Chairman Mao’s unexpected return

An interesting image has been making the rounds of forums and microblogs over the past month:

Chairman Mao’s Unexpected Return

The image is a Photoshop job done on “Unexpected Return,” a scene of a revolutionary’s homecoming painted by the 19th Century Russian master Ilya Repin.

In the adaptation, Chairman Mao strides through the door accompanied by Li Yuhe and Li Tiemei, two characters from the model opera The Legend of the Red Lantern.

Their arrival interrupts a deal taking place between George Bush, bent over a chest of gold, and fallen Shanghai party secretary Chen Liangyu, seated at the table cradling a pile of cash. Next to him is Zhang Weiying, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, who is clutching a stack of US dollars. At the piano is real estate mogul Ren Zhiqiang.

Looking over the scene is a portrait of Jiang Zemin, flanked by Deng Xiaoping and Zhao Ziyang.

Although the image has found renewed popularity in the past month, it actually seems to have been created a while ago. Here’s a writeup from early last year:

A a netizen named “zuoke” painted a peculiar oil painting called “Mao Zedong’s Unexpected Return.” The artist the moderator of an online forum and claims that he spent two or three years on the composition of the painting, which attempts to reflect social realities. The positive characters in this painting include Mao Zedong, Li Tiemei, and Li Yuhe; the artist originally intended to add Yang Zirong (from “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy”), but there was no space. Negative characters include US President George W. Bush and, forming the “triangle of special interests,” Zhang Weiying as the representative of academia, Ren Zhiqiang from the business world, and Chen Liangyu standing in for politics. Just as they start to divide up the money, Mao strides in dressed in a Yan’an-era outfit.

This painting is based on “Unexpected Return” by 19th Century realist master Ilya Repin, whose “Burlaks on Volga” is well known in China. “Unexpected Return” shows a revolutionary intellectual returning home disconsolate and dressed in prisoners’ clothes after of a time of hard labor and exile. The servants no longer recognize him, and his wife gets up nervously from her chair. In its early planning stages, the revolutionary was a woman. Repin’s painting was sparked controversy when it was completed and was unable to be shown in public for a time.

“zuoke” met something of the same fate with his painting, although China is not 19th Century Russia and it is allowed to be shown. Critics of the painting call it a worthless Photoshop job done with sloppy technique; supporters of the painting shout, “Long Live Chairman Mao.” One world, different dreams — how fascinating!