Shaoshan #2: The Home of Red Tourism

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After a great night's sleep, I was ready to explore more of Shaoshan. First though, we needed breakfast. We headed to a small restaurant, not too far from our guesthouse. Eventhough, these small restaurants are allover China, I felt like I was in Southeast Asia. It must have been a combination of the heat, humidity, and the fact I was on holiday. The place did a variety of noodle soups and other breakfast items. I opted for the fatty pork noodle soup. I was hoping that the fatty pork would be like the pork in Hong Shao Rou, however the pork in thr dish had zero fat on it. I couldn't be disappointed though as it was really good. I was sweating by the time I had finished it, which wasn't a pretty sight.

We made our way over to the main tourist site. This area houses all the important Mao related things. After how quiet the village had been last night, I was surprised to see so many people there. This place must be popular for daytrippers, who stay in the bigger cities like Changsha, the provincial capitial. We located the ticket office, bought our tickets, and stowed the things we didn't need in the lockers available. Then we set off to visit the most important place first; Mao Ze Dong's former home. It was about a 5-10 minute walk from the ticket office and we knew when we'd arrived as the queue to walk around the house was rather large. The house really surprised me, as it was a lot bigger than I imagined. We walked around looking at the rooms that Chairman Mao and his family had inhabited. There were even soldiers there to protect the place, that's how sacred it is. Because of the amount of people, we went round the hose at a steady pace, there was no time to linger. Outside we saw where the animals had been kept and where Chairman Mao had sunned rice husks in his youth. We wandered up the hill next to his former home and came to a very communist looking tunnel. I loved walking through the tunnel as it was cool and had a bit of a breeze flowing through it, giving me some respite from the heat and the humidity. I think the tunnel was used by Chairman Mao back in the day. However, now at the other end there is only souvenir shops and restuarants.

We headed back through and made our way to the graves of Chairman Mao's parents. These were set on a hill, a few hundred metres from their former home. It was a lot quieter up here, as not too many of thr other tourists made their way up here. I was very sweaty by the time I made it to the burial mounds. There were a few touts around trying to sell stuff and a security guard to make sure the graves were respected. There were big signs in Chinese saying not to cross the barrier, but one old bloke wanted a closer look at the graves, so he hopped over the barrier and thus got a bollocking off the securiry guard. His daughter looked well embarrassed, like she couldn't take him anywhere. Anyway to appease the parents' spirits he bought a shot of liquor off one of the touts as an offering to them. He paid more for that shot than a whole bottle of baijiu is worth and the woman collected the shot after he finished, I bet she's been using the same bottle of baijiu for years. We were going to take a different path down the hill, but not of the local touts could really tell us where we would come out, so we decided to retrace our steps. It was really nice to be at the back of tbhe village like this as the views were gorgeous. It would have been quite a beautiful and idyllic place to live, minus all the farmwork. We made our way back to Chairman Mao's former residence and got some pictures of it from across the pond. It was very pretty, just a shame about all the people.

We headed to the museum, which was near where we had started. This museum was the Mao Zedong Memorial Museum. This museum was dedicated to Mao and the rise of the Communist Party in China. It was interesting to look around, I especially liked seeing the old flags on display and learning more about 'The Long March'. I really need to read up some more about Chinese history, there is so much to learn. We came to another museum, this was the Mao Relics Museum. This one was a more personal museum dedicated more to Mao the man. It was pretty quiet in here and we could take our time looking around the exhibits. There were loads of things on display, all things that Mao had used during his life. He was a keen swimmer and some of his red swim trunks were on display. There were also rooms that he used to work and relax in, as well as his bed piled high with books. The doctor's notes from the day before he passed away are even on display. It was definitely interesting to see all these things.

We also had a look around the ancestral hall belonging to Mao's family. I loved style of the outside of the building, it was very traditional. Inside was a bit more bare bones. We exited through a gift shop, of course, but made use of it to stock up on some water. The heat and humidity.were deriously dehydrating me. The gift shop also sold stinky black tofu, so we got some of that to share. After having had stinky tofu a few times, I don't find it too bad, and this one wasn't particularly strong. After a sit down and a few minutes rest, we headed back to the square and the large Chairman Mao statue, so that we could see it in the day time. What a contrast to the evening before, when it had only been us and a couple if locals. The square was heaving with people. A lot of people were dressed up in old school PLA uniforms, I think we were as curious about them as they were about us. We got chatting to some of them, and ended up taking some selfies together, which was fun. There were also lots of school and university groups with big banners, all taking their photos in front of the Chairman Mao statue.

