The face of dissatisfaction with China’s Communist Party is the face of the man synonymous with it: Mao Zedong.
Portraits of the revolutionary leader often led packs of demonstrators in protests over Japan’s effort last week to bolster its hold on islands claimed by China. Many were hoisted by people born after his death 36 years ago.
Mao, widely revered by Chinese and praised by Communist Party leaders, is supposed to serve as a unifying symbol, but it often isn’t so.
To some he represents a condemnation of corruption and inequality under a government that long ago abandoned his radical policies. More frequently this week, his image was a subtle slap by nationalists who accuse leaders of being too weak in the territorial dispute.
“Mao Zedong was tough. He never backed down when it came to the national interests,” said Lu Lei, a Beijing salesman who went to the Japanese Embassy with his friends to protest on Tuesday. “Our current government is spineless. If Mao were alive, we would have already attacked Japan.”
Mao has become a safe way for Chinese to criticise a government bent on stifling dissent. His giant portrait still looks out to Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing, and his name is etched into the country’s constitution and the party’s charter, even if his ideology has been abandoned in practice.