Instead, they focus on Mao's role as leader of the communist guerrillas who battled Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, as founder of the Communist State in 1949, and as a leader who defied both Washington and Moscow to establish China as a new geopolitical center.
For many younger Chinese, steeped in the sometimes xenophobic nationalism that has replaced communism as the national ethos, Mao's achievement in winning China respect far outweighs his political misdeeds, said Alexander V. Pantsov, co-author of last year's well-received biography, "Mao: The Real Story."
"Overall, most Chinese will always commemorate Mao as a nationalist hero regardless of his communist tyranny," Pantsov said.
As China's last truly autocratic leader, Mao also represents a simpler time, and his legacy is invoked both as an emblem of fiery nationalism and to protest current policies seen as favoring the growing wealth gap that has supplanted Mao's impoverished but egalitarian society. Most recently, Mao portraits featured prominently among the crowd during sometimes violent anti-Japanese protests last year.
"Mao represents the party and the party represents China. That's how a lot of people see it," said Beijing office worker Jenny Zhu, 32, born five years after Mao's death.
Mao's image was also embraced by supporters of Bo Xilai, who had been among the country's most powerful politicians before he was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for corruption and abuse of power. Bo had revived Mao-era songs and slogans as part of an anti-crime campaign targeting newly wealthy property developers in the mega-city of Chongqing, even while pursuing market-oriented growth.
Officially, judgments on Mao's legacy have been closed since successor Deng Xiaoping's pronouncement in 1981 that the former leader's contributions were "70 percent positive, 30 percent negative." Amid a general ambivalence about politics among younger Chinese, ideological debates have been pushed to the margins.
However, for die-hards such as Fan Jinggang, editor-in-chief of the Maoist website Utopia, Mao remains an untarnished hero nonpareil and Thursday's anniversary is a cause for vast celebration.
"The people are showing their sincere lofty feelings toward Chairman Mao and their striving for fairness and justice and their love for the party and the socialist nation," Fan said.
