Free Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader by Geremie Barme Page B

the spirit of Mao's politics alive in the context of China's turbulent economic upheaval. In August 1994 a journalist writing for the Hong Kong Eastern Express suggested a new form of "politico-tainment." It offered a spoof vision of what a "Maoland" theme park in Shaoshan would look like. Youthful park attendants, it was suggested, could dress as Red Guards and carry the Little Red Book, messy visitors could be struggled, and there would be a Cultural Revolution roller coaster that would hurtle passengers around as though they were experiencing a political purge. There could even be a "Haunted Politburo," featuring the ghosts of leaders airbrushed out of history. 182 Even though "Maoland'' waits to be built, real Maoist theme places already exist. One of these is Linying County in Henan, a revived socialist collective-cum-corporation that has become wealthy pursuing semi-Cultural Revolution policies. 183
Modern Mao Artifacts and Multi-Media Mao
The nature of nostalgia is that it relies on collective memories, fantasies and imagined pasts. Physical artifactsoriginals or simulacraare often the very things that elicit a nostalgic mood, a mood that can be tempered by any number of emotions, from the sublime to the ridiculous. In China objects embarrassingly derided as the by-products of a national psychosis just a few years ago were during the early 1990s recycled or remodeled for circulation to play a role in the new socialist market economy.
     

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Flea markets and "antiques stores" in China's major cities had been selling genuine Cultural Revolution Mao knick-knacks at generally affordable, although highly inflated Reform era, prices for years (see Figure 19). However, true lovers of kitsch/camp/trash have generally been disappointed by the lack of imagination displayed in the meager array of newly manufactured Mao artifacts. This probably is because by the early 1990s the economic reforms had still failed to produce a sufficient surfeit of goods, leisure, and laxity that would allow Mainland Chinese (unlike people in Hong Kong and Taiwan) to realize John Waters' dictum on kitsch: "In order to acquire bad taste one must first have very, very good taste." 184 Nonetheless, there are those of us who regard the new Cult as a deification of Mao as Chairman Camp, 185 and we await anxiously for items such as "Mao in a snowstorm" and crystal sarcophagus soup tureens to be produced. We hanker after exhibitions of the Chairman's preserved viscera and crave the marketing of Mao shrouds in the tradition of the Turin hoax. To date, major tourist options have also been overlooked, such as the renting of Mao's suite in Zhongnanhai to the new rich of China so that billionaire entrepreneurs can entertain peasant wenches in the Dragon Bed and play at being Chairman for a night. Surely there is also a market for Holy Revolutionary Relics. 186 Before the rich possibilities of this nascent market are realized, however, it would be best if we consider the more mundane, contemporary artifacts that became available from the late 1980s:
Mao badges or buttons, those ubiquitous symbols of that bygone age, were recycled by the ton, and new badge factories went on line to satisfy increased consumer demand.
The first Mao badges appeared in Yan'an in late 1948, made by university students using old toothpaste tubes. 187 The object of passionate devotion during the Cultural Revolution, the badges were often used as a means to establish revolutionary credentials and camaraderie. Many people built up large private collections, including the sycophantic Zhou Enlai, although he was also one of the first to criticize the excesses of Mao-mania when, in March 1969, he said: "More than 700 million copies of Quotations are in circulation, as well as 2.2 billion Chairman Mao badges. People are indulging in feudalism and a bourgeois style. What we want is frugality." 188
Mao's own criticism of the badges came in a discussion held with student leaders in April