HISTORICAL CHANGES

In Shaoshan, Hunan province, the birthplace of Mao, local farmers have taken advantage of the admiration for Mao to make a living.

The locals sell Mao-themed souvenirs, including badges and bronze sculptures, and run family hotels and restaurants that host millions of visitors each year.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), private businesses were targets of crackdowns and restrictions. Even in the early 1980s, it wasn't easy to start a private business, said Mao Yu, the Communist Party chief in the village of Shaoshan.

At that time, people still widely believed that running a private business was equal to defaming Chairman Mao, and an old villager even cried two days before the statue of Mao in response to the reappearance of small private businesses, Mao Yu said.

Decades of reform and opening up have fundamentally transformed the thinking of Mao's fellow villagers, and they are now operating Mao-themed restaurants and hotels to cash in on the admiration for the former leader.

Reform and opening up have brought about economic miracles nationwide. China's per capita gross domestic product was less than 200 U.S. dollars in 1978, one-third of the level in Sub-Saharan Africa at the time.

Now China has become the world's second-largest economy and joined the ranks of middle-income countries, with per capita GDP exceeding 6,000 U.S. dollars.

The market economy and emancipation of minds have resulted in a massive human migration. Over 200 million rural residents have moved to work in the eastern coastal manufacturing centers and other cities to seek fortune. A further, wide-ranging opening up has also brought growth opportunities to the western inland areas.