Mao's grandson promoted to general

A grandson of Mao Zedong has been named a general in the People's Liberation Army despite being an armchair commentator with negligible military experience.

Dr Mao Xinyu, the only living grandson of the late chairman, had recently been promoted to lieutenant general, the Yangtze River Daily reported.

The 39-year-old - who was made a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference last year - is the youngest person to hold such a senior rank in the PLA, according to the newspaper and people.com.cn, the website of the People's Daily.

Mao was a researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, where he gained his PhD in the history of the Chinese Communist Party.

Mao, who graduated from Renmin University in 1992, has said in interviews that he idolises his grandfather and considers him to have been a 'perfect man'. He has also expressed his distaste for the spate of books criticising the chairman's legacy.

Of the six books Mao has published since 1990, four are about his grandfather.