Uh oh! Look who it is! This is from one of the first days in Beijing, when we did all the touristy stuff. I've actually been somewhat surprised at how little Mao's likeliness is seen in culture. Outside of tourist shops and here at Tiananmen, I haven't seen him all that much. His legacy remains very controversial - I feel like most people now acknowledge he was a horrible supreme leader, but he's still admired for being the central figure in uniting China, ending the country's "century of shame," and restoring China to a prominent role in the world. If anyone's interested, a new book has just came out in the States called "Mao: The Untold Story." I ordered it over the summer from the UK. It's a fascinating look at Mao, but with many flaws, the largest being how clearly biased the authors are. They do everything they can to make him out to be another Stalin and Hitler. Meanwhile, the government here is doing everything they can to make Mao into a grandfatherly figure, which is particularly ironic considering he was a horrible husband and father. Supposedly, they've even altered the Tiananmen picture to make him more gentler looking.