Talk:Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

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This is just to note that the stuff from China Pictorial was written by me, except that somehow I wasn't logged in. I got the "China Pictorial" magazine from the Main Stacks of the UC Berkeley Library. Allentchang 02:19, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Embalming process

Should this article mention (or refer to) the detailed description of the embalming process provided by Li Zhi-Sui in his book 'The Private Life of Chairman Mao' based on apparent first hand experience? If this convincing and authoritative book is to be believed there should be little doubt over the body.

Also I visited the mausoleum some years ago and was certainly not rushed as implied in this article. The queue of people shuffled through at steady, sombre pace.

I accept this article is about the mausoleum itself and not specifically the embalming process but I wondered if anyone else had an opinion on this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by RogMcDog (talk • contribs) 09:36, 26 April 2007 (UTC).

When I visited the Mausoleum seven or eight years ago, it did indeed feel rushed. I estimate I wasn't in eyeshot of Mao for more than about 30 seconds or so. I guess being rushed is pretty subjective :) 152.78.237.66 13:06, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV

Controversy section. It doesn't have any sources (though I'm more - than - confident that some can be cited), however it's also, to me, rather blatantly disregards neutrality. I've emboldended the statements I take issue with, and added a * to those which need sources:

"After the reform started in 1979 in China, however, it was revealed that the symbolic voluntary labor was, allegedly, a complete waste of time and other resources, because the significant majority* of the voluntary work performed was nothing other than a political propaganda showpiece*: the 'volunteers' would come to the construction site to form a human chain and pass the bricks from one end to the other, and the next day, a different group of the 'volunteers' would repeat the task, except the bricks were passed back to the original spot*. Actual work that would really help the construction was never done*. As a result, the construction of the mausoleum of Mao cost (measured in 1977 prices) ten times more* than that of the Great Hall of the People (measured in 1959 prices). This waste of resources was used by the reformers within the communist party to criticize Hua Guofeng and his followers, but once the reformers had consolidated their power after Hua Guofeng was removed, further discussion on this sensitive topic was banned."

Now, I'm not arguing with a pro - Maoist stance (though it is true that I support the Marxist theory), but I'm sure we could tone this wording down so that it doesn't sound that someone has a chip on their shoulder (and, obviously, the problem with sources). Any thoughts? Thanks! Sporker (talk) 11:41, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

This section is out of context. If no work on construction was done, there would be no mausoleum! There ought to be a surrounding section about the building work that did happen - this currently leads straight on from the crystal coffin. Leushenko (talk) 00:36, 18 December 2007 (UTC)