Whether you have been to Tiananmen Square in Beijing or not, every Chinese knows that is always hanging a portrait of Chairman Mao on the city tower of Tiananmen Square in .
In 1976, after Chairman Mao passed away, he seemed to be attached to the portrait, and then, with the eyes on the portrait, stared at the rivers and land of the motherland affectionately, accompanying us through decades of ups and downs.
Whenever we see this portrait on TV or in photos, we feel that its size and proportion are just right with Tiananmen Square. In fact, this portrait is "the largest portrait of Chairman Mao in the world" and weighs 1.5 tons.
So when did Chairman Mao’s portrait first hang on Tiananmen Gate? Has it not been taken off since it was hung on it?
1. Related knowledge about the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square
If you want to know the answer to the question raised by this Italian female reporter, let's start with Tiananmen Square during the War of Resistance in the 1940s. Tiananmen was built in the Ming Dynasty more than 600 years ago. In the past, it assumed the "defense" function of ancient palace buildings.
Xinhai Revolution overthrew Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Traditional ancient fortifications have long since disappeared, so Tiananmen Square has only been preserved as an ancient building.
1945, there was no tradition of hanging portraits of people on the city tower of Tiananmen. However, when the Japanese invaders occupied Pei , they had hanged slogans of invaders on it.
In July 1949, in order to celebrate the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chairman Mao’s portrait was once again hung. Therefore, by the time of the founding ceremony of on October 1, 1949, the portrait of Chairman Mao on the Tiananmen Gate Tower was already the "third edition".
I guess careful readers have already seen a problem from my description above: it turns out that the portrait of Chairman Mao was not always hung on the Tiananmen Gate Tower, it was only hung when there was an important celebration.
At the same time, before 1966, the state made some regulations on hanging portraits of Chairman Mao. First of all, the hanging time regulations are required, hanging during "Labor Day" and "National Day" every year, or when there are other important celebrations.
hanging lasts for "seven days". It starts from the first two days of the festival or celebration, and then picks it after the fifth day of the festival. It has been 56 years since August 1966.
is calculated based on 365 days every year, 56 years is 20,440 days. If a portrait had been hung on the city gate and allowed the rain to blow the wind, it would have been broken for more than 20,000 days. Therefore, the production process of Chairman Mao’s portrait on Tiananmen Square has been improving.
About the 1990s, the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square used the splicing process of aluminum alloy, and after 1994, it was replaced with flat fiberglass.
In addition, after the National Day every year, Chairman Mao’s portrait will be replaced with a brand new one. So far, eight versions have been used in the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square, and more than sixty have been replaced.
In addition, before 1989, every important festival such as Labor Day and National Day, Tiananmen Square would not only hang portraits of Chairman Mao on the city wall, but also hang portraits of Stalin , Lenin, Max, Engels and Sun Yat-sen.
The specific regulations are roughly: during May Day, a portrait of Chairman Mao was hung on Tiananmen Square, a portrait of Max and Engels was placed on the east side of Tiananmen Square, and a portrait of Lenin and Stalin was placed on the west side.
On National Day, the portrait of Sun Yat-sen will be placed opposite the portrait of Chairman Mao, on the middle line of the north side of the Monument to the People's Heroes , which is far away from the portrait of Chairman Mao. On July 7, 1949, a portrait of Zhu De was also hung on Tiananmen Square.
This arrangement is very interesting. The portraits of foreign thinkers and foreign leaders are placed on Labor Day because the revolution in China first started with learning Marxism-Leninism and learning the Soviet Union. They are our "revolution mentors".
National Day plus Sun Yat-sen’s portrait is because our Communist Party of China has always recognized the great contribution made by Mr. Sun Yat-sen’s Revolution in 1911 to promote China’s democratic process. So during National Day, Sun Yat-sen's portrait must be there.
2. When will the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square be hung?
So starting from that year, May Day and National Day canceled the placement of portraits of four revolutionary "mentors" including Max as usual. When will it be placed, it will be decided according to the situation.
After 1989, the state formally stipulated that in addition to adding portraits of Sun Yat-sen on National Day, no longer portrayals of revolutionary "mentors" such as Marx will be left. However, the portrait of Chairman Mao was always hung high on Tiananmen Gate.
So this Italian female reporter was very curious and asked Deng Xiaoping why he didn't take off Chairman Mao's portrait and whether he planned to keep it forever.
result Deng Xiaoping replied to the other party: "Keep forever! Because from the perspective of our Chinese people's feelings, we will always regard him as the founder of our party and country to commemorate him!"
月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月月� Just as the old is being destroyed and the new is being established, the portrait of Sun Yat-sen will still be placed on National Day.
Chairman Mao is the founding leader of our New China. It is his thoughts that guide us to overthrow the dark old world, let the people turn over and become masters, and bring the light today.
So of course we must always commemorate Chairman Mao, always hang his portrait high on Tiananmen Gate, so that Chairman Mao can witness China returning to the peak of the world today, so as to comfort his spirit in heaven.
Conclusion
Seeing this, some people may be curious, why don’t Chairman Mao’s photo be hung directly on the Tiananmen Gate Tower, but have to find someone to paint his portrait?
For this reason, I specifically checked the information and found that someone really went to ask Ge Xiaoguang, the author of the eighth version of Chairman Mao’s portrait, for this question.
Results Ge Xiaoguang's answer was: The photo referenced for Chairman Mao's portrait is a frontal image of Chairman Mao published by Xinhua News Agency , but Chairman Mao at that time looked no longer as energetic as he was when he was young.
In addition, the camera lens is spherical, making it difficult to restore the real face. If you choose a portrait, the restoration degree is more accurate and reliable than the camera, so it can also satisfy the people more.
The portrait of Chairman Mao hanging on Tiananmen Gate may not only represent the people's leader whom we are extremely beloved, but also the immortal revolutionary thoughts and spirit that he left to the world.
No matter how many years or time pass, the Chinese people will never forget that "China has produced a Mao Zedong". It was him who led the Communist Party of China to overthrow the three dark mountains.
Without Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China, how could China be today? Where can I live happily today? So why don’t we hang Chairman Mao’s portrait on Tiananmen Gate forever?
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