You Can't Go Anywhere In China Without Seeing Images Of Mao

Many have drawn parallels between president Xi Jinping and Mao, especially now that Xi has taken to hardening Party indoctrination.

Mao has become a powerful symbol for leftists in the Communist Party.

"In venerating Mao, they sometimes seek to put pressure on the current leadership and its market-oriented policies while managing to avoid expressing open dissent," write Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Kang Lim at Reuters

To mark his birth, Chinese leaders bowed three times in front of the statue of Mao and visited his mausoleum.

And 37 years after his death, Mao's presence is still felt and seen all over China.