On the 9th, on the 50th anniversary of the death of former Chinese President Mao Zedong, commemorations continued across China. While state-run media released reports highlighting his life and accomplishments, no memorial event was held at the central government level.
People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's official newspaper, said on the 9th on its social media (SNS) account that "Mao Zedong is a great patriot and national hero of modern China," and "a giant of a generation who led the Chinese people and thoroughly changed their destiny and the face of the nation."
China Central Television (CCTV) also reported, "On this day 50 years ago, Comrade Mao Zedong passed away," introducing his life and saying, "China advances as it remembers the great figure."
Mourners flocked to the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. According to the Beijing municipal government and others, in addition to its usual hours from 8 a.m. to noon, the hall opened extra hours from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. that day. As of the evening of the 6th, reservations to pay respects at the hall were reportedly fully booked through the 12th.
Mourners from across the country also gathered in Shaoshan, Mao Zedong's hometown in Hunan province. Local Chinese media reported that wreaths laid by mourners were lined up in front of the Mao statue at Shaoshan Mao Zedong Square that day, and that people from various places gathered at the square from early hours to pay tribute to him.
However, no memorial event was held at the level of the central leadership. In regulations established in 1996, China set the principle of not holding separate commemorations on the death anniversaries of party and state leaders. There has also been no word that top-level officials visited the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
Mao Zedong, who died in 1976, served as the first president after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. While he pursued land reform, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution, greatly transforming China's social and economic system, the process brought severe social turmoil and loss of life. In China, he is evaluated as a founding leader, while critical assessments of his rule and policies continue.