Tiananmen's got a brand new Mao

The portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong overlooking Tiananmen Square was replaced with a new (identical) one midnight Saturday, ahead of National Day on October 1.

Numerous people have called for the removal of the Great Helmsman's portrait over the years, including a former Red Guard leader and leading liberal commentators.

According to historian Maurice Meisner, in 1955 Mao himself said that cults of personality (such as that enjoyed by Josef Stalin and his future self) are "poisonous ideological survivals of the old society".

Tuesday marks the 64th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

For some bonus Mao fun, here is a photo of the former leader's only grandson, Mao Xinyu, looking super awkward at a recent event held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the death of founding CPC member Chen Tanqiu: