All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French

How Mao Ended up in Tiananmen Square…Looking Like a Lincoln Memorial

Posted: June 24th, 2012 | 7 Comments »

A small article popped up in the China Daily recently about Xu Yinpei the architect behind Mao’s Mausoleum in Tiananmen Square. Of course as any fool can see they basically copied the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC; Xu says not of course but anyone with eyes!! – apparently the State Council told Xu “the memorial should be solemn, aesthetically pleasing and blend in traditional Chinese elements but shouldn’t look like imperial emperors’ tombs,”. In perhaps the funniest quote of the year so far Xu, who did visit Washington and saw the Lincoln Memorial says, “When I saw the building (the Lincoln Memorial), I said to myself: ‘What a coincidence!'”. Yea sure Architect Xu – we believe you. Also, rather amazingly, Xu claims that “More than 700,000 laborers” worked on the Mausoleum, which even for The Great Helmsman’s final resting place seems a rather excessive amount of construction guys!! Anyway here’s the article.

Mao’s Mausoleum in Tiananmen Square

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

or maybe it’s the other way round…what a coincidence!!


7 Comments on “How Mao Ended up in Tiananmen Square…Looking Like a Lincoln Memorial”

  1. 1 susetta bozzi said at 9:26 pm on June 24th, 2012:

    They definitely look very much the same but I’m afraid both the pictures are of Lincoln Memorial!

  2. 2 Paul French said at 9:39 pm on June 24th, 2012:

    nice try – but I’m afraid the second picture is missing a rather vital element – Mr Lincoln!!

  3. 3 BobbyWong said at 2:10 pm on June 25th, 2012:

    Um, while the Lincoln memorial is shanzhai of a Greek temple, seems you can’t tell the differernce between a Chinese and greek columns.

    The straight column with pannel in between is distinctively Chinese:

    http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/189427/189427,1215529473,2/stock-photo-chinese-style-architecture-14810917.jpg

  4. 4 James said at 11:42 am on June 29th, 2012:

    Sticking upturned corners on a roof does not automatically make it Chinese.

    I hope some architect in China deeply considers what a Chinese building should look like, because all the modern architecture I’ve seen in China looks like Europe or the US.

    There is nothing distinctly Chinese about it.

  5. 5 tom said at 9:07 am on July 2nd, 2012:

    from an architect stand point it is a ugly building but I don’t see how that a copy. The shape is the same as any building.

  6. 6 Paul French said at 5:16 am on July 5th, 2012:

    you really don’t see that as a copy – honestly??

  7. 7 renovation alpine turbo refection turbo audi 110 refection turbo alsace refection turbo alfa renovation r5 alpine turbo renovation af turbo refection turbo bmw refection turbo bordeaux refection turbo bretagne refection turbo bmw 325 tds refection turbo b said at 1:19 am on October 1st, 2015:

    I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?

    Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like
    to find out where u got this from. cheers


Leave a Reply