I watched an incredibly powerful documentary on Cinemax tonight called Welcome to North Korea. This is a wonderful piece of film. Just as one gets the sense that the North Koreans know nothing about us, it seems we know nothing about them as well.

The entire documentary reminded me of my own trip to another country with its own Cult of Personality. While China has progressed light years since the end of the Cultural Revolution, it still stubbornly clutches at a perverse demagoguery.

While standing in line to catch a glimpse of the now embalmed Chairman Mao, terse, clipped female voices blared out a simple and repeating message over the ubiquitous loud speakers surrounding us.

“Pay your respects to Chairman Mao! No cameras are allowed! Proceed in an orderly fashion! No talking! Be respectful at all times! Pay your respects to Chairman Mao! No cameras are allowed…”

And so it continued in several languages. Although I only recognized two of those languages (English and Chinese), I completely understood the cold efficiency and syncopation with which they where spoken.

As we continued into the mausoleum, people laid down bouquets of flowers under the watchful eyes of machine-gun laden soldiers. When the flowers got to a certain height, servants clad in white would gather them up and return them to the booth in front for the next group to buy. At the rear exit was a sort of surreal gift shop where you could buy almost any item emblazoned with Chairman Mao’s likeness. I bought a lighter that played “The East is Red” when you opened it up.

And yet, the rest of China, it seemed, has long forgotten Chairman Mao. You can catch a glimpse of his chubby face from time to time. These mostly hanging from the rear view mirrors of the swarming fleet of taxi cabs. Other than that, China (Beijing anyway) seems to be on an admittedly slow road to Capitalism, with Asian flare.

Chairman Mao is dead, long live Chairman Mao.