Chairman Mao Memorial Hall
By admin on 2015-01-12

Chairman Mao Memorial Hall (毛主席纪念堂) is the resting place of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death in 1976. Located To the east of Tiananmen Square, north of the Monument to the People's Heroes, the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall rests on the site of former Gate of China (Zhonghuamen). The foundation of the building was laid in November 1976 while the inauguration ceremony was held on September 1977. Chairman Mao Memorial Hall covers an area of 57.2 thousand square meters, 220m from east to west and 280m from south to north. Above the main gate of the mausoleum, a white marble plaque with golden words: "Chairman Mao Memorial Hall" was beset. Forty-four granite posts stand on the large burgundy granite base, holding the golden glazed double-eaved roof.

The Court
Two groups of clay figures displaying China Revolution, one for New Democracy period and the other for socialist construction period, stand in front of the south gate of the architecture. Coincidentally, in front of the north gate also stand another two lines of clay figures. All together there are four teams, 62 clay figures, each measuring 3.5m. The whole sculpture was finished in 5 months by over 100 sculptors from 18 provinces of China. Outside the south gate, there fly 30 red flags, representing 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Memorial Halls
Memorial halls are the main body of the building including two floors.

Halls on the first floor are North Great Hall, the Memorial Hall and the South Great Hall. The North Great Hall is the entrance to the Memorial Hall and the place for commemorative rites. A marble statue of Mao Zedong, 3.45 tall, was placed in the center of the North Great Hall. The backdrop of the hall is a floss-embroidered mural painting "The vast homeland", 23.74m wide and 6.6m tall. The centre Memorial Hall is the place to pay tribute to Chairman Mao. In the Sun Yat Sen's uniform, the body of Mao Zedong was covered with the party flag of Communist Party of China, resting in the crystal coffin. The black granite base of the crystal coffin was inlaid on the four sides with the party emblem, national emblem, army emblem as well as the birthday of Mao Zedong and the day he passed away. The South Great Hall is the exit of the Memorial Hall. The marble wall on the north was engraved with the gilded scripture "Manjianghong" written by Mao Zedong.

Halls on the second floor are the memorial rooms for the revolutionary achievements of Comrade Mao Zendong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun and the movie hall. Marble statues of the six leaders are placed in the center of six memorial rooms with a flock of materials such as photos and literatures to glass their outstanding achievements in different periods of China Revolution and Construction. A film documentary "Huainian" (Miss), reproducing the images of the six leaders, is screened in the movie hall.