Beijing Travel Guide

Chairman Mao Mausoleum

Although Chairman Mao Zedong requested to be cremated it was decided hours after his death in 1976, that he would be embalmed. Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death, it is said that after his death doctors reportedly pumped him so full of formaldehyde that his body swelled excessively. After draining the corpse and getting it back to a suitable state, they created a wax model of Mao Zedong, lest his body wouldn't recuperate. It is unknown today, which version of the Great Helmsman is on display at the Mausoleum at any given time. The Mausoleum itself was built in 1977, on the prior site of the Gate of China, the main gate of the Imperial City during the Ming and Qing dynasties. People visiting the Mausoleum line up for hundreds of feet, and visitors can hire flowers at the entrance.