"Grandpa Mao, I don't miss you at all"

By Maple, guest blogger

[in translation]

Only a week ago I had thought that Shanghai, the so called cosmopolitan city, wouldn't be so off the beam as Chongqing. 

Last week I went to the Shanghai Library and discovered the entire hall was decorated red: on walls were full of Party history file photos; from the broadcast came the song "the sun is the reddest, Chairman Mao is the dearest"; offered to patrons for free were red rice and pumpkin soup (Red Army food – Xujun).  Very ostentatious!

Many people left comments under the "red" photos; of course those were politically conscious old comrades who extolled the Party. Very interestingly though, below the photo of Comrade Mao Zedong was a line of childish writing:

"Grandpa Mao, I don't miss you at all, because I see you on RMB every day."

I was going to take a photo of it with my cell phone; immediately a staff member came to stop me, class struggle written all over his face.  I smiled at him: "I just want a memento of your propaganda. What's the big deal?"  He asked back directly, "What is your work unit?" I had to "run away with my tail between my legs."

(Note:  1. RMB is Chinese banknote; 2. "Imperialists ran away with their tails between their legs" is a line in the red song "Socialism Is Good." – Xujun)

中文原文:

一周以前我还以为上海这样的所谓国际大都市不会像重庆那样离谱。

      上周去图书馆，发现整个大堂都布置成一片红了，满墙贴的都是党史资料照片，免费供应红米饭南瓜汤，放着“太阳最红，毛主席最亲的歌”。阵仗得很！

       那些红色照片下有不少人留言，当然都是有觉悟的老同志在歌颂党啦。但在毛泽东同志的画像下有一行稚气的文字很有意思：毛爷爷，我一点都不想你，因为我天天在人民币上看见你。

       我拿出手机想拍照，马上有工作人员来阻止，满脸的阶级斗争。我笑言:你们搞宣传，我也作个纪念，有什么关系呢？工作人员就直接问：你是那个单位的？我只好夹着尾巴逃跑了。