We were starving by this point, so we headed off to find some lunch. We came across a restaurant/shop, so headed in there. Once again, we were the only diners. Last night I could understand as the village was quiet, but I thought there might be other peope eating. Everyone must eat earlier, we were quite late, or the big tour groups eat at particular restaurants. We ordered loads of food again. We ordered Hong Shao Rou (we had to compare it to the infamous one we had the day before), a chicken dish, a soup, and some veggie dishes. The Hong Shao Rou was really good and more in the style I'm used to, but I didn't have a favourite between the two as both were good. The stand out dish for this restaurant was definitely the eggplant dish. It was amazing, so delicious and the colour of the eggplant was simply amazing, tne purple skin was so bright and vibrant, it made a nice contrast to the lighter flesh of the vegetable.

Feeling stuffed from lunch, we headed back to collect our bags as we'd forgotten to pick them up earlier. While we were there, we took a look around what I think was an old school house building, where Mao started his education. Then we headed in the direction of our guesthouse, but we took a different path, so that we could visit a big park/gardens. I have looked online for the name of the place, but my google skills are slipping, so it shall remain nameless. The place was filled with replicas of important places that Mao had visited and that were important in the foundation of the new China. The first place we came to was a replica of the Zunyi Conference Site. Zunyi is a town in Guizhou province in southern China and was the site of a meeting of the CCP in January 1935 during the Long March. At the meeting, there was a power struggle involving the leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun and the opposition led by Mao Ze Dong. The result of the meeting was that Mao took over military command and became the leader of the Communist Party. It was interesting to walk around the conference and wonder what went on. We headed to a brdge, which had some historical significance that I've forgotten. I think it was strategic and was blown up. Anyway, the replica was pretty and I had fun walking across it. We also saw a replica of the Yan'an Pagoda, which was important during the Revolutionary Movement. We wandered to another part of the park, which housed a matyrs' wall and a small museum. The gardens were really beautiful and well cared for, but the heat and having been on my feet pretty much all day meant that I was tired. So much as I would hace liked to see the whole garden, a rest under the air con was called for.

After taking a rest, we reconvened to get some dinner. Since we were going to watch the show soon, we decided to eat at our guesthouse. We chose a few dishes off the menu and the owner even went and picked the vegetables from their allotment in front of the guesthouse. Talk about fresh! We were also given some cucumbers to munch on while the dishes were being prepared. We decided to skip the Hong Shao Rou and went for the Hong Shao tofu instead, we also ordered a fish and tofu dish, and a veggie dish, I can't remember what though, probably potatoes. Hong Shao tofu was amazing, I really, really enjoyed it. I could have happily eaten the whole bowl myself. The fish and tofu was good, too, although the bones made it a little tricky to eat. The tofu was different, too, softer than the other dish. We washed it down with some beers.

We had seen a show advertised the day before and decided to get tickets to see it. I think they were around 200 RMB. Our guesthouse owner drove us to the show and said he would go and get the ticjets for us, we were a little confused as we didn't understand how he was going to be so much quicker than us, until he got his hoverboard out of the boot of the car. He bombed off to get the tickets as we ambled along. I was really surprised at how many people were here to watch the show, although really after a few years in China, I should be used to it by now. After doing some digging on the internet, I found out that the theatre seats 3,000 people. The guesthouse owner returned with the tickets and we continued to the entrance gate, and then up to the theatre. The seating was outdoors, so I really hoped that the weather wouldn't change. We had great spots, only about three or four rows from the front. I was impressed at the size of the stage, it was huge. We settled in and eagerly anticipated the start of 'From China Arises Mao Zedong'. The show wasn't too long, I think about an hour or an hour and a half. Since it was all in Chinese, I had to guess what most of the finer details were. The show chronicles the rise of Mao and the birth of PRC. It was very patriotic and interesting to watch. The performers were all great and I really enjoyed the show. At the end, we were really lucky as we got to go down to the stage and meet the actor who plays the older Chairman Mao. We got some photos taken with him, which was awesome and a great end to the show. I think we were on a bit of a high after the show, so it took me a while to calm down and sleep. I had such a great day, and got some great memories to treasure.

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