Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIJING19543
2006-09-14 08:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

WREATHS LAID, SONGS PLAYED AS MEMORIES FADE

Tags:  PGOV PHUM SOCI KCUL CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2782
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #9543/01 2570847
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 140847Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7046
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 019543 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2031
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KCUL CH
SUBJECT: WREATHS LAID, SONGS PLAYED AS MEMORIES FADE

REF: A. FBIS CPP20060909004010


B. FBIS CPP20060909052008

C. BEIJING 10507

Classified By: Classified by Political Section Internal Unit Chief
Susan A. Thornton. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 019543

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2031
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KCUL CH
SUBJECT: WREATHS LAID, SONGS PLAYED AS MEMORIES FADE

REF: A. FBIS CPP20060909004010


B. FBIS CPP20060909052008

C. BEIJING 10507

Classified By: Classified by Political Section Internal Unit Chief
Susan A. Thornton. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Party leaders allowed limited media coverage
but no official commemoration of the 30th anniversary
of Mao Zedong's death on September 9. In a carefully
managed, low-key observance, the Party convened no
official functions and issued no official statements
to mark the event. Media and cultural events were
orchestrated to portray Mao as a symbol of national
pride and Party legitimacy and to boost support for
the current leadership's reform agenda, while avoiding
mention of potentially explosive themes such as the
Cultural Revolution. At a September 8 gala musical
tribute to Mao in the Great Hall of the People,
poloffs observed many three-generation family groups
in attendance. Crowds of people laid wreaths at Mao's
tomb at Tiananmen Square on September 9. Comment:
The Party's carefully calibrated commemoration of
Mao's death appears to have been designed to exploit
continuing admiration for Mao while avoiding provoking
regime critics or whipping up public sentiment. End
Summary and Comment.

Low-Key Media Event
--------------


2. (C) Party leaders issued no official statements
marking the 30th anniversary of Mao's death and
sanctioned no authoritative commentary in China's
Party-controlled media. CCTV's evening news did not
even mention the anniversary during the week of
September 9 and the Party's flagship newspaper,
People's Daily, carried only one article, a personal
memoir by Mao's children buried on page 8. Other
mainstream Party papers, such as Guangming Daily,
China Youth Daily and Beijing Youth Daily, were
similarly devoid of Mao memorials. In fact, Beijing
Youth Daily featured stories on a 1962 Party meeting
that was highly critical of food shortages caused by
Mao's "Great Leap Forward" (1959-1961) on the
anniversary date. The next day it published a tiny
report of elderly women inHenan province who built a

memorial hall for ao with their own money. Most
daily metropoltan papers carried no articles on the
anniersary, although the popular Beijing News carried
a photo on September 10 of citizens in Tianamen
Squae laying wreaths to Mao. Mao made the cover of
only one of the glossy news magazines, Life Weekly.


3. (C) Party-controlled internet news portals were
more generous to the Chairman. The People's Daily
website hosted a memorial page with a large, color
photograph of Mao and links to details on his life and
writings, along with some memorial pieces. The
website of the Party's official press agency, Xinhua,
featured nostalgic recollections, Mao's teachings, and
other commemorative essays, while Mao postings
outnumbered all other topics on the website's chat
room discussions. Popular portals, Sina and Sohu,
featured special columns discussing Mao's life and
achievements.

Singing Mao's Praises, But Not Officially
--------------


4. (C) The highlight of the commemorative period was
a two-hour, unofficial musical extravaganza on Mao's
life and character held in the Great Hall of the
People on the night of September 8. Open to the
public and entitled "The Sun is the Most Red and
Chairman Mao is the Most Beloved," the program paid
tribute to Mao through historical narrative, poetic
readings, musical numbers, and odes to Mao's character
and accomplishments, all read or played with great
gusto to an enthusiastic audience. Tickets for the
performance, some of which ran to more than USD 100,
were sold out by the evening of the performance.


