Beijing City Site

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (Chinese: 毛主席纪念堂; pinyin: Máo Zhǔxí Jìniàntáng), commonly known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, or the Mao Mausoleum, the final resting place of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death.

Outside of Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

Although Mao had wished to be cremated, his body was embalmed, and construction of a mausoleum began shortly after his death. This highly popular attraction is located in the middle of Tiananmen Square, in Beijing, the capital of China. On this site had previously stood the Gate of China, the southern (main) gate of the Imperial City during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Inside of Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

The remains of the Great Helmsman, as he is sometimes known, are on display for public viewing. People line up for hundreds of feet every day to see the former chairman, many paying tribute to him with flowers that can be rented at the entrance on the north side. There is a souvenir shop at the exit on the south side.

The mausoleum was built right after Mao's death (September 9, 1976). The groundbreaking ceremony took place November 24, 1976, and the mausoleum was completed on May 24, 1977. Hua Guofeng, who supervised the mausoleum's project, has his handwriting on the mausoleum's sign.

The Chairman Mao

According to China Pictorial, Issue 9, 1977, people throughout China designed and built the mausoleum. Material from all over China was used for the construction: granite from Sichuan Province, porcelain plates from Guangdong Province, pine trees from Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, saw-wort seeds from the Tian Shan Mountains in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, earth from the quake-stricken Tangshan, color pebbles from Nanjing, milky quartz from the Kunlun Mountains, pine logs from Jiangxi Province, and rock samples from Mount Everest. Water and sand from the Taiwan Straits were also used to symbolically emphasize the People's Republic of China's claims over Taiwan. 700,000 people from different provinces, autonomous regions, and nationalities did symbolic voluntary labour. It was closed for renovation until September 20, 2007.