Ryan Pyle Blog: Mao's Grandson, a General

Hello.

With all the huff and puff surrounding the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China a few weeks back it was easy to miss the breaking news that Chairman Mao's grandson, the 39 year old Mao Xinyu, became the youngest Major General in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) history in late September.

Although his promotion has not been officially announced by the PLA, it has appeared as a story in several state run newspapers and has set the blogging world alight in China. Why has their been so much interest online about this young Major General (See link to pictures)? According to bloggers it's because he was a mediocre student, comes across a bit unkept and is a rather large fellow - weighing in at around 220 pounds. Let's just say he doesn't really look field ready.

Laughing or not, being Chairman Mao's grandson in China is a big deal and the official media are much more respectful than folks online. But it appears that his promotion is part of a coming out party that may also include him leaving the military in the near future and getting more involved in politics, perhaps as a big city mayor or a provincial party secretary. I'm not sure if China is ready for another Mao in politics, but this is a story worth keeping an eye on in the coming years. It always boggles my mind how far underlings of famous leaders can get before people around them start to realize that they've fallen far from the papa-tree; but in this case that could be a very good thing as Chairman Mao's political and economic policies wreaked havoc on Chinese people from 1949 until his death in 1976,

Follow this LINK
to see the story and images of Mao's Grandson.

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Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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