China’s memories of Mao fade to nostalgia 50 years after his death

Nanjie, China – The crimson flags on Nanjie village’s “East is Red” Square hang limp in the sweltering summer heat as a trickle of tourists take photos with a towering statue of Chairman Mao Zedong, still gleaming white almost 50 years after he died. The Great Helmsman, who died Sept. 9, 1976, is still very much a fixture in central Henan province’s Nanjie — often dubbed “China’s last Maoist village.” Nostalgia for Mao’s egalitarian ideals is growing in China as memories of his turbulent rule fade and the country grapples with a slowing economy and inequality.