When 28-year-old Mao Anying died in 1950 in a battle during the Korea War (1950-53), his father, Chairman Mao Zedong, silently made a white flower from a piece of paper and placed it in front of his son's photo.

"Mao was a man of strong emotions and humour with plenty of charisma," said veteran Chinese actor Gu Yue, who has portrayed Mao in 84 movies and TV series.

Among the historical figures in China's long history, the late Chairman Mao Zedong is one of the most frequently featured in films and television dramas.

Since 1978, when the Great Helmsman was first featured on the silver screen in The Great River Flows on (Dahe Benliu), 25 films detailing highlights of his life have been produced in China.

Performers who have stepped into the role of Mao have experienced changes in their career, as well as their daily lives.

Throughout the years, performers have visited the places where Mao lived and worked and talked with many people who grew up or who worked with him.

The Mao Zedong they have come to know is very different from the stereotypical Mao people usually associate with, a statesman without personal feelings, for instance.

In Shaoshan, Mao's hometown in Central China's Hunan Province, local people told Gu Yue about Mao's 1959 visit.

"Mao had tears in his eyes when he heard people did not have meat for months because of a natural disaster," Gu said. "When Mao returned to Beijing, he refused to eat meat for more than a year."

Mao was full of humor, too. Gu said he heard of one joke Mao told during his meeting with then US President Richard Nixon in February 1972.

It was said that Mao claimed that the Chinese could impersonate any ethnicity on earth, but it would be hard for Caucasians to portray themselves as Asian because they "couldn't have their nose cut" to fit the Asian image.

Gu said in the first films he did about Mao, he felt like he was performing in a fantasy.

But these days, he can express Mao's anger or sorrow in addition to his courage and wisdom.

During on-site shooting in areas where Mao worked and lived, performers have found that local people have retained high admiration for the great chairman.

"I have come to adore him much more after I took up the role of Mao for the first time in 1989," said Wang Ying.

The film Wang starred in chronicled the political and social events of 1921 when he portrayed a 28-year-old Mao, one of the 13 founding members of the Communist Party of China (CPC). "When I was assigned the role, I told the film director that I knew very little of the real Mao at that time," said Wang. "I needed to visit Mao's hometown in Hunan to get some inspiration."

In Shaoshan, Wang met local people and learned a lot about Mao and his family.

Wang Ying said he was once asked by a foreign reporter about his feelings when looking at the gigantic painting of Mao on the Tian'anmen rostrum.

"He asked me whether I felt like I was Mao, I said 'No.' I told him that Mao is the sun and I am like a drop of water. I only hoped I could reflect his brilliance and that was my biggest pleasure," Wang said.

(China Daily December 15, 2003)