
"I went early, and I had the opportunity to squeeze into the Chairman's side. At that time, the Chairman's height was still taller than mine. He was wearing a windbreaker and looked particularly tall. I infer that the Chairman's height was at least 1.8 meters tall." Miao Deyu recalled.
In the years that followed, Miao Deyu met Chairman Mao three times, and the Chairman's tall figure left a deep impression on him.
Miao Deyu said: "My height should have reached 1.8 meters when I was young. I shortened a little by the old age. A few days ago, I asked my wife to help me measure it, and she was still 1.78 meters tall."
Miao Deyu's article is also reasonable and well-founded. If we judge based on this, Chairman Mao's real height is indeed more than 1.8 meters tall as the outside world thought at the beginning.
Of course, Miao Deyu also denied the rumors that "the chairman is more than 1.85 meters tall."
"Some people say that the chairman's height is 1.8 meters, and some people say that 1.83 meters, these two numbers are relatively credible. But it is absolutely impossible to exceed 1.85 meters, and of course it will not be below 1.7 meters."
Compared with Zhang Lifan's statement about the chairman's height of 1.7 meters, the people seem to be more willing to believe Miao Deyu's point of view. After all, in the hearts of the people across the country, Chairman Mao's image has always been tall and majestic.
Ke Miao Deyu's statement once again put a question mark on the issue of "the height of the chairman".
Miao Deyu and Zhang Lifan’s statements are both reasonable and well-founded. So what is Chairman Mao’s real height?
The real height of Chairman Mao
In fact, in addition to the discussion between Miao and Zhang, there are still some people in society who have expressed their opinions on Chairman Mao’s height issue.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao's health doctor and secretary Wang Hebin once said:
"In December 1949, Chairman Mao visited the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities considered that Chairman Mao would stay in Moscow for one to two months, so they planned to customize a new bed for him. According to the requirements of the Soviet Union, the guards around the Chairman measured the height for the Chairman, and the result was 1.8 meters."
This was the first time Chairman Mao measured his height after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and it was also the first time that there were data records.
Based on Mr. Wang Hebin’s understanding of Chairman Mao, this statement is obviously very credible.
When interviewed by reporters, Wang Hebin also took out a photo of himself with Chairman Mao when he was young.
Wang Hebin is 1.7 meters tall, and the chairman is obviously half a head taller next to him. It seems that the chairman's height is 1.8 meters tall is indeed credible.
However, if this statement is thought through in accordance with the method, problems will be found.
For example, Premier Zhou Enlai's height is 1.69 meters, which was personally admitted by Ms. Deng Yingchao.
From the photo of Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao does not seem to be 11 cm taller than Premier Zhou.
Another example is Chiang Kai-shek. According to the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer School records, Chiang Kai-shek's real height should be 1.698 meters, equivalent to 1.7 meters. However, judging from the photo of Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman Mao is only a little taller than Chiang Kai-shek. Even if Chiang Kai-shek's tiptoe and body is in a forward position, it is difficult for Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek to reach a 10-centimeter gap.
From these comparisons, it can be seen that if Premier Zhou, Chiang Kai-shek and others have no problem with their height, then Chairman Mao’s real height seems to be only about 1.75 meters.
In this way, without the official data released, it seems that Chairman Mao’s real height problem seems to have become an insolvent mystery.
After all, whether it is Zhang Lifan, Miao Deyu, or Wang Hebin, they have listed sufficient evidence for their own judgments, and when almost all the older generation of revolutionaries died, it seems that no one can stand up to confirm the Chairman's height problem.
However, there is one phenomenon worth noting, that is, people's height is different at different ages. Even after development and forming, the human body will reduce height due to aging.
Usually, when a person reaches his fifty or sixty, he will be two or three centimeters shorter than when he was young.
As you age, dwarfing may further intensify.
Considering the existence of this situation, is the description of Chairman Mao’s height by Zhang Lifan, Miao Deyu, Wang Hebin and others the different heights of Chairman Mao in different periods?
In this way, if Chairman Mao's height could reach 1.8 meters when he was young, it would be very likely to reduce it to 1.77 meters, 1.76 meters, or even 1.75 meters in his later years.
Moreover, judging a person's height is not measured with a standard scale tool, otherwise, if you observe it with the naked eye alone, it will be affected by factors such as the body shape, dress, standing posture, and even comparison of people next to you.
In addition, considering the image of the head of state, photographers generally pay special attention to the handling of the head of state height when taking pictures. For example, Stalin deliberately took a step forward when taking pictures, and Chiang Kai-shek stood on tiptoe when taking pictures, which are all to highlight their image. After all, they represent not only themselves, but also the country and parties behind them.
Because of this, the image of Chairman Mao that people see in newspapers looks relatively tall, which gives everyone the impression that Chairman Mao is very tall, and it is also the reason why "the chairman is 1.83 meters tall" has been circulating in the market.
Based on these factors, Chairman Mao’s real height problem seems to make sense.
Conclusion
In fact, the people’s discussion on the true height of the Chairman itself does not have much significance. After all, Chairman Mao has left us for decades.
The reason why people care about this issue is ultimately due to their respect and nostalgia for Chairman Mao, and they do not want Chairman Mao’s glorious image to be destroyed.
But in fact, no matter what Chairman Mao’s real height is, Chairman Mao’s image in the minds of the people across the country will never be affected, and his great contributions to the motherland and the people will not be discounted.