5. (C) Rousing musical scores sung by a choir of
uniformed PLA veterans accompanied by the People's
Armed Police orchestra were interspersed with readings
from some of Mao's most well-known essays and solos by
popular singers. The audience joined in singing old
standbys such as "Chairman Mao, the Red Sun in Our

BEIJING 00019543 002 OF 003


Hearts," "The East is Red," and "Sing the Praises of
the Motherland." Pictures of historical sites and
events depicting the CPC's rise to power were
projected against a huge screen behind the musicians
and a large work of calligraphy composed especially
for the commemoration by a prominent artist was
unfurled at the conclusion of the program. Mao's son
and family were in attendance, according to Western
news services, but were not introduced or mentioned.
Nostalgic feelings ran high, but the popularity of the
music and performers appeared to be as much a factor
behind the enthusiasm as people's feelings toward the
Great Helmsman.

Playing it Safe: A Focus on Mao's Pre-1949 Exploits
-------------- --------------


6. (C) The program heralded Mao as China's greatest
leader of the last century, father of the Communist
revolution, and founder of the Chinese state, but
stayed clear of politically controversial themes.
Instead, the program focused on the early days of the
revolution, the civil war with the Nationalists, and
the war of resistance against the Japanese. The
readings featured some of Mao's most famous treatises
on revolution, guerrilla warfare, and national
mobilization, such as "On Protracted War," "The
Foolish Old Man Who Moved the Mountain," and "Serve
the People," but did not touch on his theories of
"continuous revolution" and other radical ideas later
repudiated by his successors.

A Family Affair
--------------


7. (C) Although the generational breakdown of those
at the concert slightly favored the older and middle-
aged, the audience nonetheless spanned a range of ages
and included many family groups, often with three
generations sitting together. Hefty ticket prices
(USD 15 to 110) likely discouraged those from the
lower rungs of society from attending. One young
couple accompanying elderly parents said they had come
"first for the music and second for Mao Zedong," but
quickly commented that the Chairman's "status in China
remains very high." When asked whether the majority
of the audience consisted of officials and Party
members or of ordinary people, they said the tickets
were sold publicly and thus open to anyone. They had
purchased their own tickets, "even though they were
not cheap." In contrast, a couple in their fifties
said that they had come primarily to pay tribute to
Mao, who is "held in high esteem by the Chinese
people." "I was a Red Guard," the wife unabashedly
volunteered.

Xinhua's Spin
--------------


8. (C) The concert themes anticipated Xinhua's
treatment of the anniversary the next day, when it
reported that crowds of people in Tiananmen Square
were laying wreaths at Mao's memorial hall in tribute
to "this great man of the century" and noted that
people had brought their children and grandchildren to
"help them understand the history of China" (ref A).
One youthful netizen said he now understands why his
parents mourned Mao's death, as "the chairman was a
great figure who served the people with heart and
soul" (Ref B).


9. (C) Xinhua also signaled the leadership's intent
to use the anniversary to legitimize the reforms
enacted after Mao's death and to boost support for the
Party's current reform agenda. Elderly visitors
paying their respects in Tiananmen, Xinhua reported,
had come to tell Mao about the economic prosperity and
personal opportunities the Chinese people now enjoy so
he could "rest in peace," while others opined that "we
should not forget Chairman Mao, for we owe the happy
life of today to his efforts and those of other late
leaders." In a more explicit plug for current
policies, the report quoted a Beijing businesswoman,
"who still wears a badge of Chairman Mao," as saying
she hoped China would "stick unswervingly to the
policies of reform and opening" in order to
"strengthen the nation and enrich the people."

Comment: The Party's Careful Balancing Act
--------------


10. (C) In this year of sensitive anniversaries (Ref

BEIJING 00019543 003 OF 003


C),the Party's carefully calibrated commemoration of
the 30th anniversary of Mao's death appears to be an
effort to draw on the continuing admiration for Mao
among some in order to boost the Party's legitimacy
and increase support for the current leadership's
reform agenda. It may also have been designed to
create a heroic image of the leader for a younger
generation that has no memory of the great suffering
he inflicted on his countrymen. In doing so, however,
it appears that Party leaders, whose own legitimacy is
still closely tied to Mao's charisma as the father of
the revolution and founder of the state, have been
careful to balance their need to burnish the
Chairman's reputation against the risk that a
celebration of his legacy would give regime critics a
chance to mobilize anti-Party sentiment, especially
among those left behind by economic reform.
RANDT