Illustration:
ill. 5.76 (set: 5.76)
Author:
Barbara Mittler
Date:
1990s
Genre:
photograph
Material:
digital image, colour, original source: photograph, colour
Source:
Taxi Talisman, 1990s, private photograph.
Courtesy:
Barbara Mittler
Keywords:
Mao Zedong, talisman, idol, icon, God, Mao Cult, religious, everyday life, contemporary china, Mao memories, public, private, Mao portrait, Mao badge, myth

Taxi Talisman (Mao fupai zai chuzuche 毛符牌在出租车)

The popular counterpart to artworks in which Mao appears as god is the Mao talisman, used as a rearview mirror ornament by taxi or bus drivers to protect both vehicle and passengers from road accidents. For quite a long while, between the early 1990s and the early 2000s, it could be seen in almost all Chinese taxis and many buses. Many of these amulets were covered in temple-like frames of gold-colored plastic and had the typical red tassels and auspicious characters dangling from them (e.g., Barmé 1996, 79). Again, the adulation of Mao makes use of and translates ritual practices from folk culture and religion (Landsberger 2002, 162). This talisman, which can hardly be read ironically, is a rather straightforward piece of evidence for a strong religious strain—one among many—within this new chapter of Mao repetitions in modern Chinese history.