Visiting the Great Helmsman

The last major thing that I hadn't seen in Beijing was Chairman Mao in his mauseleum. The mauseleum is in central Beijing, near Tiananmen Square and other touristy stuff, but I think it's safe to say that Mao's body is the most popular thing for miles around. Every time I've gone by this place or attempted to visit it before, I've been put off by the THOUSANDS of people (totaling about ten million each year!) standing in a line that snakes up and down and around a huge city block.
That building in the background is the actual mauseleum.
This is just the beginning of the line...it goes for on for blocks!

You have to stand in line forever to check your bag and camera, then you have to move to the real line and stand there even longer to get to the mauseleum, and then it's only open from 8am-12pm! But I was determined not to leave Beijing again without seeing Mao, so I went to bed early and was up at 5am on my last day before leaving for Korea. I was in the square around 6:30 or 6:45am, and wasted at least fifteen minutes just trying to find the end of the huge line that had already formed. Luckily, I'd had the foresight to leave my bag at the hostel - I just had some money and my room key in my pocket.

(I should note here that while Mao is a tourist attraction for foreigners, his body is an object of reverence for the Chinese. The whole time I was waiting in line and going through security, I did not see a single other foreigner. It was all Chinese waiting for a glimpse of Mao, some of them probably making a pilgrimage from their home province.)

But it turned out to be worth getting up so early - we waited in one place for only about 45 minutes, and then from 7:40am on moved slowly but steadily up toward the mauseleum entrance, through security, and then right on in.

Once inside the mauseleum, it's a ridiculously brief expereince - there's no stopping to get a good look at anything (also, no photography, laughing, hats, or speaking loudly). First you pass a statue of the man himself in front of a mural (looked so much like all the Kim Il Sung nonsense in the DPRK), and some Chinese lay down bunches of flowers. You trundle right along to the next room, where Mao lies in state under the Communist party flag. And then you're outside again, the whole thing having taken all of ninety seconds.

I don't know if Mao is worth the wait, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it, but getting up early was definitely a good idea: all the waiting is outside under the sun but it's not too bad before 8am. And I waited less than an hour (I'm sure the people at the front of the line had been there since before dawn, while arriving any later means waiting in that horrible line as the morning just gets hotter). It's really very similar to some sights in North Korea - not impressive in and of itself, but a good experience and insight into Chinese culture.