Beijing (China): Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, is to fall victim to a distinctly capitalist tradition when his portrait goes up for auction next month.
The original model for the Mao painting that hung above Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of the China's Communist revolution, is expected to fetch 1 million to 1.2 million yuan ($120,000-$150,000) when it is sold through a Beijing auction house, the China Daily reported on Friday.
But thousands of Internet users expressed their dismay at the auction, the Beijing Morning News said. "The portrait is very meaningful and should not be for sale, but should be kept in the national museum," was one comment in a chatroom at sohu.com.
The painting, owned by a Chinese American, was done by Mao portrait artist Zhang Zhenshi, who was among more than 30 from across China invited to paint the Great Helmsman to celebrate the first anniversary of the People's Republic in 1950.
Potential buyers will be able to view the portrait from May 31 to June 2, and the bidding will open on June 3, a day before the anniversary of the 1989 military crackdown on student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing Huachen Auctions said.
A Chinese journalist spent more than 16 years in prison for throwing paint on a replica of Mao during the Tiananmen demonstrations. He was freed in February.
Despite leading China through a series of radical political movements that are blamed for the deaths of millions, Mao is still revered by many in China and his portrait still hangs over Tiananmen Square.
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