Outrage Over China's Plans For Mao's Birthday

More than $2.5bn (£1.6bn) is being spent on events to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, to the fury of many Chinese citizens.

The money is being directed towards Mao's birthplace of Shaoshan, where a tourist information centre will be renovated and his former residence restored, according to the Changsha Evening News.

High-speed rail stations and new highways will also be built to impress the expected influx of visitors.

Authorities in Xiangtan, which includes Shaoshan, defended the spending plans, telling China's Global Times newspaper that the commemoration's importance "overrides any other at the moment".

However, Chinese internet users have criticised the sum of money the city plans to spend - far greater than originally planned - more than 37 years after Mao's death.

Mao memorabilia remains popular throughout China

One poster on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter, said: "How much money does it cost to deal with pollution? How much does it cost to provide medical insurance? How much to offer students from poor districts free lunch?

"I can't believe they're spending this much money on a dead man, a controversial dead man."

Another user added: "Xiangtan's economy is not doing well and a lot of people have been laid off by state-owned enterprises. And they spent so lavishly! I am so "proud" of them. Who are those Xiangtan officials really serving?"

The comments highlight the thorny issue of such lavish outlays in China.

Although the government has launched an austerity campaign, banning banquets and other indulgences, it came under fire earlier this month after building a 70m yuan (£7m) viewing tower in the shape of a giant puffer fish.

The enormous puffer fish has been built on an island in Jiangsu province

The spending plans are part of a broader commemoration of the Mao anniversary in China.

The late leader's legacy is often associated in the West with events such as China's Great Leap Forward, when tens of millions died through famine, as well as the Cultural Revolution.

However in China, his supporters focus on Mao's earlier revolutionary years, his role in the 1949 founding of the People's Republic and his nationalistic stance.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, professor of history at the University of California Irvine, said the 120th anniversary will see an effort to put Mao "into a context as the person who began China's resurgence to world-power status, as opposed to what the Western associations with Mao often now are".

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