National Day(week) in China

Just a little bit 'o history for you all today. That and because it is raining, I have been cleaning and have not made it out of the apartment to take pictures. Instead, a lovely picture of Mao Zedong (aka Mao Tse-Tung - it is pronounced the same). I realize many in our parents generation already know this information and probably don't want to relive it, but I thought it was important for me to re-familiarize myself with this history since I'm living here.

Oct. 01 (info from: http://nieonline.com/austin/calendar.cfm)
National Day: People's Republic of China. This marks the anniversary of the victory of the Communist Party led by Mao Zedong over the Nationalist Forces led by Chiang Kai-shek and the declaration of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This holiday is celebrated on October 1 and October 2.

So reality, at least Shanghai reality is that people go in to work the Saturday before the holiday (in this case September 30th - so the banks weren't open so we could get paid is beyond me). Then they have Monday-Friday off, then I think they have to go to work the following weekend. In any event, it is really only 3 days off. Since yesteday (Sunday) was October 1st, there were some fireworks, but hey, they like fireworks over here. Whenever they open a new store, hotel, whatever, they put a bunch of red up and have fireworks as a good luck measure to ward off evil spirits. The first few times it happened I thought we were under attack since it sounds like machine gun fire, but when I looked out the window no one really seemed concerned and no mass panic so I thought okay, if the world is ending why should anyone panic including me, so I went back to laundry.

Here is a link to a website about Mao's life (did you know he wrote poetry?). I thought it might be good to know a little more about the man who is on every single piece of paper money issued in China....
http://www.planio.it/linearossa/lrengmao.htm