You Can't Go Anywhere In China Without Seeing Images Of Mao

China celebrated the 120th birthday of Mao Zedong today.

Many have drawn parallels between president Xi Jinping and Mao, especially now that Xi has taken to hardening Party indoctrination.

Mao has become a powerful symbol for leftists in the Communist Party.

"In venerating Mao, they sometimes seek to put pressure on the current leadership and its market-oriented policies while managing to avoid expressing open dissent," write Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Kang Lim at Reuters

To mark his birth, Chinese leaders bowed three times in front of the statue of Mao and visited his mausoleum.

And 37 years after his death, Mao's presence is still felt and seen all over China.

A portrait of Mao is seen at the Democracy Elementary and Middle School in Sitong town, where students are required to sing revolutionary songs and recite quotations from Mao's Little Red Book.

A giant peter of Mao is seen at a thermal power plant in Nanjie village in China's central Henan province. The village is said to be one of the last remaining models of communist China where collectivism still guides daily life.

This statue of Mao in his youth in Changsha, Hunan province was unveiled to the public in 2009.

A child at the school falls asleep at her desk holding a book with a portrait of Mao.

Copies of the Little Red Book are on sale at the Panjiayuan flea market in Beijing. Panjiayuan, known as "Dirt Market" sells both genuine and fake antiques.

Workers put in characters that spell "Long Life Maoism" over a portrait of Mao in Changzhi, northern China's Shanxi province.

Folk artist Cong Langui draws a portrait of Mao declaring the founding of the People's Republic of China on a square in Wuhan, Hubei province.

A painters works on a portrait of Mao at a film studio in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

A man takes a selfie in front a statue of Mao in Beijing.

Visitors to the Shanghai World Expo are seen wearing t-shirts with an image of Mao.

A store owner stands next to portraits of Mao at her store.

Posters of chairman Mao are out on sale ahead of New Year's celebrations.

Of course the face of Mao appears on the renminbi.

A poster can be seen hanging in a cave that was once the headquarters of former Chinese Communist military leader Lin Biao. The cave has since been turned into a Military Bar.

Lin died in plane crash in Mongolia after what was believed to be a failed coup to oust Mao.

A book cover with young Mao is seen at China's Executive Leadership Academy of Jinggangshan, a Communist Party school, in Jiangxi province.

A giant statue of Mao makes its way to Kashgar, Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region.

A man cycles past a collection of Mao pins in Shanghai.

Drawings of Mao hang at an exhibition in Guangzhou.

A book celebrating Mao was published on the 110th birth anniversary of Mao in 2003.

Delegates look at painting of Mao and other Chinese leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

A giant poster of Mao still stands at the Beijing's Tiananmen Gate.

A man holding a portrait of Mao walks past Tiananmen Gate in Beijing.

Boats carrying an image of chairman Mao and Chinese national flags lead winter swimmers dying an exercise in the Yangtze River to celebrate Mao's 120th birth anniversary.

Security cameras are attached to a pole right by a giant poster of Mao near the Great Hall of the People.

Chinese paramilitary policemen stand guard at Tiananmen Square near a portrait of Mao.

Now look at some impressive propaganda posters put out during Mao's rule...

26 Tremendous Propaganda Posters From Chinese Communists »

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