Some 2,003 gold and silver Mao Zedong badges have been issued in Hunan Province, central China, to commemorate the late Chinese leader.
The badges were jointly issued by the Hunan Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China and the Shaoshan Tourism Company before the 82nd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which fell on July 1.
Designed by Li Bin, who also devised the fourth series of Renminbi coined by the Shanghai Mint Company, the badges have passed the inspection of state quality control authorities.
Mao Zedong, son of an affluent peasant, was born in Shaosan of Hunan Province on Dec. 26, 1893. He was among the 13 deputies present at the first National Congress of the CPC in the summer of 1921 in Shanghai and became the leader of the CPC.
On Oct. 1, 1949, Mao solemnly proclaimed to the world the founding of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. He died on Sept. 9, 1976.
Wearing Mao Zedong badges was a trend favored by almost every Chinese between the 1960s and 1970s.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2003)
