it was popular to display talismans with auspicious messages like "May you travel in safety," "May the wind fill your sails" or "May wealth come your way."
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Back then no one ever imagined that these would be replaced by laminated pictures of Mao Zedong. What does it mean? It was this question that led me to observe drivers in the bustling heart of the cities as well as in the remote outskirts and I discovered many people hung pictures of Mao in their vehicles. My fascination in the subject led me to interview a number of drivers.
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At Xi'an Train Station I came across a taxi driver whose beard really made him stand out from the crowd. He was in a red taxi reclining in his seat waiting for a fare. He was all alone, except for the Chairman who was hanging in front of him.
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He jumped up when I tapped on the taxi window, got out and asked me whether I wanted a cab. I handed him a Red Pagoda Hill
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cigarette and asked him whether he had time for a chat. He had me get into his car and wound up the window so as to shut out the distracting noises of the outside world.
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It turned out that he used to work with a building company but he quit because business wasn't too good. He paid 3,000
yuan
to go to a driving school and, with the help of some friends, bought his own taxi. He'd already paid off his debts and was making a pretty good living as a taxi driver. . . .
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I asked him why he had a picture of Mao in his car. After a lot of hesitation he eventually said, "I'm just doing what everyone else does."
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"But what do you really think of Mao?" I asked.
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"I'm just an average guy. I don't understand the big picture or anything like that, but I reckon that since he sent Chiang Kai-shek packing off to Taiwan and founded the People's Republic of China, he must have been pretty amazing. There was something mystical about Mao Zedong. Whenever I get together with my other mates who drive taxis we always come to the same conclusion.
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"Have you heard the story about the traffic accident in the south? There was this head-on collision between a truck and a taxi, see, and although the truck driver got hurt, the taxi driver came out of it without a scratch. They say he had a portrait of Chairman Mao in his car and that's what protected him. So now people reckon the Chairman's like a guardian god."
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His story reminded me of something I'd heard: officials in a certain area not only inspected all the relevant documentation when a car came up for registration, they also checked to see if it had a Mao portrait hanging over the dash. If not, they fined the driver. . . .
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It was warm and relaxing in the sun and not far away you could see part
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