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Man's Mao obsession ruins children's schooling
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-25 09:25

A man is so crazy about Chairman Mao Zedong's calligraphy that he spent all his savings on his worship in Wuchang, Hubei province.

Song Mingzheng, 56, started copying Mao's handwriting at the age of 10 and has completed copying by hand eight books of his works.

That's a total of 2.46 million Chinese characters in the past four years.

Song, employed by a local magazine, has so far spent more than 1.5 million yuan ($220,000) buying and collecting Mao's works and handwritings, building his 90 sq m home into a mini shrine.

Song has even used money set aside for his son and daughter's tuition to continue emulating the former chairman's scribblings.

As a result, his daughter was forced to quit university when just a sophomore while his son, a primary school pupil, had to skip school for a year.

(Wuhan Morning Post)